Climbing the Limitless Ladder

This important book is an autobiographical account of doing scientific research in India. It provides an insight to the perseverance of a scientist from a developing country. His relentless pursuit of excellence in chemistry for more than half a century is a remarkable source of inspiration to young scientists facing modern-day challenges.

C.N.R. Rao is the National Research Professor, Linus Pauling Research Professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) and honorary professor at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). He was director of IISc and President of JNCASR. C.N.R. Rao is an author of 1400 research papers and has written or edited 43 books dealing with spectroscopy, solid state and materials chemistry, superconductivity, nanomaterials and such topics. Some of his books are meant for school and college students. He has received 48 honorary doctorate degrees from Indian and foreign universities He is a member of most of the major science academies including the science academies in India, Royal Society (London), U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Royal Society of Canada, as well as French, Spanish, Brazilian, Japan and Pontifical Academies.

C.N.R. Rao has received numerous prizes and medals of which mention must be made of the Marlow medal of the Faraday Society (1967), Bhatnagar Prize (1968), Hevrovsky gold medal of the Czechoslovak Academy (1989), Einstein gold medal of UNESCO (1996), Centenary medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry, London (2000), Hughes medal (2000) as well as the Royal medal (2009) of the Royal Society (London), and Nikkei Prize (2008). He is the first recipient of the India Science Award of the Government of India (2005) and received the Dan David Prize for science in the future dimension in 2005 for his work on advanced materials. The August-Wilhelm-von-Hoffmann Medal (2010) has just been conferred by the German Chemical Society.

The President of India has conferred Padma Shri (1974) and Padma Vibhushan (1985) on C.N.R. Rao. He was conferred the Order of Scientific Merit (Grand-Cross) in 2002 by the President of Brazil, and the Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur by the President of France in 2005. He has been a distinguished professor at the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and California. He has been President of the science academies in India and of TWAS and has served several national and international scientific organizations and academies as well as the Government of India in various capacities. He is the chairman of the Science Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India.