Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar
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| Born | 21 February 1894 Shahpur, Pakistan |
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| Died | 1 January 1955 New Delhi, India |
| Residence |  India |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Field | Chemistry |
| Institution | Council of Scientific and Industrial Research |
| Alma mater | Punjab University London University |
| Known for | Indian space program |
| Notable prizes | Padma Vibhushan (1954) |
| Religion | Hindu |
Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar (February 21, 1894 – January 1, 1955) was a well-known Indian scientist.
Bhatnagar was born in Shahpur, now in Pakistan. His father died when he was only eight months old and he spent his childhood in the house of his maternal grandfather, an engineer, where he developed a liking for science and engineering. He used to enjoy building mechanical toys, electronic batteries, string telephones. From his maternal family he also inherited a gift of poetry, and his Urdu one-act play Karamati won the first prize in a competition.
He went to England on a research fellowship after competing his Master's Degree in India. He received his D.Sc. from London University in 1921. After returning to India, he was awarded a professorship at Benaras Hindu University. He was knighted in 1941 by the British Government as a reward for his research in science. On March 18, 1943 he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society. His research interests included emulsions, colloids, and industrial chemistry, but his fundamental contributions were in the field of magneto-chemistry. He used magnetism as a tool to know more about chemical reactions. The Bhatnagar-Mathur interference balance, which he designed along with a physicist R.N. Mathur. This was later manufactured by a British firm. He also composed a beautiful kulgeet (University song) which sung with great reverence prior to functions held in the university.
Prime Minister Nehru was a proponent of scientific development, and after India's independence in 1947, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) was set up under the chairmanship of Dr. Bhatnagar. He became the first director-general of the CSIR. He became known as "The Father of Research Laboratories" and is largely remembered for having established various chemical laboratories in India. He established a total twelve national laboratories such as Central Food Processing Technological Insitute,Mysore, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, the National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi, the National Metallurgical Laboratory, Jamshedpur, the Central Fuel Institute, Dhanbad, just to name a few.
After his death, CSIR established the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award for eminent scientists in his honour.
