Praveen Chaudhari
Encyclopedia
Dr. Praveen Chaudhari was an Indian American
physicist born in Ludhiana, India
who migrated to the United States in 1961 and contributed to the field of material physics
.
Chaudhari was employed by IBM
's Research Division, headquartered at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center
in Yorktown Heights, New York
after coming to the United States. Praveen researched the structure and properties of amorphous solids, defects in solids, mechanical properties of thin films, superconductivity, quantum transport in disordered systems, liquid crystal alignment on substrates, and the magnetic monopole experiment.
His career with IBM lasted 36 years during which he was appointed Director and later Vice President of science in 1981 and 1982, until he stepped down as director of Brookhaven National Laboratory
(BNL) in 2006 citing his wish to continue with the laboratory as part time, following President George W. Bush
's allowance for increased funding to the department in his budget. Chaudhari had been hailed for successfully navigating BNL through a series of significant funding challenges. In his official statement he had cited his decision that "The laboratory is in very good shape and I feel it is time for me to make a change: to spend more time at home and to take advantage of the wonderful opportunities to do science at BNL."
Praveen died on January 12, 2010, at the age of 72 in his home in Briarcliff Manor, New York
, after a long battle with cancer. He is survived by his wife, Karin; his son, Ashok; and his daughter, Pia.
In addition to directing scientific research at I.B.M., Praveen conducted a fair amount of research and experiments himself. These experiments pertained to topics such as the structure and properties of amorphous solids, defects in solids, mechanical properties of thin films, superconductivity, quantum transport in disordered systems, liquid crystal alignment on substrates, and on the magnetic monopole experiment. He has published articles in scientific journals such as Physica C, Technology in Society, and Current Opinion in Solid State Materials Science on his research pertaining to topics such as: Critical currents, grain boundaries and squids in the high temperature cuprate superconductors, and Electronic Materials. Amongst his discoveries were amorphous magnetic films in magneto-optic data storage systems for which he received the Morris N.
Liebmann Memorial Award in 1992. Also amongst his accomplishments was the discovery of a new class of materials, which were amorphous, magnetic and became the foundation of the worldwide magnetic-optic disc industry. Under his direction at the Brookhaven Laboratory, the four RHIC collaborations found a nearly perfect liquid during a laboratory experiment recreating the conditions believed to have existed a few microseconds after the birth of the universe and continued to collect and analyze large data sets from the fourth and fifth years of operations.
During his tenure Dr. Chaudhari filed over 22 patents, most notably one for the erasable read-write compact discs which are commonly used to burn music.
During his tenure as the Director of the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, Chaudhari was appointed Director in 1981, and Vice President of Science in 1982. He helped secure funding for the department's flagship facility, and the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider during trying economic periods. On Chaudhari's watch, IBM scientists captured Nobel Prizes for Physics in 1986 and 1987.
Chaudhari was also a member of scientific institutions such as the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Physical Society. He was the executive secretary of President Reagan's Advisory Council on Superconductivity, and served on the US National Critical Technology Panel.
His awards included and the National Medal for Technology, the American Physical Society's George E. Pake Award, the Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Harry C. Gatos Distinguished Lecture and Prize, and the National Medal of Technology.
Indian American
Indian Americans are Americans whose ancestral roots lie in India. The U.S. Census Bureau popularized the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Indigenous peoples of the Americas who are commonly referred to as American Indians.-The term: Indian:...
physicist born in Ludhiana, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
who migrated to the United States in 1961 and contributed to the field of material physics
Material physics
Material physics is the use of physics to describe materials in many different ways such as force, heat, light and mechanics. It is a synthesis of physical sciences such as chemistry, solid mechanics and solid state physics....
.
Chaudhari was employed by IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
's Research Division, headquartered at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center
Thomas J. Watson Research Center
The Thomas J. Watson Research Center is the headquarters for the IBM Research Division.The center is on three sites, with the main laboratory in Yorktown Heights, New York, 38 miles north of New York City, a building in Hawthorne, New York, and offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts.- Overview :The...
in Yorktown Heights, New York
Yorktown Heights, New York
Yorktown Heights is a census-designated place in the town of Yorktown in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 1,781 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Yorktown Heights is located at ....
after coming to the United States. Praveen researched the structure and properties of amorphous solids, defects in solids, mechanical properties of thin films, superconductivity, quantum transport in disordered systems, liquid crystal alignment on substrates, and the magnetic monopole experiment.
His career with IBM lasted 36 years during which he was appointed Director and later Vice President of science in 1981 and 1982, until he stepped down as director of Brookhaven National Laboratory
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Brookhaven National Laboratory , is a United States national laboratory located in Upton, New York on Long Island, and was formally established in 1947 at the site of Camp Upton, a former U.S. Army base...
(BNL) in 2006 citing his wish to continue with the laboratory as part time, following President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
's allowance for increased funding to the department in his budget. Chaudhari had been hailed for successfully navigating BNL through a series of significant funding challenges. In his official statement he had cited his decision that "The laboratory is in very good shape and I feel it is time for me to make a change: to spend more time at home and to take advantage of the wonderful opportunities to do science at BNL."
Praveen died on January 12, 2010, at the age of 72 in his home in Briarcliff Manor, New York
Briarcliff Manor, New York
Briarcliff Manor is a village in Westchester County in the state of New York. It is shared between the towns of Mount Pleasant and Ossining, and lies entirely within the ZIP code of 10510...
, after a long battle with cancer. He is survived by his wife, Karin; his son, Ashok; and his daughter, Pia.
Positions Held
Throughout his career, Dr. Praveen Chaudhari held a number of positions, starting as a visiting scientist in 1964 at the Danish Atomic Energy Commission. In 1966 he both joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a Research Associate, and also the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center as a Research Staff Member. At IBM he was promoted to manager in the Physical Sciences department in 1970, followed by various management positions in that decade, including that of coordinating the magnetic bubble, optical recording, and Josephson technology programs in the physical sciences. Also in the Seventies he became a visiting faculty member at Harvard University in the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences in 1974. In 1980 Chaudhari became the Acting Director of the Physical Sciences department, followed by his promotion as the Director of the Physical Sciences Department in 1981. From 1982 until 1991 he became the Vic-president of Science, and from 1989 until 1990 participated as a member of the Corporate Technical Committee. Dr. Chaudhari was the founding member of the IBM Academy of technology in 1990, and throughout this time, beginning in 1966 kept his position as a Research Staff Member at IBM until 2003. From 2003 until 2006 he became the Director of the Brookhaven National Laboratory.Committees
The 14 Committees Dr. Chaudhari served on include: the Advisory Committee to the National Sciences Association at the University of Pennsylvania, the Visiting Committee to the School of Engineering at the University of Illinois, the Corporation Visiting Committee to the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, at MIT, the Visiting Committee to the Division of Physical Sciences at the University of Chicago, the Overseers' Committee to Visit the Division of Applied Sciences at Harvard University, and the Science Policy Board to Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory in Stanford, California. Additionally, he served on the Materials Science and Engineering Advisory Committee at the University of California at Berkeley, the New York State Institute of Superconductivity, the ad hoc Visiting Committee, appointed by Provost, to examine the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Columbia University, New York, NY, the Advisory Board of the Texas Center for Superconductivity, University of Houston, TX, the Advisory Committee to the School of Engineering, Georgia Tech, the Physics Policy Committee of the American Physical Society, the Governing Board of the New York Academy of Sciences, the National Science Foundation Advisory Committee to the Mathematical and Physical Sciences, the Scientific Advisory Council of the International Center for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy. He also co-chaired the National Research Council Study on Materials Science and Engineering.Research
As the Vice-president of Science, Praveen Chaudhari became responsible for not only his local science programs at Watson Research center in Watson, but also the renown Zurchich Research laboratory in Switzerland as well as the Almaden Research center in California.In addition to directing scientific research at I.B.M., Praveen conducted a fair amount of research and experiments himself. These experiments pertained to topics such as the structure and properties of amorphous solids, defects in solids, mechanical properties of thin films, superconductivity, quantum transport in disordered systems, liquid crystal alignment on substrates, and on the magnetic monopole experiment. He has published articles in scientific journals such as Physica C, Technology in Society, and Current Opinion in Solid State Materials Science on his research pertaining to topics such as: Critical currents, grain boundaries and squids in the high temperature cuprate superconductors, and Electronic Materials. Amongst his discoveries were amorphous magnetic films in magneto-optic data storage systems for which he received the Morris N.
Liebmann Memorial Award in 1992. Also amongst his accomplishments was the discovery of a new class of materials, which were amorphous, magnetic and became the foundation of the worldwide magnetic-optic disc industry. Under his direction at the Brookhaven Laboratory, the four RHIC collaborations found a nearly perfect liquid during a laboratory experiment recreating the conditions believed to have existed a few microseconds after the birth of the universe and continued to collect and analyze large data sets from the fourth and fifth years of operations.
During his tenure Dr. Chaudhari filed over 22 patents, most notably one for the erasable read-write compact discs which are commonly used to burn music.
Accomplishments
Academically, Chaudhari earned a Bachelors of Science from the Indian Institute of Technology in 1961, a Masters of Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1963, and a Science Doctorate also from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1966.During his tenure as the Director of the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, Chaudhari was appointed Director in 1981, and Vice President of Science in 1982. He helped secure funding for the department's flagship facility, and the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider during trying economic periods. On Chaudhari's watch, IBM scientists captured Nobel Prizes for Physics in 1986 and 1987.
Chaudhari was also a member of scientific institutions such as the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Physical Society. He was the executive secretary of President Reagan's Advisory Council on Superconductivity, and served on the US National Critical Technology Panel.
His awards included and the National Medal for Technology, the American Physical Society's George E. Pake Award, the Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Harry C. Gatos Distinguished Lecture and Prize, and the National Medal of Technology.
Published Articles
- Critical currents, grain boundaries and squids in the high temperature cuprate superconductors
- Physica C: Superconductivity, Volumes 185-189, Part 1, 1 December
- Praveen Chaudhari
- Statement
- Technology in Society, Volume 19, Issue 1, January 1997, Pages 43-45
- Praveen Chaudhari
- Announcement from Praveen Chaudhari.
- Stonybrook University
- Electronic materials: Editorial overview
- Current Opinion in Solid State and Materials Science, Volume 4, Issue
- 1, February 1999, Pages 3-4
- Jean-Marie Tarascon, Praveen Chaudhari
- Improved Detail in Biological Soft X-Ray Microscopy: Study of Blood Platelets
- Ralph Feder, Jonathan L. Costa, Praveen Chaudhari, David Sayre
- Science, New Series, Vol. 212, No. 4501 (Jun. 19, 1981), pp. 1398-1400
- Interview: A Conversation With: Praveen Chaudhari; New Chief at Physics Lab Tries to Polish Faded Star.
- Claudia Dreifus. New York Times. October 21, 2003.