PERSONAL NEWS

Shashikumar M. Chitre (1936–2021)

A leading astrophysicist, affable, kind, the then tranquil and beautiful western several years he was very interested in learned, suave, sophisticated, warm, such suburbs, had his schooling and college in the study of meridional flow in the solar are the words which come to mind at the the city, travelled the world, settled in interior and that work was in progress mention of Professor Shashikumar the southern tip of Bombay for some until his last days. He had several re- Madhusudan Chitre, who passed away on decades, and then returned to the western search papers on the Sun and stars over 11 January this year, aged 84. In his suburbs where he stayed until the end. the last few years, including work on passing Indian astronomy has lost a great He was truly a creature of the city who convective differential rotation in stars gentleman, and many of us have lost a contributed to its wellbeing in his own and planets, solar surface dynamos, valued colleague, friend and mentor. way. energy budget for the solar cycle, hydro- Chitre’s research and teaching spanned magnetic turbulence and so forth, attest- more than six decades, and he continued ing to his enduring interest in topics that to work until just a few weeks before his he was first introduced to sixty years death. ago. Kumar’s research students who Kumar, as he was universally known, worked on these topics were D. M. Kale, left for Cambridge, England in 1957. He H. M. Antia, D. Narasimha and S. K. then had a B.A. in mathematics and had Pandey. He also had a large circle of col- completed a year’s study for an M.A. On laborators over the years, including Sar- the ship to England he met another bani Basu, D. O. Gough, W. H. Saslaw young student, Jayant Narlikar, who too and Chris Tout. was on his way to Cambridge. The meet- Another area to which Kumar contri- ing developed into a lifelong friendship buted substantially is gravitational lens- and partnership in science. Kumar did a After completing his Ph.D. from the ing. The TIFR group which worked with Tripos in mathematics as a student in University of Cambridge in 1963, Kumar him on this area included Narasimha, K. Peterhouse, the oldest college of Cam- lectured at the University of Leeds dur- Subramanian and his student Sunita Nair. bridge University, and had courses by ing 1963–1966. There he had extensive The group did some pioneering work on Paul Dirac, Fred Hoyle, Michael Atiyah contact with Thomas Cowling who influ- this subject including detailed modelling and other great physicists, astronomers enced the course of his research in mag- of lens systems. In a paper with Saslaw and mathematicians. netohydrodynamics and solar physics. and Narasimha, Kumar pointed out that a For his Ph.D., Kumar worked with After Leeds, Kumar was a Research Fel- point gravitational lens images a diffuse Leon Mestel, a renowned astrophysicist, low at the California Institute of Tech- background source as a ‘gravity ring’ whose students at the time included nology during 1966–67 where he was which could be observed with long base- Donald Lynden-Bell. Kumar was then in introduced to relativistic astrophysics line radio interferometry. Such rings Churchill College. At a recent memorial and the structure of neutron stars by Kip have now been observed and are known meeting for Kumar, Narlikar recounted Thorne. All through the decade he spent as Einstein rings. The group also dis- how Kumar had once made chicken curry abroad, Kumar had the good fortune to cussed microlensing, which they called and rice in Churchill, while his own learn from, and work with, some of the minilensing. attempt to make puris did not quite suc- leading scientists of the 20th century. Kumar’s research interests stretched ceed because he kept waiting for the oil That was reflected in the broad and yet far beyond the Sun, stars and microlens- to boil. The connection that Kumar esta- deep understanding of astrophysics that ing. As examples, he worked on neutron blished with Cambridge so many years Kumar had, and the quite different areas star matter with his student V. K. Garde, ago remained strong all through his life. of the subject to which he contributed B. Banerjee, V. Canuto and others, with To continue his scientific collaborations, significantly over the years. J. V. Narlikar on apparent superluminal Kumar visited the Institute of Astronomy Kumar’s thesis was on the structure of motion, effect of interstellar dust on at Cambridge for a few months almost sunspots. This was followed by some measured values of cosmological para- every year over the last few decades, to work on stellar convection; he continued meters and various other topics, on continue his scientific collaborations. He to work on the Sun and stars to the very vacuum energy density in cosmology could not go there in 2020 because of the end. After joining TIFR he initiated re- with P. S. Joshi and T. Padmanabhan, pandemic and yet he continued attending search there in helioseismology. He was and on cosmic inflation with D. Lynden- meetings and collaborating remotely. He always fascinated by the solar neutrino Bell. was looking forward to going to the problem and made all efforts to constrain As recognition of his academic work, Institute again as soon as the pandemic neutrino fluxes using seismology, includ- Kumar was elected Fellow of the three abated. This process of getting back to ing inversions for temperature and science academies in India and of the beginning has been a characteristic of chemical abundance profile. He also con- the Royal Astronomical Society and the Kumar’s life: the evolution of several of tributed to the inversion of rotation rate Third World Academy of Sciences. He his activities over decades has been in the solar interior and its temporal vari- was awarded the Padmabhushan in 2012. along nearly closed orbits, some with ations, and used that to infer the gravita- After Kumar retired from TIFR in large eccentricity. He was born in Bom- tional quadrupole moment as well as 2001, he had multiple choices before him bay (now Mumbai), was brought up in higher order moments. During the last for a post-retirement position. But he

CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 120, NO. 5, 10 MARCH 2021 957 PERSONAL NEWS took a conscious decision to involve grant obtained enabled many young re- rain Ruia College in Mumbai, where I himself in teaching, so that he could give searchers, faculty and engineers working was in the first year of my Master’s back a bit to society from which he knew for the LIGO-India project, and on gravi- course, almost exactly 50 years ago. The he had got so much. Therefore, Kumar tational wave physics, to travel abroad, purpose was to invite him for a talk, but joined the Physics Department of the and for foreign experts to be invited to we did not succeed in getting him, be- University of Mumbai at its Kalina Cam- India. In a conversation I had with him cause he was to leave for the USA for a pus. While there he realized that a deeper just a few days before he was admitted to longish stay. We pleaded with him for an connection between the university and an hospital, he enquired, in a rather feeble hour, but he did not budge from his deci- organization like BARC would be of voice, the status of an extension of the sion. The second time I saw him was a great benefit to students and young grant I was seeking in these pandemic- couple of years later, when I was ens- researchers in the university. Various affected times. conced as a graduate student in TIFR. I arrangements already existed for univer- Kumar mentioned to me on occasion saw Kumar exiting, with a group of sity students to use BARC facilities and that he had received offers to head vari- people, from a small lecture hall in the expertise for their research projects, but ous institutes, but he did not cherish such institute, with a board outside which an- what Kumar had in mind was an entity to a leadership role. He was content to be a nounced a conference on Lie Groups and which the two organizations could con- Professor in a premiere institute, to carry Lie Algebras. I was extremely impressed tribute and which would have the am- out his research through students and with an astronomer being so involved bience enabling it to rise above the usual small collaborations rather than through with abstract mathematics. I much later limitations. With the then Vice Chancel- large groups, and to conduct the business realized that Kumar had been in a meet- lor Vijay Khole and members of the of science through discussions and com- ing with fellow astronomers, which had physics faculty, Kumar approached Anil mittees. It was often an interesting expe- taken place in the hall between sessions Kakodkar, who was then the Secretary of rience to be on a committee with him, for of the conference. I do not remember the Department of Atomic Energy. appointments, promotions, reviews and whether I ever narrated this story to him. Kakodkar, in his own words, agreed to other institutional matters. He was never In his personal life Kumar was inse- support the setting up of a joint centre, dominating or intrusive. At the beginning parable from his wife, Suvarna Chitre, providing the university granted the ven- of a meeting he seemed to be in full who always travelled with him on his ture the autonomy required to enable it to agreement with people who had called long visits to so many countries and ci- rise to the national level. the meeting. Then in a soft manner he ties over the years. Suvarna taught in The result of the effort was the esta- began to ask the occasional question or schools for children with special needs, blishment of the MU-DAE Centre for make a comment and soon the case ap- which she continued to do until recently. Excellence in Basic Sciences. It has peared to be wide open, sometimes to the She and Kumar were ever gracious hosts developed into a centre with excellent alarm of his hosts. The meeting finally and their hospitality seemed to extend faculty and students and very good facili- ended with the correct decision having without limit. When my wife and I went ties. Kumar was Chair of the Academic been reached, which often was what the to their place in the TIFR colony for the Council of the Centre and member of the hosts had in mind; in the process the first time, we were quite nervous. But we Governing Board. But his true contribu- hosts typically obtained very good in- were soon put to ease in the elegant am- tion came through the courses that he sight into the issues involved and a les- bience, and enjoyed the occasion very tirelessly gave and his mentoring of the son in putting forward their case with much in spite of so many senior people young students. He was delivering lec- care and diligence. I have once seen being present. While that first experience tures from his home until a few weeks Kumar in a meeting convincing Prof. is still sharp in our minds, many such oc- before he was admitted to hospital for Govind Swarup to make an about turn, a casions spread over countries and cities the last time, and his students helped the feat not many have achieved. blur together, ending with a visit to their family through his illness. There really While it is straightforward to take home in Versova, so full of paintings by was no gap between the teacher and his stock of the professional work done by a greats like K. H. Ara as well as by his students, in spite of the age difference of scientist, and the larger contributions talented students. Kumar is now gone, more than 60 years between them. made to society, it is difficult to keep leaving behind Suvarna, their two sons Kumar did valuable work for the Tata count of the small impressions made and Yatin and Yougandh, their families and a Trusts, as a Trustee for the J.N. Tata En- influences exerted on individuals, which host of friends, colleagues and collabora- dowment Fund for Indian students for can go a long way in shaping and im- tors with fond memories. He will be studies abroad, and as Honorary Execu- proving their lives. I have personally greatly missed. tive Director of the Homi Bhabha Fel- gained much through my interactions lowships Council. Kumar’s connection with Kumar. Some of my experiences AJIT KEMBHAVI with the Tata Trusts proved to be very may appear to be inconsequential, but the useful for the LIGO-India project. When fact that I remember them over so many Emeritus Professor, I was Director of IUCAA, he helped me years shows they have been important to Inter-University Centre for Astronomy to formulate and navigate through the me, perhaps in ways I may not con- and Astrophysics, Tata Trusts a project for developing hu- sciously understand. I first met Kumar Pune 411 007, India man resources for LIGO-India. The large with a few of my friends from Ramna- e-mail: [email protected]

Edited by S. K. Satheesh, and printed & published by G. Madhavan for Current Science Association, Bengaluru 560 080. Typeset by WINTECS Typesetters, Bengaluru and Printed at Lotus Printers Pvt Ltd, Bengaluru (Ph: 2320 9909) © 2021, Current Science Association

958 CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 120, NO. 5, 10 MARCH 2021