Ramanuja Vijayaraghavan

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Ramanuja Vijayaraghavan
Born 1931
Residence India
Nationality Indian
Fields Physics
Institutions Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Alma mater Annamalai University
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Notable awards Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award 1976
UGC Raman Award in Physical Sciences 1983

Ramanuja Vijayaraghavan (born January 3, 1931) is an Indian physicist, specializing in condensed matter physics.

Vijayaraghavan pioneered active research in the areas of metal physics, magnetic resonance in biophysical systems, and fine particle physics, a forerunner to nanoscience. He is a fellow of several science academies and twice elected as a member of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics commission on magnetism.

After graduating from the Annamalai University in 1951, he joined the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) at Bombay as a Research Student, eventually rising to the position of Distinguished Professor and Dean (Physics Faculty). He formally retired in 1996 . He was awarded an Indian National Science Academy Senior Scientist position from 1996 to 2001, during which he worked at SAMEER, Mumbai, in collaboration with TIFR.

As a tribute to his contribution to physics, two commemorative volumes were published in 1991 on the occasion of his 60th birthday: Frontiers in solid state series, Superconductivity (Vol.1), and Magnetism (Vol. 2), by World Scientific Publishing, in Singapore. These volumes incorporate articles written by leading international scientists, including Nobel laureates.

Vijayaraghavan was conferred the prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in 1976, and received the UGC Raman award in Physical Sciences in 1983. Apart from science, he is well versed in Hindu philosophy and Tamil literature.

Professor Vijayaraghavan is from a family of Iyengars. One of his forefathers was the deputy chief minister of Ramnad Samasthanam, and his grandfather was Mahawidwan R. Raghava Iyengar, a renowned Tamil and Sanskrit scholar of the twentieth century.