In Pursuit of Excellence - A tribute to G Ramachandran

Book excerpt: Prof. G. Ramachandran (1936-2020) taught physics to the students pursuing M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees at the Department of Studies in Physics, Manasagangotri, University of Mysore, as a Professor from 1973 till 1996, when he formally retired. Later, he continued working in the department till 2001 as a CSIR Emeritus Scientist. During this period, more than 20 batches of post graduate students learnt the beauty of theoretical physics listening to his course of lectures. Under his supervision more than a dozen students earned the PhD degree, drawing great appreciation from the thesis examiners. He moved to Bengaluru in 2001 and worked as a Visiting Professor at Indian Institute of Astrophysics till 2007. Thereafter, he continued to mentor several students in their research work. Prof. Ramachandran – GR to all his students- passed away on April 9, 2020. This book is a tribute to GR by his students, colleagues and admirers who were inspired by his lectures, research work, devotion to physics and, above all, his simple lifestyle. The book is a collection of articles which give us a glimpse of GR’s academics at IMSc (Chennai), ISI (Kolkata), IISc (Bengaluru), University of Mysore and IIA (Bengaluru).