"In Professor Palle Rama Rao’s passing away, the country has lost a great scientist and engineer, teacher, researcher, science administrator and a great science visionary. Moving from academia to defence R&D to government and back to academia, his is a story of multi-faceted scientific excellence devoted to the cause of Indian Science. He displayed remarkable appreciation for both fundamental science as well as technology. His contributions towards the establishment of the Technology Development Board through an Act of Parliament, extending government financial support to Indian industrial concerns to hasten indigenous technology development and commercialization, was a path-breaking development. His lifelong contributions to Indian S&T will be remembered for times to come."
-Prof. Ajay Kumar Sood
Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India
The Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India pays tribute to Professor Palle Rama Rao (1937-2026), one of India’s leading metallurgists, scientists and science administrators. Born on 30 June 1937, he completed his M.A. in Physics from the University of Madras and an M.Sc. in Nuclear Physics from Andhra University. He pursued his doctoral studies in Metallurgy at Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi, completing his PhD in 1964. He also carried out postdoctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania in 1966-67. He began his academic career at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, in 1960. In 1962, he joined BHU, where he became Professor of Physical Metallurgy. Prof. Rama Rao served as Director of the Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL), Hyderabad, and as a Distinguished Scientist of DRDO. He served as Secretary, Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Secretary, Department of Ocean Development. He was also Chairman of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board. From 1999 to 2002, he served as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hyderabad. He subsequently served as an ISRO Distinguished Professor and chaired the Governing Council of the International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI). Prof. Rama Rao was also active in several scientific academies and professional organisations and his contributions were recognised with several major national and international honours.
