Jun 6 2009
A lecture by one of India's most distinguished scientists will be the highlight of this year's Armourers and Brasiers' Cambridge Forum, to be hosted by the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy next Tuesday 9 June.
Professor C.N.R. Rao FRS, National Research Professor, Linus Pauling Research Professor and Honorary President of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research in Bangalore, will give the 11th Kelly Lecture at 5.30pm.
Professor Rao will speak on "Doing Nanoscience Research in Emerging India".
Professor Rao's research interests are in the chemistry of materials. He has authored nearly 1000 research papers and edited or written 30 books in materials chemistry.
Distinguished for his wide-ranging contributions to solid state chemistry and to chemical spectroscopy, as related to molecular structure, he has contributed significantly to our knowledge of the electronic and magnetic properties of the important perovskite-type compounds, using a very wide range of experimental techniques.
In particular, he has clarified the factors that determine the transition from localised d-electron states to band properties. He has contributed also to studies of the formation, interaction and migration of point defects in binary ionic solids, and of phase transitions
He built up an excellent research school at Kanpur and has been a strong and invigorating influence on physical chemistry and chemical physics in India, in the development of solid state technology and in developments in chemical education in that country.
Professor Rao has the unique honour of being a Fellow/Member of all the major academies of the world including The Royal Society London, National Academy of Sciences, USA, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pontifical Academy of Sciences, French Academy of Sciences and Japan Academy.
The Armourers and Brasiers' Cambridge Forum is based in the Babbage Lecture Theatre on the University's New Museums Site and starts with registration at 1.30 pm.
It is held annually at the Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy in Cambridge with the aim of raising the profile of materials science in the UK academic and industrial communities, while being international in scope.
The five talks before the Kelly Lecture are on a wide variety of materials:
- Professor Clare Grey (based at the State University of New York at Stonybrook, and about to move to Cambridge) will talk on lithium battery Technology.
- Professor Steve Rannard (University of Liverpool) will tell us about nanoparticle processing.
- Professor Chris Grovenor (Head of the Department of Materials at Oxford) will speak on state-of-the-art structural characterization, with a particular emphasis on materials of interest for nuclear power generation.
- Dr Tridibesh Mukherjee (Director, Tata Steel UK) will give us his views on the nature of invention and innovation in the manufacturing industry.
- Professor David MacKay (Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge) will provide an overview of sustainable energy options.
The Forum will also see the award of the second annual Materials Science Venture Prize from the Armourers and Brasiers' Company.
The annual Forum attracts high-level involvement from industry, research councils and other influential bodies. It incorporates the Kelly Lecture and the Gordon Seminars, inaugurated in 1999 to mark the opening of the Gordon Laboratory in the Department. It is generously supported by the Armourers and Brasiers' Livery Company and ten other sponsors.
The Guild of St. George of the Armourers was instituted in 1322 when regulations were laid down for control of the trade. The arms of the Brasiers' Company were joined with those of the Armourers after 1708. A large fraction of the charitable giving of the Company supports Materials Science education from primary school to research-student level and beyond.