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DIANA HAYDEN

Model, Miss World, Actress

Diana Hayden, the 1997 Miss World was born in 1973 inHyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. She was the only Miss World to

have won a hat-trick at the pageant - Miss Photogenic, MissBeachwear and Miss World 1997.

A tomboy as a teenager, Diana grew up to be a ravishingbeauty. Diana's parents split up at her very young age, but herfamily including her mother and brother were still very close-knit. After completing her schooling at St Ann's High School,Secunderabad, she graduated from Osmania University inEnglish through correspondence. Diana shifted to Mumbai topursue her career goals. She then moved to Bangalore workingfor the event management company Encore and then again to Bombay.

Diana had a brief stint in modelling and did a couple of fashion shows in Bangalore andMumbai. Then she started work in the public relations division of BMG Crescendo, themusic company where she helped handle the careers of artistes like Anaida and Mehnaz. Itwas Anaida who forced her to send her pictures for the Miss India Contest and the rest ishistory.

R.K. NARAYAN

Writer

One of the most famous Indian writers in English Language,

R.K Narayan was born in 1906 in Madras. He was educated inMysore and settled there for over half a century. Narayancreated the enchanting fictional world of Malgudi through hisseveral novels and short stories which captivated his readersthroughout the world and more recently millions of IndianTelevision viewers, who saw TV adaptations of many Malgudistories. His famous works are ' Malgudi days' and ' Swamyand his Friends'. Narayan has a humorous way of presentinglife around him.

First Novel ' Swamy and Friends' (1935), and its successor, ' Bachelor of Art's (1937) are

both set in the enchanting fictional territory of Malgudi. His books are regularly publishedin USA, UK and India and have also been widely translated into several European andIndian languages. His novel, ' the Guide' (1958) won him the National Prize of the IndianLiterary Academy, the countrys highest Literary honour. He was awarded the A.C.BensonMedal in 1980 by the Royal Society of Literature and in 1981 he was made an HonorayMember of the American Academy and Institutes of Arts and letters. In addition to 4collection of short stories-A horse and 2 goats, An Astrologers Day and other stories,


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Lawley Road and Malgudi Days- he has published 2 travel books , 4 collection of essaysand several other books.

His biography 'R.K. Narayan, The Early Years' provides a splendid insight into the firstfour decades of his life. The famous cartoonist R.K.Laxman is his brother.

SALMAN RUSHDIE

Writer

Salman Rushdie is a famous writer. He was born in a KashmiriMuslim Family of Bombay and later migrated to Great Britain.Some of his well known books are 'Rome', ' Midnight's Children', 'Haroun and the sea of Stories' and the 'Moor's Last Sigh'. Hecommented against India in ' Midnight's Children' and made somecritical references about Islam in ' Satanic Verses'. He created aworld-wide furore and commotion with the publication of his book '

Satanic Verses'.

Most of the books of Salman Rushdie have been subject tocontroversies and discussions. The publication of ' Satanic Verses' has raised a storm in theentire Muslim World. This made Iran's spiritual leader Ayatollah Khomeini sentence himto death. So presently he lives in hiding in England. The matter even led to Britain severingdiplomatic ties with Iran. Rushdie's work Midnight's Children was awarded the 'Booker ofBookers' prize in 1993, which distinguishes as the best novel to have won the Booker prizeover its 25-year history. In 1996 he received the European Union Literary Award inDenmark.

SABEER BHATIAComputer Wizard

Sabeer Bhatia, the pioneer in the field of first web based e-mail - TheHotmail, was born in Chandigarh in the year 1969. He grew up in Bangaloreand had his early education at Bishops Cotton's School in Pune, then St.Joseph's College in Bangalore. For a short-time he was a student at the BirlaInstitute of Technology (BITS), Pilani and in 1988 he went to US on a CalTech Transfer scholarship to get a bachelor's degree at the CaliforniaInstitute of Technology. He earned a master's degree in electricalengineering from Stanford University.

After graduation, Sabeer briefly worked for Apple Computers as a hardware engineer andFirepower Systems Inc. While working there he was amazed at the fact that he could accessany software on the internet via a web browser. His success graph took off exponentiallywhen he, along with his colleague Jack Smith, set up Hotmail on 4th July1996. Today,Hotmail remains the world's largest e-mail provider with over 50 million registered users.As President and CEO, he guided Hotmail's rapid rise to industry leadership and itseventual acquisition by Microsoft in 1998. Bhatia worked at Microsoft for a little over a
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year after the Hotmail acquisition and in April 1999, he left Microsoft to start anotherventure, Arzoo Inc. It's an e-commerce firm with a revolutionary new way to shop on lineand may just turn out to be Bhatia's next multi-million dollar winner.

Bhatia's success has earned him widespread acclaim; The venture capital firm Draper

Fisher Jurvetson named him 'Entrepreneur of the Year 1997', MIT chose him as one of 100young innovators who are expected to have the greatest impact on technology and awarded'TR100', San Jose Mercury News and POVmagazine selected him as one of the ten mostsuccessful entrepreneurs of 1998 and Upside magazine's list of top trendsetters in the NewEconomy named him 'Elite 100'.

SWRAJ PAUL

Business Magnate

Lord Swraj Paul, the great business magnate was born in 1931 inJalandhar, Punjab. Having learned business lessons from his father at

a young age, he later founded the successful multinational companyCaparo, an UK-based steel and engineering group.

Swraj was educated at Punjab University and obtained a master'sdegree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology (MIT) in the US. In 1953 he returned to India to join theApeejay Surrendra Group, founded by his father, which he helpedbuild up to a diversified industrial group. Swraj went to England in1966 hoping to find a cure for his leukemia-stricken two-year-olddaughter, Ambika. Shattered by her death, he buried himself in work and there began hisspectacular business career in Britain.

In 1968, he started buying and selling steel in a one-man business and acquired a smalltube unit, Natural Gas Tubes (NGT), which developed into one of the leading UKproducers of welded steel tube and spiral welded pipe. Gradually he bought more units,mainly in the steel products manufacturing industry and founded Caparo Group in 1978.Her Majesty the Queen knighted Swraj Paul in the same year, thereby making him TheLord Paul of Marylebone and a member of the House of Lords.

Lord Paul has been honoured by various international organisations over the years. He haswritten the biography of Indira Gandhi and was awarded the Padma Bhushan by her in1983. Among the honours bestowed on him are the Pro-Chancellorship of the Thames

University (1998) and its Governorship (1992-97), Chancellorship of WolverhamptonUniversity and the Bharat Gaurav award by the Indian Merchant's Chamber. He is amember of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Foreign Policy Centre AdvisoryCouncil and MIT's Mechanical Engineering Visiting Committee.

Swraj stepped down from the management of Caparo in 1996, handing over his empire tohis three sons. Though he is one of the richest persons in the U.K., in his personal life Lord
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Paul practices relative simplicity. But he believes in making money so that he canoccasionally use it to help the needy or even bail out the London Zoo.

GHANSHYAM DAS BIRLA

Founder of Birla Group of Industries

G.D. Birla was a great architect of India's industrial growth. He started his career inCalcutta at the beginning of this century. He entered the field ofbusiness during the days of the First World War and establishedhimself after the war years.

He established a cotton mill in Sabzi Mandi, Delhi followed byKeshoram Cotton Mills and Birla Jute Mills around 1920. In 1919,with an investment of 50 lacs, the Birla Brothers Limited was formedand thereafter a mill was set up in Gwalior.

In the decade of the 30's he set up Sugar and Paper mills. From 1943 to 1946, BirlaBrothers ventured into the area of cars.

He had also established Ruby, Asiatic Insurance Co and Inland Air Service.

After independence, the Birlas expanded their business and started production in manyfields. Near Mirzapur, he, in collaboration with Caesar, an American friend, set up anAluminum Plant 'Hindalco'. He also started many educational Institutions. To his credit gomany temples, planetariums and hospitals. During the decades of 70's and 80's, Birlabrothers were among the topmost Industrial Houses of India. G.D. Birla award forscientific Research has been established to encourage scientists for their contribution in the

various fields of scientific Research.

AZIM HASHAM PREMJI

Founder of Wipro Limited

Azim Hasham Premji, founder of Wipro Limited, India's biggest and most competitive ITcompany based in Bangalore, was born on July 24th 1945 in Bombay. Premji was forced toleave his studies in computer science from Stanford University, California, USA at the ageof 21 to take over the family business of vegetable oils when his father M.H. Premji,

suddenly passed away in 1966. He has since after a gap of over thirty years completed hisdegree in Electrical Engineering.

The Amalner-based vanaspathi manufacturing company, the Western India VegetableProduct later became Wipro Products Ltd, Wipro Technologies and Wipro Corporation.Under Premji's leadership Wipro embarked on an ambitious phase of expansion anddiversification. The Company began manufacturing light bulbs with General Electric andother consumer products including soaps, baby care products, shampoos, powder etc. In


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1975, Wipro Fluid Power business unit manufacturinghydraulic cylinders and truck tippers was started. ButPremji's ambitions did not stop there. In the 1980s Wiproentered the IT field, taking advantage of the expulsion ofIBM from the Indian market in 1975. Thus, Wipro became

involved in manufacturing computer hardware, softwaredevelopment and related items, under a special licensefrom Sentinel. As a result, the $1.5 million company inhydrogenated cooking fats grew within a few years to a$662 million diversified, integrated corporation inservices, medical systems, technology products andconsumer items with offices worldwide.

The company's IT division became the worlds first to winSEI CMM level 5 and PCMM Level 5 (People Capability Maturity Model) certification,the latest in quality standards. A large percentage of the company's revenues are generated

by the IT division. Wipro works with leading global companies, such as Alcatel, Nokia,Cisco and Nortel and has a joint venture in Medical Systems with General Electriccompany.

Premji's story of success and prominence clearly shows how determination andperseverance, when coupled with knowledge, clear vision and proper planning, enable oneto reach the peak of success and leadership. A straight forward person, he doesn't believe inresorting to bribery or corruption to get things done and associates quality with integrity.He is an absolute workaholic and according to him work is the only way to success andsurvival in a competitive environment. A tough employer, he expects his employees to becompetent and will not tolerate lies or deception from anyone.

Azim Hasham Premji finds himself in the Forbes Billionaire List 2000, placed in 41stposition with a wealth of $ 6.4 billion. Over the years, Azim Premji has been privilegedwith many honors and accolades. He was chosen as the Business India's 'Businessman ofthe Year 2000', He was named by Fortune (August 2003) as one of the 25 most powerfulbusiness leaders outside the US, Forbes (March 2003) listed him as one of ten peopleglobally, Business Week featured (October 2003) him on their cover with the sobriquet'India's tech king'. The Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee and the Manipal Academyof Higher Education have both conferred honorary doctorates on him. He is also a memberof the Prime Minister's Advisory Committee for Information Technology in India.

In the year 2001, Premji established Azim Premji Foundation, a not-for-profit organizationwith a vision of influencing the lives of millions of children in India by facilitating theuniversalisation of elementary education. The foundation works closely with the stategovernments of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh etc and the programs coverover 5000 rural schools. Premji contributes thefinancial resources for thefoundation.Personally, Premji is known for his humility and helping mentality. Easily oneof the richest men in the world, he always travels in economy class.
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One of his favorite recreational activity is hiking. He leads a quiet life with his wifeYasmin Premji who had worked for 'Inside Outside' (editorial) in Mumbai and his two sonsin a simple, but elegant villa in Bangalore. The elder son, Rishad, works in the USA for GEand the younger one, Tariq, has co-founded a dotcom and works from Bangalore. Mr.Premji who holds 78% stakes in the company does not believe in naming one of his sons as

his successor just for the norms.

N.R. NARAYANA MURTHY

Chairman of Infosys Technologies

NR Narayana Murthy, chairman of Infosys Technologies oneof the biggest IT empire in India, was born on August 20,1946 in Karnataka. Murthy obtained his Bachelor of ElectricalEngineering (B.E.) from University of Mysore in 1967 and his

Master of Technology (M.Tech.) from Indian Institute ofTechnology (IIT), Kanpur in 1969.

In the early seventies, Narayana Murthy took up employmentwith SESA in Paris. He worked with a team to design a realtime operating system for handling air cargo for Charles deGaulle airport. He came back to India after 3 years and took upa job with Patni Computer Systems in Pune. In 1981, Murthyfounded Infosys Technologies along with six softwareprofessionals which later became one of the leading softwarecompany. In March 1999, Infosys became the first India-registered company to be listed

on an American stock exchange.

Personally, Murthy is known for his simplicity and helping mentality. He founded theInfosys Foundation, a social welfare trust for helping the needy. He has a liking forWestern Classical music and has liberal ideas. Murthy's ability to put forth his viewpointsand all his other qualities make him a unique personality.

Murthy holds several coveted positions. He was the President of National Association ofSoftware and Service Companies (NASSCOM) from 1992 to 1994. He is a member of theNational Information Technology Task Force of India, the Prime Minister's Council onTrade and Industry, Asia Society's International Council and Board of Councilors of the

University of Southern California School of Engineering. He is a Director on the board ofthe Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and is also on the Wharton Business School's AsianExecutive Board.

Murthy was honoured by 'JRD Tata Corporation Leadership Award' in 1996-97, 'AlumniAward' in 1998, 'The ET Businessperson of the Year Award' in 2000-2001 and 'The MaxSchmidheiny Award' in 2001. He was chosen as the Business India's 'Businessman of the
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Year 1999', the Indian corporate world's most coveted award. The credit goes to Mr.Murthy for making India one of the known names in the IT world.

Sunil Bharti Mittal

Chairman and Managing Director of Bharti Group

Sunil Bharti Mittal, founder, Chairman and Managing Director of BhartiGroup can be labelled as the most ambitious telecom entrepreneur in India.Sunil a former student ofHarvard Business School, graduated from PunjabUniversity. The son of a parliamentarian, Sunil did not want to follow hisfather's footsteps. He had shown an interest in business even from his teenagedays. So after graduation, Sunil got together with his friend and formed asmall bicycle business with borrowed capital in the1970s. But by 1979, herealized that this business would remain small. So he moved out of Ludhiana,spent a few years in Mumbai and in 1981, was running an import anddistribution operation out of New Delhi and Mumbai.

By 1982, Mittal had started a full-fledged business selling portable generatorsimported from Japan and that gave him the chance to involve himself in activities likemarketing and advertising. Things went smoothly until the government banned the importof generators as two Indian companieswere awarded licenses to manufacture generatorslocally.

Sunil Mittal got interested in push button phones while on a trip to Taiwan, and in 1982,introduced the phones to India, replacing the old fashioned, bulky rotary phones that werein use in the country then. Bharti Telecom Limited (BTL) was incorporated and enteredinto a technical tie up with Siemens AG of Germany for manufacture of electronic push

button phones. By the early 1990s, Mittal was making fax machines, cordless phones andother telecom gear.

The turning point came in 1992 when the Indian government was awarding licenses formobile phone services for the first time. One of the conditions for the Delhi cellular licensewas that the bidder have some experience as a telecom operator. Mittal clinched a deal withthe French telecom group Vivendi. Two years later, Sunil secured rights to serve NewDelhi. In 1995, Bharti Cellular Limited (BCL) was formed to offer cellular services underthe brand name AirTel. Within a few years Bharti became the first telecom company tocross the 2-million mobile subscriber mark. The company is also instrumental in bringingdown the high STD/ISD, cellular rates in the country by rolling the countries first privatenational as well as international long-distance service under the brand name IndiaOne. In2001, the company entered into a joint venture with Singapore Telecom International for a$650-million ubmarine cable project, the countries first ever undersea cable link connectingChennai in India and Singapore.

Always on the move and making an impact and excelling in whatever he did, this clearthinking risk taker has changed the face of the Indian ICT space. For his contributions hehas been honoured with several awards. He was chosen as one of the top entrepreneurs in
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the world for the year 2000 and amongst 'Stars Of Asia', by 'Business Week', he receivedIT Man of the Year Award 2002 from Dataquest and CEO Of the Year, 2002 Award(World HRD Congress). He is the member of National Council ofConfederation of IndianIndustry(CII), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI),Chairman, Indo-US Joint Business Council, Member, Advisory Committee constituted by

Ministry of IT. Mittal has to his credit the breaking up of the 100 year old monopoly ofstate run companies to operate telecom services in India. Now he heads a successful empirefocused on different areas of business through independent Joint Venture companies with amarket capitalization of approximately $ 2 billion, employing over 5,000 people and stillgrowing. Bharti Foundation has funded over 50 schools in Madhya Pradesh and alsodonated Rs 200 million to IIT Delhi for building a Bharti School of Technology andManagement.

In spite of his deep involvement in work, Mittal the man, is calm, seldom ruffled and verydown to earth. He says he achieves a sense of detachment and peace with regular practiceof yoga. He is thankful for a supportive family including a daughter and twin sons, with

whom understandably he doesn't get much time to spend. His brothers Rakesh and Rajanare with him inthe business.

K.R GOWRI AMMAPolitician

K.R.Gowri - Popularly known as Gowri Amma, a prominent figure in the CommunistMovement in Kerala, has played a profound and significant role in determining the destinyof the state. A relentless and staunch crusader for the

downtrodden, she has proved herself as an efficientadministrator while remaining a perceptive politician.K.R.Gowri was born at Pattanakad, in Alappuzha district asthe seventh daughter of K.A.Raman and Parvathi. After herschooling at Thiroor and Cherthala, she graduated fromMaharajas College, Ernakulam. She then obtained her lawdegree from Law College, Ernakulam.

Starting her public life through trade union and peasantmovements, K.R. Gowri Amma was elected to theTravancore Council Of Legislative assembly in the Year1953 and 1954 with an overwhelming majority. In 1957,when the first elected Communist Government took officeunder the Chief Ministership of E.M.S. Namboodiripad,V.S. Achuthananthan was overtaken by the Communist couple from Alapuzha - T.V.Thomas and K.R. Gowri Amma, who went on to become influential Ministers. She becameRevenue minister in the first EMS Ministry in 1957 holding the portfolio of RevenueMinister. As revenue minister in the first communist ministry, she piloted the first landreforms bill.

Watch Interviewwith

K.R Gowri Amma
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Her marriage to fellow minister and CPI strongman T. V. Thomas is part of communistfolklore in Kerala. She got married to him in 1957 but they separated when the CommunistParty of India split into two, with Gowri joining the newly formed Communist Party ofIndia-Marxist in 1964. In 1967, both Gowriamma and Thomas became ministers in theNamboodiripad government and both of them lived in two nearby ministerial bungalows.

The CPI-M though dumped her later on, even though she was a prominent woman leader in1987, after projecting her initially as a chief ministerial candidate. On that occasion, E.K.Nayanar became CM, due to the machinations of the Malabar lobby.

In 1994, K.R. Gowri was expelled from CPI (M) on charges of anti-party activities, eventhough she was considered as one of the icons in the party. Following which, sheestablished a new political outfit named Janadipathya Samrakshana Samithi (JSS) andjoined the Congress-led United Democratic Front, which for years she opposed when shewas in the CPI-M. She was made a minister in the A.K. Antony cabinet in May 2001. Shebecame a minister again when Oommen Chandy took over from Antony as chief minister.

Gowri Amma has the unique distinction of sitting in the Kerala assembly for a record16,345 days, edging out former minister Baby John in terms of number of days and lateformer minister P.R. Kurup in terms of age. Gowri Amma also holds the record of winningall but one of 12 assembly elections in Kerala. The only defeat came in the 1977 polls. Shehas been minister six times.

RAJIV GANDHI

Ex Prime Minister of India

Rajiv Gandhi was born on August 20, 1944 in Mumbai. Born toparents, Firoz Gandhi and Priyadarshini Gandhi, he was heir to the

political heritage of his mother and grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru,the architect of modern India. He married Sonia Maino, an Italiangirl, whom he met during his student days in Cambridge.

Rajiv was a pilot by profession. He was never interested in politicsbut the sudden death of his younger brother Sanjay in a glideraccident in Delhi steered Rajiv Gandhi into it.

He won the election from Amethi and became a Member ofParliament in 1981. He was appointed general secretary of theCongress party in 1983. On the October 31, 1984 he took the oath as the Prime Minister of

the country.

Rajiv Gandhi was the youngest Prime Minister of the World's largest Democracy. Hestrengthened India's political, economic and cultural bonds with other countries. He was thefirst politician at the helm to criticize the power brokers who ruled the roost in the rulingparty. Rajiv Gandhi found himself in many controversies during the last two years of hisPrime Minister ship.


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He met a tragic end on 21st may 1991 at Sriperumbudur, by an LTTE (Liberal tigers ofTamil Eelam) Suicide Bomber named Tanu, when he was attending an election meeting.

The Government of India conferred the highest honour of the land "Bharat Ratna" on himposthumously.

Many foundations have been established to cherish his memory for the welfare of societyin the fields of Science and Technology, Arts and Culture, and Health and Medicine.

DR. H. J. BHABHA

Father of Indian nuclear science, 1st chairman ofAtomic Energy Commission

The eminent scientist who ushered India into the atomic age was Dr. Homi Jehangir

Bhabha. He was born on 30 October 1909 in a Parsi family of Mumbai. He is called the'Father of Indian Nuclear Science'.

Dr.Bhabha was appointed the first chairman of the Atomic EnergyCommission, set up in 1948. It was largely due to his efforts that the nation'sfirst Atomic research Center, now named Bhabha Atomic research Center,was established at Trombay, near Mumbai. Under his expert guidance thenation's first atomic reactor 'Apsara' was also commissioned in 1956. In 1945,he founded the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai.

Dr.Bhabha had a highly distinguished career and was an exceptionally bright

student. Even as a student, he made some fundamental discoveries inelectricity, magnetism, quantum theory and the cosmic rays.

Dr.Bhabha as the scientist of a very high caliber, received many national and internationalawards and honours. In 1942, he was awarded the 'Adams' award. In 1951, Bhabha waselected the president of the Indian Science Congress. In 1955, he was elected the chairmanof the U.N. sponsored International conference on the peaceful uses of the atomic energyheld in Geneva. The Government of India also honoured him with 'Padma Bhushan' in1954. The 'Homi Jehangir Bhabha Award' has been instituted by Indian National ScienceAcademy. He passed away in 1966 in a plane crash.

Dr. HARGOBIND KHORANA

Nobel Prize Winner
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Dr. Hargobind Khorana was born on 9th January 1922 atRaipur, Punjab (now in Pakistan). Dr.Khorana was responsiblefor producing the first man-made gene in his laboratory in theearly seventies. This historic invention won him the Nobel Prizefor Medicine in 1968 sharing it with M.W. Nuremberg and R.W.

Holley for interpreting the genetic code and analyzing itsfunction in protein synthesis. They all independently madecontributions to the understanding of the genetic code and how itworks in the cell.

Khorana, born into a poor family attended D.A.V. High School inMultan, took his M.Sc from Punjab University at Lahore and in1945 he went to England on a government scholarship andobtained a PhD from the University of Liverpool (1948). Dr. Khorana spent a year inZurich in 1948-49 as a post-doctoral fellow at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technologyand returned to India for a brief period in 1949. He returned to England in 1950 and spent

two years on a fellowship at Cambridge and began research on nucleic acidsunder SirAlexander Todd and Kenner. His interest in proteins and nucleic acids took root at thattime. In 1952 he went to the University of British Columbia, Vancouver on a job offer andthere a group began to work in the field of biologically interesting phosphate esters andnucleic acids with the inspiration from Dr. Gordon M. Shrum and Scientific counsel fromDr. Jack Campbell. In 1960 he joined the University of Wisconsin as Professor and co-Director of the Institute of Enzyme Research and Professor ofBiochemistry(1962-70) andbecame an US citizen. Khorana continued research on nucleic acid synthesis and preparedthe first artificial copy of a yeast gene. Dr. Khorana is also the first to synthesizeoligonucleotides, that is, strings ofnucleotides. These custom designed pieces of artificialgenes are widely used in biology labs for sequencing, cloning and engineering new plants

and animals. The oligo nucleotides, thus, have become indispensable tools inbiotechnology. In 1970 he became the Alfred Sloan Professor of Biology and Chemistry atthe Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. Khorana now settled in America, ismarried to Esther Elizabeth Sibler from Switzerland and they have three children.

Apart from the Nobel Prize, Khorana has won many awards and honors for hisachievement. Distinguished Service Award, Watumull Foundation, Honolulu, Hawaii(1968); American Academy of Achievement Award, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1971);Padma Vibushan, Presidential Award, India (1972); J.C.Bose Medal, Bose Institute,Calcutta (1972) and Willard Gibbs medal of the Chicago Section of AmericanChemicalSociety(1973-74). He was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences,Washington as well as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement ofScience. In 1971 he became a foreign member of USSR Academy of Sciences and in 1974an Honorary Fellow of the Indian Chemical Society.

Khorana's work, which is an important scientific landmark of the twentieth century, hasbrought closer the day when synthetic DNA may be introduced into the defective humantissues to bring about their repair or treat mentally retarded people and change them intomore intelligent and healthy human beings. His synthesis ofRNA, capable of replication in
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laboratory, is a step towards the creation of life artificially. In fact, the researches hasopened up a new branch called Genetic Engineeringin Science.

J. C. BOSE

Founder of Bose Research Institute, Biologist, Physicist

Jagadish Chandra Bose was one of the pioneers of modern science in India. His researchwas on the properties of electro-magnetic waves. His majorachievement was to demonstrate the similarity of responses tostimulation among the living and the nonliving as well as thefundamental similarity of responses in plant and animal tissues. TheBritish Government knighted him in 1917. He founded the 'BoseResearch Institute' in Kolkatta in 1917.

Bose was not only a biologist, but also a physicist. Bose believedthat by focusing on the boundaries between different physical and

biological sciences, he would be able to demonstrate the underlyingunity of all things. Bose's biological researches were foundedinitially by the discovery that an electric receiver seems to showscience of fatigue after continued use. He can rightly be called the inventor of wirelesstelegraphy. Bose was the first in the world to fabricate and demonstrate in public (1985) thedevice that generated microwaves-radio waves of very short wave length. But his inventionwas not patented before Guglielmo Marconi (1896) who became internationally recognisedas the inventor.

After completing his studies in London, Bose return to Kolkatta and was appointedProfessor at Presidency College in Kolkatta. Then he became the director of the institute he

founded and remained in the post till his death on 23rd November 1937.

SUBRAMANYAN CHANDRASEKHAR

Asrtophysicist, Nobel prize winner

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, a Nobel Laureate in Physics and one of the greatestastrophysicists of modern times was born on October 19, 1910 in Lahore,(now in Pakistan) to parents Chandrasekhara Subrahmanya Ayyaa civilservant and Sita Balakrishnan. Being the nephew of the great,C.V.Raman, a Nobel Prize winner in Physics young Chandrashekhar's interestin the subject came naturally to him.

In 1930, at the age of 19, he completed his degree in Physics fromPresidency College, Madras and went to England for postgraduate studiesat the Cambridge University. Chandrasekhar was noted for his work in thefield ofstellar evolution, and in the early 1930s he was the first to theorizethat a collapsing massive star would become an object so dense that noteven light could escape it; now known as the Black hole. He demonstrated that there is anupper limit ( known as 'Chandrasekhar Limit' ) to the mass of a White dwarf star. His
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theory challenged the common scientific notion of the 1930s that all stars, after burning uptheir fuel, became faint, planet-sized remnants known aswhite dwarfs. But today, theextremely dense neutron stars and black holes implied by Chandrasekhars early work are acentral part of the field of astrophysics.

Initially his theory was rejected by peers and professional journals in England. Thedistinguished astronomerSir Arthur Eddington publicly ridiculed his suggestion that starscould collapse into such objects( black holes). Disappointed, and reluctant to engage inpublic debate, Chandrasekhar moved to America and in 1937 joined the faculty as anAssistant Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Chicago and remained there till hisdeath. At Chicago, he immersed himself in a personalized style of research and teaching,tackling first one field of astrophysics and then another in great depth. He wrote more thanhalf a dozen definitive books describing the results of his investigations. More than100,000 copies of his highly technical books have been sold. He also served as editor of theAstrophysical Journal, the fields leading journal, for nearly 20 years; presided over athousand colloquia; and supervised Ph.D. research for more than 50 students.

Chandrasekhar was a creative, prolific genius whose ability to combine mathematicalprecision with physical insight changed humanity's view of stellar physics. In addition tohis work on star degeneration, he has contributed significantly to many disparate branchesof physics, including rotational figures of equilibrium, stellar interiors, radiative transfer ofenergy through the atmospheres of stars, hydro magnetic stability and many others. He wonthe Nobel Prize in 1983 and received 20 honorary degrees, was elected to 21 learnedsocieties and received numerous awards in addition to the Nobel Prize, including the GoldMedal of the Royal Astronomical Societyof London; the Royal Medal of the RoyalSociety, London; the National Medal of Science, the Rumford Medal of the AmericanAcademy of Arts and Sciences; and the Henry Draper Medal of the National Academy of

Sciences. NASA's premier X-ray observatory was named the Chandra X-ray Observatoryin his honor.

He and his wife, Lalitha became American citizens in 1953. Thisgenius passed away on 21 August 1995 in Chicago, Illinois, USA..

SHAKUNTALA DEVI

Mathematician

Shakuntala Devi is generally known as a 'Human Computer'because of her extraordinary talents in solving complexmathematical problems without any mechanical aid. She alsofound her place in the Guinness book of records as a result of herextraordinary talents. Nowadays, apart from solving mathematicalproblems, she is utilising her amazing talent in the field ofastrology.

She was born in 1939 in Bangalore, Karnataka. Manifested with an extraordinary love fornumbers at the age of 3, she became an expert in complex mental arithmetic at the age of
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five. On 18 June 1980, Shakuntala Devi gave the product of two, thirteen digit figures aftermultiplying them within 28 seconds. Many countries have invited Shakuntala Devi todemonstrate her extraordinary talent. Today, she is acclaimed as an accomplishedmathematician.

VIKRAM.A.SARABHAI

2nd chairman of Indian Atomic Energy Commission and Indian SpaceResearch Organisation

Vikram.A.Sarabhai, was the main personality behind the launching of India'sfirst satellite, Aryabhata in 1975. He was born in Ahmedabad, Gujarat in afamily of industrialists. He was also responsible for the Equatorial RocketBuilding Station at Thumba.

Sarabhai set up the Ahmedabad Textile Industries Research Association, alaboratory for research in Physics and the Indian Institute of Management.Sarabhai was the second chairman of India's Atomic Energy Commission and

the Indian Space Research Organisation.

Sarabhai's study of cosmic rays under the eminent scientist Dr. C.V. Raman, revealed thatcosmic rays are a stream of energy particles reaching the earth from the outer space, beinginfluenced on their way by the sun, the atmosphere and magnetism. This study helps inobserving terrestrial magnetism and the atmosphere, the nature of the sun and outer space.He was conferred 'Padma Shri' in 1966 and was posthumously awarded 'Padma Vibushan'in 1972. He was also awarded 'Dr. Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize' in 1962. This great

scientist could be credited with launching India into space age.

SRINIVASA RAMANUJAN

Mathematician

Srinivasa Ramanujan was a great Mathematician, who becameworld famous at the age of twenty six. He was born at Erode inTamil Nadu on 22 December 1887.

Ramanujan could not complete his college education because ofillness. He was so interested in mathematics that he learned on his

own. He found out new formulas for solving mathematical problemsand wrote articles about them. Professor Hardy a scientist in theCambridge University saw one his article and impressed by hisknowledge, took Ramanujan to England.

Ramanujan was considered as the master of theory of numbers. The most outstanding ofhis contributions was his formula for p (n), the number of 'partitions' of 'n'. It was in 1914,while he was working in Trinity College he developed the 'Number Theory' and for his


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valuable contribution, was elected fellow of Trinity College on 18th October 1917. Hereturned to India in 1919 and began Research. He passed away on 26 April 1920.Government of India issued a commemorative stamp in his honour. Indian NationalScience academy and many other scientific institutions in India are giving various awardsin memory of this brilliant mathematician.

M.F.Hussain

Paint Artist

Maqbool Fida Husain alias M.F.Hussain one of India's most gifted artists, is anaccomplished painter mostly famous for his paintings on Indianwomen and also for his habit of getting into controversies. With acareer spanning several decades, this multi-faceted artist has madesignificant contributions in other fields also- as a director,photographer and member of the Indian Parliament etc.

M.F. Hussain was born in Pandharpur, Madhya Pradesh onSeptember17, 1915 to mother Zunaib and father Fida. His motherdied when he was three years old. His father remarried and thefamily moved to Indore where he did his primary education. Hisassociation with painting began at an early age- he learnt the art of calligraphy andpracticed the Kulfic Khat with its geometric forms. He also learnt to write poetry. At 20years of age he moved to Mumbai, determined to become an artist and joined Sir J. J.School of Arts for one year.

In 1937, he started his career painting cinema hoardings for a livelihood. He had a toughtime initially, but as the earning got better he visited Surat, Baroda and Ahmedabad to paint

landscapes. He also tried his luck in other jobs and the best paid job was at atoy factory,where he designed and built fretwork toys. In between, Hussain got married to Fazila in theyear 1941 and they had two daughters Raisa and Aqueela and three sons, Mustafa, arestaurateur and Shamshad and Owais, both painters themselves.

Hussain's painting 'Sunhera Sansaar' at the1947 annual exhibition of the Bombay ArtSociety won an award and marked his entry as a known artist. In 1946, Francis NewtonSouzah invited him to join Bombay Progressive Artists Group, a group formed to explore anew idiom for Indian art. This exposed Hussain to the works of Emil Nolde and OskarKokoschka and made a strong influence, which led him to make some remarkable works'Re Between The Spider And The Lamp', 'Zameen and Man' etc. He then visited Delhi,where he encountered ancient Mathura sculpture and Indian miniature paintings. This wasa turning point of his career as an artist as he assimilated ideas from Western and Indianart.

His series of all over India exhibitions during the period 1948 to 1950 made him a publiclyknown artist. He conducted his first solo exhibition in Mumbai in1952. In 1954, he wasnominated as an eminent artist by the Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi. The following yearhe won the national award at the Lalit Kala Akademi's first national exhibition.
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M.F. Hussain has participated in many international shows which include ContemporaryIndian Art, Royal Academy of Arts, London 1982; Six Indian Painters, Tate Gallery,London 1985; Modern Indian Painting, Hirschhom Museum, Washington 1986 andContemporary Indian Art, Grey Art Gallery, New York 1986. Along with several soloexhibitions he had major retrospectives in Zurich (Galerie Palette) and Prague (Manes) in

1956, Frankfurt (Kunst-Kabinet) and Rome ( 1960), Tokyo(1961), Mumbai (1969),Calcutta (1973) and Delhi (1978). His work was exhibited at the Salon de Mai in Paris(1951), the Venice biennales (1953, 1955), Tokyo Biennale (1959 where he won theInternational Biennale Award), the So Paulo biennales in1959 and in 1971 where he wasinvited to exhibit alongside Pablo Picasso. His work was first shown in the USA at IndiaHouse, New York, in 1964. He has also had exhibitions of photography and in 1984 inHannover, he exhibited works on plexiglass.

Besides painting, Hussain has also made a film 'Through the Eyes of a Painter' in 1967which went on to win the Golden BearAward in Berlin Film Festival. He has made severalshort films since then. On account of his immense contribution to Indian art, the

Government of India honoured him with the Padmashree in 1966, Padma Bhushan Awardin 1973 and the Padma Vibhushan award in 1989, all prestigious civilian awards. He wasnominated to the upper house of the Indian Parliament, the Rajya Sabha in 1987; andduring his six year term he produced the Sansad Portfolio.

In a span of several years, Hussain has done a series of paintings on several subjectsincluding the British Raj, on major cities such as Calcutta, Benares, Rome, Beijing; on theEpics- Mahabharata and Ramayana; a whole series on Mother Teresa, on the major ninereligions of the world and a series on horses. A big mural of his, around 40 feet high calledthe Portrait of the 20th Century depicts all the major personalities of arts, science, dance,literature, politics etc. Husain's most interesting paintings of the 90's is the series named

afterMadhuri Dixit, a well known cine artist in Hindi cinema. He saw her film 'HumAapke Hai Kaun.' 67 times and painted a whole series of paintings on her, and evendirected her in a film 'Gaja Gamini'. Hussain became the talk of the town for his openfascination with Madhuri Dixit. Subsequently, he made another film 'Meenaxi: A Tale ofThree Cities' with Tabu, another cine artist.

Recently Hussain was arrested and charged with hurting sentiments of people following hiscontroversial nude paintings of Hindu gods and goddesses. The court ordered that theartist's should have freedom of expression, but with a limit of un hurting the sentiments ofthe people.
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