Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar

About Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar

Sir Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar OBE, FRS (21 February 1894 – 1 January 1955) was a well-known Indian scientist, a professor of chemistry for over 19 years. He was the first director-general of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), and he is revered as the "father of research laboratories". He was also the first Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC).

To honour his name and achievements, CSIR instituted an award Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, since 1958 for outstanding scientists who made significant contributions in various branches of science.

Early life

Bhatnagar was born in Bhera, Punjab region of Pakistan, in a Hindu kayastha family. His father, Parmeshwari Sahai Bhatnagar, died when he was eight months old and he spent his childhood in the house of his maternal grandfather, an engineer, from whom he developed a liking for science and engineering. He used to enjoy building mechanical toys, electronic batteries, string telephones. From his maternal family he also inherited a gift of poetry. He studied elementary education at the DAV High School, Sikandarabad. In 1911 he joined the newly established Dayal Singh College, Lahore, where he became an active member of the Saraswati Stage Society. Bhatnagar earned a good reputation as an actor. He wrote a Urdu one-act play called Karamati (Wonder worker), the English translation of which earned him the prize and medal of the Saraswati Stage Society for the best play of the year 1912. Bhatnagar passed the Intermediate Examination of the Punjab University in 1913 in first class, and joined the Forman Christian College from where he obtained BSc with major in physics in 1916, and MSc in chemistry in 1919.

Education and early research

Bhatnagar was awarded a scholarship by the Dyal Singh College Trust to study abroad. Therefore he left for America via England. But as luck would have it, in England he could not find a berth on ships as they were all reserved for American troops who were then being demobilised due to the First World War. The Trustee permitted him to join the University College London under chemistry professor Frederick G. Donnan. He earned his DSc in 1921. While in London, he was additionally supported by the British Department of Scientific and Industrial Research with fellowship of £250 a year. In August 1921 he returned to India and immediately joined the newly established Banaras Hindu University (BHU) as a professor of chemistry, where he remained for three years. He wrote the ‘Kulgeet’ (University song). Justice N.H. Bhagwati, Vice-Chancellor of BHU said: "Many of you perhaps do not know that besides being an eminent scientist, Professor Bhatnagar was a Hindi poet of repute and that during his stay in Banaras, he composed the ‘Kulgeet’ of the University...Prof. Bhatnagar is remembered with reverence in this University and will continue to be so remembered till this University exists." He moved to Lahore as Professor of Physical Chemistry and Director of University Chemical Laboratories of the University of the Punjab. This career was the most active period of his life in original scientific work. His research interests included emulsions, colloids, and industrial chemistry, but his fundamental contributions were in the field of magneto-chemistry, the use of magnetism for the study of chemical reactions. In 1928 he and K.N. Mathur jointly invented what they called the Bhatnagar-Mathur Magnetic Interference Balance, which was one of the most sensitive instruments for measuring magnetic properties. It was exhibited at the Royal Society Soiree in 1931 and it was marketed by Messers Adam Hilger and Co, London.

Professional career

Bhatnagar's first industrial problem was developing the process for converting bagasse (peelings of sugarcane) into food-cake for cattle. This was done for Sir Ganga Ram, the Grand Old Man of Punjab. He also solved industrial problems for Delhi Cloth Mills, J.K. Mills Ltd. of Kanpur, Ganesh Flour Mills Ltd. of Layallapur, Tata Oil Mills Ltd. of Bombay, and Steel Brothers & Co. Ltd. of London.

His major innovation was improving the procedure for drilling crude oil. The Attock Oil Company at Rawalpindi (representative of Messers Steel Brothers & Co London) had confronted a peculiar problem, wherein the mud used for drilling operation got hardened upon contact with the saline water, thereby clogging the drill holes. Bhatnagar realised that this problem could be solved by colloidal chemistry. He added an Indian gum, which had the remarkable property of lowering the viscosity of the mud suspension and of increasing at the same time its stability against the flocculating action of electrolytes. M/s Steel Brothers was so pleased that they offered Bhatnagar a sum of Rs. 1,50,000/- for research work on any subject related to petroleum. The company placed the fund through the university and it was used to establish the Department of Petroleum Research under the guidance of Bhatnagar. Investigations carried out under this collaborative scheme included deodourisation of waxes, increasing flame height of kerosene and utilisation of waste products in vegetable oil and mineral oil industries. Acknowledging the commercial success of the research, the company increased the fund, and extended the period from five years to ten years.

Bhatnagar persistently refused personal monetary benefit from his research fundings, and instead advocated for strengthening research facilities at the university. His sacrifices drew wide attention. Meghnad Saha wrote to Bhatnagar in 1934 saying, ‘You have hereby raised the status of the university teachers in the estimation of public, not to speak of the benefit conferred on your Alma Mater’.

Bhatnagar wrote jointly with K.N. Mathur Physical Principles and Applications of Magnetochemistry which is considered as a standard work on the subject.