Professor V. Chandrasekhar was born in Calcutta on sixth November 1958. He went to school at Hyderabad, Sunabeda and Visakhapatnam. He did his B.Sc and M.Sc from Osmania University, Hyderabad. Subsequently he joined the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore from where he obtained his Ph.D in 1982. After a post-doctoral stint at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (1983-86), he joined the Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited, Vadodara where he worked for an year. Subsequently Chandrasekhar joined the Department of Chemistry, IITK in July 1987 as an Assistant Professor and has become a full Professor in 1995.
Chandrasekhar's research interests are in the area of main-group organometallic chemistry. The focus of research in his group is on the synthesis, structure and reactivity of inorganic clusters, rings and polymers . His group has contributed significantly to development of new synthetic methodologies for the assembly of organotin clusters, multi-metal assemblies, cages and supramolecules . He has also pioneered the chemistry of new inorganic-cored star-burst molecules and polymeric ligands. Currently his group is focusing on the application of these diverse molecules in catalysis, stabilization of nanoparticles and in the assembly of new magnetic and optical materials.
Chandrasekhar has taught many core and elective courses during his stint at IIT Kanpur. He has developed several new courses including “Applications of Modern Instrumental Methods” and “Macrocycles, Rings and Polymers”.
Chandrasekhar has published over 150 papers in peer-reviewed international journals and several conference proceedings. He has authored a book entitled “Inorganic and Organometallic Polymers” which was published by Springer-Verlag in 2005. He has been a plenary and invited speaker at several international conferences.
Chandrasekhar's work has been recognized in the form of several national and international awards. Some of the prominent ones are: Indian National Science Academy Young Scientist Award (1989), Homi Bhaba Fellowship (1998-2000), S. S. Bhatnagar Award (2003) and the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Bessel Research Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany (2003). He has been elected as a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences in 2003. |
