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Dear All,<br>
<br>
I recently heard the sad news of the passing away of one of our
visiting professors, Padma Shukla. He was an exceptional scientist
and will be greatly missed. Bob Bingham has co-authored the
following obituary.<br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
<br>
Rob<span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p><br>
<br>
=========================================== <br>
</o:p></span>
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<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-align:justify">Padma
Kant Shukla 1950-2013.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-align:justify">Professor
Padma Kant Shukla passed away on the 26th of January in New
Delhi, India, just after receiving the prestigious Hind Rattan
(Jewel of India) Award. He was born in the village Tulapur,
Uttar Pradesh (UP), India and was educated there. After his
Ph.D. in Physics from Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi, he
obtained his second doctorate degree in Theoretical Plasma
Physics from Umea University under the supervision of one of
us (Lennart Stenflo). He worked at the Faculty of Physics
& Astronomy, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany since January
1973, where he was a permanent faculty member and Professor of
International Affairs, a position that was created for him to
honour his international accomplishments and reputation.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-align:justify"> Padma
was a great friend, colleague and collaborator. He was
passionate about science and had an infectious enthusiasm that
touched everyone who knew him. Padma was an inspiration to
those around him and was responsible for discovering and
mentoring young scientific talents around the world – national
borders were no barriers when it came to scientific
collaborations. For this he was honoured the 2005 APS
Nicholson Medal for Human Outreach by the American Physical
Society. Padma also received the prestigious 2006
Gay-Lussac/Humboldt Prize from the French Ministry of
Education and Research. He is the First Laureate of the 22nd
Khwarizmi International Award from the IROST, Iran.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-align:justify"> Padma
was undoubtedly one of the world's most renowned plasma
physicists. He pioneered and developed many plasma physics
topics that we are researching on today. He had wide ranging
research interests in multidisciplinary sciences including
basic and nonlinear physics, nonlinear geophysical flows,
atmospheric physics and environmental sciences. He was a
prodigious publisher with more than 1500 authored papers and
is one of the most cited plasma physicists.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-align:justify"> His
list of honorary appointments are impressive and include
visiting professorships at the Department of Physics, Umea
University, Sweden and at the Scottish Universities Physics
Alliance (SUPA) Department of Physics, University of
Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland (UK), as well as a full
professorship at GoLP/Centre for Plasma Physics and Nuclear
Fusion, IST, Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal, an
honorary professorship at the School of Physics, University of
KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa, a distinguished adjunct
professorship at COMSATS Institute of Information Technology,
Islamabad, Pakistan, and an adjunct professorship at National
Physics Centre, Islamabad, Pakistan. He has honorary
doctorates from the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow and
the Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal. In addition,
he is Fellow of the American Physical Society, Fellow of the
Institute of Physics (UK), and Corresponding Fellow of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh (Scotland, UK), a Foreign Member of
the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Royal Swedish
Academy of Engineering Sciences, and an Associate Member of
the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (Trieste,
Italy).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-align:justify">Padma
was a powerful character, and an extraordinary worker,
motivating people around him. He used to say "You are born to
carry out your work, without hoping to be rewarded". And also:
"Do not forget your roots, but adopt the society in which you
live". His homeland was Germany and Europe, which he adopted
and where he worked. He was honoured by many universities and
scientific organisations around the globe. He was not only an
excellent teacher and mentor, but was also conscious of giving
something back. Since 1989, Padma was co-organiser of the
plasma physics activities (Summer Colleges and Workshops in
Plasma Physics) at the Abdus Salam International Centre for
Theoretical Physics, Trieste (Italy). At the centre, he
interacted with young scientists from all over the world,
encouraging them to work on new ideas. This gained him respect
from all generations for his vision and imagination.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-align:justify"> We
have lost not only a great scientist but a dear friend.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;text-align:justify">He
is survived by his wife Ranjana and sons Prashant, Predhiman
and Pushpesh.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span
style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-fareast-language:EN-US">Bob
Bingham, Bengt Eliasson, Tito Mendonca, Lennart Stenflo<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
<p style="font-size:small">
===============================================================<br>
Professor Robert Martin,<br>
Head of Department,<br>
Department of Physics,<br>
University of Strathclyde, <br>
John Anderson Building, <br>
Glasgow, UK, <br>
G4 0NG<br>
<br>
tel: 0141-5483132<br>
fax: 0141-5522891<br>
e-mail: <a href="mailto:r.w.martin@strath.ac.uk">r.w.martin@strath.ac.uk</a><br>
<br>
<img src="cid:part2.07020401.09060202@strath.ac.uk"
width="180">
<br>
The Department is a partner in SUPA, the Scottish Universities
Physics Alliance <br>
The University of Strathclyde is a charitable body, registered
in Scotland, number SC015263<br>
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