K. S. Chandrasekharan

Who is K. S. Chandrasekharan?

Komaravolu S. Chandrasekharan is a professor emeritus at Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich. and a founding faculty member of School of Mathematics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. He is known for his work in number theory and summability and was given numerous awards including Padma Shri, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award, Ramanujan Medal, and Honorary fellow of TIFR.

Mr.Chandrasekharan was born in 1920 to a School head master Mr.Komaravolu Rajaiah and Padmakshamma. Chandrasekharan completed his high school from Bapatla village in Guntur from Andhra Pradesh. He completed his M.A. in mathematics from the Presidency College, Chennai and a Ph.D. from the Department of Mathematics, University of Madras in 1942, under the supervision of K. Ananda Rau.

When Chandrasekharan was with the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, U.S.A., Homi Bhabha invited Chandrashekharan to join the School of Mathematics of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. Chandrasekharan persuaded mathematicians from all over the world, to visit TIFR and deliver courses of lectures. They were L. Schwarz, C. L. Siegel and many more. In 1965, Chandrashekharan, after the death of Dr. Homi Bhabha in a plane crash, left the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research to join the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, where he retired in 1988.