MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: Rajagopala ChidambaramIndia’s foremost nuclear weapons designer and an necessary participant in each of India’s Pokhran nuclear exams — Smiling Buddha in May 1974 and Operation (*88*) in May 1998 — handed away at Mumbai’s Jaslok Hospital at 3.20 am on Saturday following well being problems. He was 88.
According to these near him, Chidambaram had sustained a head harm after a fall at BARC in Nov 2024 and had been admitted to Jaslok Hospital. He was discharged however was readmitted due to well being points.
Chidambaram, usually referred to as the “Indian Oppenheimer”, was given a state funeral.
The particulars of the Pokhran-2 exams had been high quality-tuned at the marriage of Chidambaram’s second daughter at a corridor in Mumbai attended by Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. Chidambaram himself advised an viewers of almost 2,000 in Sion in 2015 that as the marriage rituals had been in progress, he and Kalam had slipped unnoticed into a close-by room and finalized preparations for the nuclear check.
Referring to Chidambaram’s position in Pokhran-2, Col Gopal Kaushik (Retd), described as the most effective secrets and techniques keeper of the nuclear exams after he hoodwinked the spy satellites, advised TOI that in the course of the exams Chidambaram’s code identify was “Maj Gen Nataraj”. “Chidambaram was well-versed with the nuances of a nuclear experiment of this magnitude and was instrumental in ensuring only indigenously sourced nuclear material was used for the tests,” Col Kaushik (Retd) said.
In 1967, Chidambaram joined the nuclear weapon designing effort, dealing mainly with the metallurgical and physical aspects of nuclear weapons. As a nuclear scientist, his main focus was on high pressure physics, crystallography and materials science.
For India’s first nuclear weapons test, on May 18, 1974, he and his colleague carried the plutonium device in a military truck from Mumbai to Pokhran. He writes in India Rising. Memoir Of A Scientist: “Nobody except us knew which box contained the plutonium. During the entire journey, we would have the beds brought in the truck and slept inside the truck. Since we halted at military officers’ messes en route, the military people thought there was something wrong with us.
Born in the erstwhile Madras Province in 1936, Chidambaram, who was an alumnus of Presidency College, Chennai, and Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, held several prestigious roles throughout his illustrious career, including being principal scientific advisor to the Union Govt (2001– 2018), director of Bhabha Atomic Research Center (1990-1993), Atomic Energy Commission chairman, and secretary of the Department of Atomic Energy (1993-2000). He was also International Atomic Energy Agency board of governors chairman and served as a member of IAEA’s Commission of Eminent Persons, contributing to the organization’s vision for 2020 and beyond. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1975 and Padma Vibhushan in 1999.
“Deeply saddened” by his demise, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated in a put up on He will likely be remembered with gratitude by the entire nation and his efforts will encourage generations to come back.”
As a world-class physicist, Chidambaram’s analysis in excessive-strain physics, crystallography and supplies science considerably superior the scientific group’s understanding of those fields. His pioneering work in these areas laid the inspiration for contemporary supplies science analysis in India.
Chidambaram was additionally instrumental in initiating India’s indigenous improvement of supercomputers and conceptualising the National Knowledge Network.
On Saturday, his physique was taken from the hospital to his residence at Deonar the place guests paid their final respects. From there it was moved to the Barc conference middle at Trombay the place extra individuals paid homage. At round 6 pm it was taken to the Deonar crematorium for the ultimate rites. Top scientists and officers from the nuclear fraternity attended the funeral.
AEC chairman Ajit Kumar Mohanty stated: “Dr Chidambaram was a doyen of science and know-how whose contributions furthered India’s nuclear prowess and strategic self-reliance. His loss is an irreparable one for the scientific group and the nation.”
Two months after Pokhran-2, Chidambaram confronted an issue. The US State Department denied him a visa to attend a gathering of the American Crystollographic Association in Washington DC as a result of he was a key participant in Pokhran-2.
The 41,000-member American Physical Society protested in opposition to the choice and Irving A Lerch, director of the society’s worldwide affairs division, was quoted by NYT as saying that even in the course of the peak of the Cold War Soviets had been granted US visas. After this Chidambaram made a lot of journeys to the US.
