Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar: Father of India’s Research Laboratories

Bhatnagar was an Indian chemist and science administrator. People call him the Father of Research Laboratories in India.

Where did he come from?

• He was born on 21 February 1894 in the Punjab region.
• His father died when he was eight months old.
• His maternal grandfather raised him.
• He published his first scientific note in 1911, on making carbon electrodes for batteries.
• He got a BSc in 1916 and an MSc in chemistry in 1919.
• He earned a DSc from the University of London in 1921, working with Frederick Donnan.

What is the memory hook?

Think “1894 born, 1921 DSc”. The doctorate came in London.

He taught chemistry at Benares and then at Lahore. His research was on colloids, emulsions and magnetism.

Where did he work?

• He joined Benares Hindu University as a professor in 1921.
• He moved to the University Chemical Laboratories, Lahore, as Director in 1924.
• He stayed in Lahore until 1940.

What was his research?

• He studied emulsions and how salts affect colloid stability.
• He also used magnetic measurements to study organic compounds.
• With his student K. N. Mathur, he built the Bhatnagar-Mathur balance.
• The balance measures how much a material is pushed out of a magnetic field.
• The Royal Society exhibition in London showed it in 1928.

What is the memory hook?

Think “Benares 1921, Lahore 1924”. Each move gave him a bigger lab.

He solved real factory problems. This made industry trust university chemists.

What problems did he solve?

• He fixed an oil-drilling problem for an oil company in Rawalpindi.
• The company paid him Rs 1.5 lakh.
• That money went into petroleum research at Lahore.
• In the Second World War he worked on anti-gas cloth for troops.
• The British Crown knighted him in 1941.

What is the memory hook?

Think “oil money, then petroleum lab”. Industry paid for the research.

CSIR grew out of a board set up in 1940. It became an autonomous council in September 1942.

What came first?

• The Board of Scientific and Industrial Research (BSIR) was created in 1940.
• Sir Arcot Ramaswami Mudaliar pushed for it.
• The Viceroy invited Bhatnagar to be the Board’s first Director in 1941.

How did it become CSIR?

• The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) replaced the Board in 1942.
• It was registered as a society under the Societies Registration Act.
• Bhatnagar became its first Director.
• His post was later called Director-General.

What is the memory hook?

Think “Board 1940, Council 1942”. The Council came two years after the Board.

He planned a chain of national laboratories. About 12 stood by the time he died.

Which were the first five?

• CSIR approved five national laboratories in 1943.
• The National Chemical Laboratory was in Pune.
• The National Physical Laboratory was in Delhi.
• The National Metallurgical Laboratory was in Jamshedpur.
• The Central Fuel Research Station was in Dhanbad.
• The Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute was in Calcutta.
• The foundations of these five were laid in 1946 and 1947.

What did Nehru say?

Nehru said in January 1955 that the chain of laboratories would not exist but for Bhatnagar.

What is the memory hook?

Think “five approved, twelve built”. The first five were only the start.

He served in key government posts after 1947. He died in harness on 1 January 1955.

What posts did he hold?

• He was Secretary of the Ministry of Education in 1948.
• He became the first Chairman of the University Grants Commission in 1953.

Which honours did he receive?

• The Royal Society elected him a Fellow in 1943.
• He received the Padma Vibhushan in 1954.
• He died on 1 January 1955, aged 60.

What is the memory hook?

Think “FRS 1943, Padma 1954, died 1955”. Honours came in the last twelve years.

The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize is India’s top science prize. CSIR gives it every year.

What should you know about the prize?

• It was instituted in 1957.
• It goes to Indian scientists under 45.
• Each prize is worth Rs 5 lakh.
• It covers seven disciplines, from chemical to medical sciences.

What are the traps?

• Board or Council? BSIR came in 1940. CSIR came in 1942.
• Knight or Fellow? He was knighted in 1941. He became an FRS in 1943.
• Prize or lab? The prize was started after his death. He did not receive it.

How do you remember them?

Think “1940 board, 1942 council, 1941 knight, 1943 fellow”. Put the four years in order.