Chintamani Nagesa Ramchandra Rao received MSc from Banaras Hindu University, PhD in 1958 from Purdue University, and DSc from Mysore University, and joined the faculty of Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, in 1963.He has received the Doctorate (honoris causa) from 46 universities including Purdue, Bordeaux, Banaras, Delhi, Mysore, IIT Bombay, IIT Kharagpur, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Novosibirsk, Oxford, Stellenbosch, Uppsala, Wales, Wroclaw, Caen, Khartoum, Calcutta, Sri Venkateswara University and Desikottama from Visva-Bharati. A renowned scientist, in addition to holding numerous Visiting/Honorary/Research professorships, he has been Professor of Chemistry, IIT Kanpur (Head of Department and later Dean of Research of the Institute also) (1963-76); Jawaharlal Nehru Professor, University of Cambridge and Professorial Fellow, King's College, Cambridge (1983-84); Founder Chairman, Solid State and Structural Chemistry Unit and Materials Research Laboratory, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore (1977-84); Director, IISc (1984-94); and President, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) (1989-99). CNR Rao is the founder of Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) in Bangalore and has also been a chairman of science advisory council to the Prime Minister. He is the National Research Professor as well as Honorary President and Linus Pauling Research Professor at JNCASR; and Honorary Professor, IISc. He has been a visiting professor at famous universities, including Purdue, Oxford and Cambridge and director of International Centre for Materials Science (ICMS). Prof Rao has published over 1,500 research papers and 45 books.

Prof. Rao's contributions have been recognized by most major scientific academies around the world through conferment of memberships and fellowships. He has been honoured with several national and international awards.

Professor Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra Rao is the third scientist to be awarded the highest civilian award -- Bharat Ratna, a crowning glory of his inexorable list of outstanding achievements.

Dr. CNR Rao's research interests mainly concern with:

• Solid State & Materials Chemistry
• Transition Metal Oxides
• Multiferroic and Magnetoelectric Oxides
• Nanomaterials
• Nanotubes and Graphene-like Materials of (non-carbon)layered inorganic materials
• Inorganic and Organic Hybrid Materials