K S Krishnan – An Outstanding Scientist

1898-1961

K S Krishnan, an outstanding physicist as well as an erudite scholar in philosophy, has been a role model of a teacher – a guru – to a whole generation of Indian scientists. Calcutta, Dacca, Allahabad and Delhi had the privilege of having him as an intellectual star. He was a product of the golden age of Indian science in the twenties and thirties, a tradition which he maintained till the fifties.

Kariamanikkam Srinivasa Krishnan was born on 4 December 1898 in the village Villupanoor (Vizhupanoor) in the Tirunelveli (Ramnad) District of Tamil Nadu, the son of a school teacher. After schooling in Watrap and Srivilliputtur town, he studied in American College, Madurai, and Christian College, Madras, before accepting the post of a Demonstrator in Chemistry in the Christian College. In 1923, he went to work as a research scholar with C V Raman in the Indian Association for Cultivation of Sciences (IACS), then at 210 Bowbazar Street, Calcutta. In December 1928, he moved to the Dacca University as the Reader of Physics with S N Bose as the Head of the Department. In 1933, he came back to IACS, Calcutta as the Mahendra Lal Sircar Professor of Physics. In 1942, he was made the Professor and Head of the Department of Physics at the University of Allahabad. In 1947, Krishnan moved to Delhi to become the Director of the National Physical Laboratory. On 14 June 1961, he died after a heart attack.

E S Raja Gopal
Department of Physics
Indian Institute of Science
Bangalore 560 012, India.

 

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K S Krishnan and The Kodaikanal Observatory

Not very far from Kodaikanal, only forty-eight miles to the south-west of the temple town of Madurai, is the prosperous village of Watrap. To the north of the village loom large the Western Ghats, reaching a height of about 4000 ft in these parts. Watrap is situated in the deep bay of these mountains. The rain-fed streams coming down the Ghats provide for the rich vegetation in and around, making Watrap a centre of plentiful agricultural produce. Farming has been and still is the main occupation of the people settled in the area. At the turn of the century, the period to which our story relates, the Brahmins dominated the village owning most of its wetlands and the tanks. Amongst them lived a deeply religious and learned soul, known for his scholarship and profound knowledge of the Classical Tamil and Sanskrit scriptures. A Thengalai Iyengar by caste, he was popularly known as ‘Kariamanikkam Vathiyar’. His actual name was Srinivasa Iyengar. He lived a life of great piety in action and purity in thought. On December 4, 1898 he was blessed with a son who took the family and father’s names, as per the prevailing custom, and was christened Kariama-nikkam Srinivasa Krishnan or K S Krishnan for short.

D C V Mallik,
Indian Institute of Astrophysics,
Koramangala, Bangalore 560 034, India.

 

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Making of a Young Scientist

Several factors can influence the making of a scientist at various stages in his life. The formative young years are important, of course. Krishnan, in one of his articles in Tamil says: ‘my first love for science came in my 4th form (class 9) in my high school in 1911. Even though my teacher was not a professional scientist, he was good at explaining science in a clear and captivating fashion. His lessons not only sunk deep into our mind but also made us crave for more science. Whether it is physics, geography or chemistry, his teaching style was unique. He did not simply reproduce the lessons from the book. He demonstrated many simple experiments for us and also encouraged us to do experiments ourselves. Very few teachers I know are of this type, and I feel fortunate to have had him as my first science teacher. This master teacher’s name is Sri A Subramanya Iyer and he did not stay too long in my school.’

‘My real involvement in science came after an year, when my physics teacher asked us to write an ‘essay’ about Archimides principle. At that time we had just learned the proof of this principle. But, in my article I wrote about an instrument that I constructed, on my own, for measuring the density of solids. A few days later I learned that my instru-ment is nothing new and it was invented by Nicholas many years ago – “the Nicholas hydrometer”, by then text book material.’

‘My whole hearted involvement in science came only after seven or eight years, when I got opportuni-ties to read copies of research articles of Prof. C V Raman, then Palit Professor at Calcutta University, which appeared in Nature, Philosophical Magazine and other journals. This whole culture of eminent scientists publishing their work in ‘Science Journals’ and that some of our own scientists like Ramanujan, Raman are contributing first rate articles which are very much appreciated by the world came to me as an eye opener. This gave me a new feeling for science, scientists and the new world of science.’

KSK finished his article by saying: ‘I relinquished the small job I had and decided to do research in physics and went to Prof. C V Raman at Calcutta. But, he did not agree for my starting research immediately. Only after learning various aspects of physics properly at Calcutta University for two years was I able to join his research group. I had the good fortune of having a five year ‘Gurukula vasam’ there. These five years turned out to be a festive season in my science life.’

G Baskaran
IMSc, Chennai 600 113, India.

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Speaking of Science and for Science

Conveying the essence of science and its excitement in an understandable way to a layman or a non-expert is an art that few scientists have mastered. This has its very important role and value in society; it is also an important duty of the science community, that is being neglected in modern times. KSK had this skill as it is clear from his many articles on science and related issues in Tamil and English as well as the talks that he has given in All India Rao. He was also an ardent spokesman for science.

KSK strongly believed that one can convey even very complicated scientific facts in his mother tongue – in this case, Tamil. His scholarship and appreciation of Tamil literature must have given him the gift to perform this task with ease. In one of his articles he speaks of his school science teacher Thirumalai Kozhunthu Pillai, who enthused the students by teaching science in an understandable way in chaste Tamil. Listening to him he got the conviction that difficult scientific concepts could be conveyed in Tamil.

Those of us whose spirit is strong but flesh is weak can gain strength to write science in our mother tongue by studying the works of people like KSK and modern scientists like Narlikar and others.

Through his own first rate scientific work and also through his scholarly personality he was a spokesman for Indian science. One hears that KSK was in many committees and held many responsible scientific administrative positions: he was President of the National Academy of Sciences and also Member of Atomic Energy Commission. It is said that whenever Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru found time (or wanted to get away from politics) he would rush to NPL to listen to KSK of the latest in science. Apparently he always enjoyed listening to KSK, but at the end never forgot to ask KSK ‘how this is going to help my countrymen’. I really do not know what KSK’s reply was.

G Baskaran
IMSc, Chennai 600 113, India.