Gadagkar, R (2021) Professor SM Chitre - A Tribute. In: Khagol Vishwa, Prof. Chitre Special, 2021 . p. 4.
|
PDF
342 Gadagkar 2021-Professor SM Chitre - A Tribute.pdf - Published Version Download (279kB) | Preview |
Abstract
I was pained to hear from my former student Dr. Sujata Deshpande, of the passing away of Professor Shashikumar Madhusudan Chitre, on 11th January 2021. I have been privileged to have had a long association with Prof. Chitre. My first vivid recollection of Prof. Chitre is from 1994 when he chaired a committee that interviewed me for the prestigious Homi Bhabha Fellowship. I was deeply moved by Prof. Chitre’s scholarship in and outside the natural sciences, his humility, his grace and his smile. I never since lost an opportunity to chat with him and always came away with optimism. I also had frequent interactions with him while we both served on the council of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore. Prof. Chitre had a remarkable ability to communicate the essence, and the excitement of little pieces of scientific research carried out by him and his students and even more often, by people who were being considered for a prize or a fellowship. I often remember these expositions by Prof. Chitre with nostalgic regret, when we nowadays spend so much time discussing the numbers of citations and other indices of performance of the candidates and learn nothing about their science. Prof. Chitre epitomised a culture of science that recognised no disciplinary boundaries, a culture in which science and the arts were organically connected, a culture imbued with humanism. I will miss Prof. Chitre. The passing away of individuals is the law of nature, but there is no reason that we should let the cultural and human values embodied by people like Prof. Chitre also to pass on. We can pay no greater tribute to Prof. Chitre than to cherish and perpetuate the qualities in him that made us all so fond of him.
Item Type: | Journal Article |
---|---|
Publication: | Khagol Vishwa, Prof. Chitre Special |
Publisher: | Khagol Mandal The Largest Organization of Amateur Astronomers in Mumbai |
Department/Centre: | Division of Biological Sciences > Centre for Ecological Sciences |
Date Deposited: | 18 Mar 2021 05:59 |
Last Modified: | 18 Mar 2021 05:59 |
URI: | http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/68423 |
Actions (login required)
View Item |