Awardee reaches out to all via laboratory

BANGALORE: His work is so wide-reaching that many of us may be drinking it daily - applications of which involve decaffeinating coffee, or wherever organic compounds are put to use. Rightly so, his  work fetched him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, India’s highest award for science, in the chemical sciences field. He is Prof Balasubramaniam Sundaram of the chemistry and physics of materials unit, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore. A science graduate from Guindy Engineering College, Chennai, Prof Sundaram says that the studies on  properties of materials using computer simulation, which led him to the prize, was accumulated over the last 7-8 years. He adds that the search for non-volatile and non-recyclable industrial solvents,  something that the ones used today lack, led him to prediction of properties, such as viscosity, at the molecular level using computer simulation methods. His research also involved studies in quantum and statistical mechanics.Computational simulation, Prof Sundaram adds, was a discipline he was interested in since his post-doctoral days, at the University of Pennsylvania. He also states that he found the study of non-crystalline substances to be challenging. In fact, his research also finds application in the  manufacture of polymers - whose scope is widening by the day.Despite his contribution in an area of research that has a host of avenues, Prof Sundaram springs a surprise by admitting that he never expected the honour coming his way. He lists studies on carbon dioxide-based compounds and experimental verification of his predictions as topics that would keep him engaged him in the future. The awardee is upbeat on the future of science in the nation, with today’s scientists being offered  lucrative salaries and opportunities. He, however, adds that an exceptional academic record is a  must for a career in science.