[Academic] Visiting Professor Padma Shukla

[Rob Martin]

Dear All,

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.

Regards,

Rob

===========================================

Padma Kant Shukla 1950-2013.

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.

  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.

  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.

  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).

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.

  We have lost not only a great scientist but a dear friend.

He is survived by his wife Ranjana and sons Prashant, Predhiman and 
Pushpesh.

Bob Bingham, Bengt Eliasson, Tito Mendonca, Lennart Stenflo



-- 

===============================================================
Professor Robert Martin,
Head of Department,
Department of Physics,
University of Strathclyde,
John Anderson Building,
Glasgow, UK,
G4 0NG

tel: 0141-5483132
fax: 0141-5522891
e-mail: r.w.martin at strath.ac.uk <mailto:r.w.martin at strath.ac.uk>


The Department is a partner in SUPA, the Scottish Universities Physics 
Alliance
The University of Strathclyde is a charitable body, registered in 
Scotland, number SC015263



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