Chandigarh March 14, 2022
Eminent scholar passes away
Dr Rajesh Kochhar passed away on 13th March after a brief illness. Professor Kochhar had been a Jawaharlal Fellow, a Fulbright Visiting Lecturer, a Visiting Scholar at University of Cambridge Department of History and Philosophy of Science; and honorary professor of History of Science and Technology at National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore. He was the recipient of National Academy of Sciences India’s Professor R. C. Gupta Endowment History of Science Lecture Award and Indian National Science Academy’s 2014 Indira Gandhi Prize for Popularization of Science.
Professor Rajesh Kochhar was an Honorary Professor, Panjab University Mathematics Department and Co-convenor of the Panjab University Ruchi Ram Sahni 150th Birth Anniversary Celebrations Committee.
He obtained his M.Sc. Honours School in Physics in 1967 and Ph.D. in 1973, both from Panjab University, Chandigarh, where he began his career as a lecturer. He was a Professor at Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore, in 1999, when he moved over to New Delhi to take charge as Director NISTADS: National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies, New Delhi (CSIR). He had also been a Professor of Pharmaceutical Heritage in NIPER: National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (Government of India), Mohali.
Professor Kochhar published original research in a number of fields :history and sociology of science & technology; science and education policy; ancient Indian history; and modern astronomy and astrophysics. He authored a number of books, saliently , The Vedic People ( Orient Black Swan), English Education in India, 1715-1835 (Routledge),and Sanskrit & British Empire ( Routledge). His views had been sought and published by magazines like Science and Nature as also by BBC Radio.
He had lectured extensively in India and abroad including Harvard, Cornell, University of Texas at Austin, Belfast, Brighton, Royal Dublin Society ,Tubingen,Copenhagen University and National Museum Copenhagen. He delivered a number of commemorative lectures including the 67th J.C. Bose Memorial Lecture at Bose Institute Kolkata and Akshoy Datta Memorial Lecture at Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Kolkata. He also contributed articles in The Hindu, The Tribune, Indian Express, Times of India and other newspapers over the years.
