AGK Tribute

 An Anecdote concerning Dr AGK’s curiosity and ability to quickly learn entirely new subjects: Dear Anjali,  This 40 year old incident concerning your father is indelible in my mind.  It was 1982 and I had just come back from the Ohio State University where I was a post doctoral researcher.  One day Dr AGK called me to his room and asked me to explain the research I had done there. It was on a highly mathematical subject concerning the scattering of sound waves by under water objects. Briefly put: it was required to precisely predict the “echo” of a sound wave (sonar pulse)  when it impinges on an underwater steel object. The process involved the conversion of sound energy to vibratory energy of the object and back to sound energy.  Though it was not his field Dr. AGK’s  curiosity was immediately aroused,  he asked me so many questions and required so much detail that I had no recourse but to go to the black board and derive all the equations! In ...

Dr. A. Gopalakrishnan was the topper (first-rank holder) of the first-batch of the prestigious BARC Training School conducted by the DAE, having secured the first place in their competitive All-India Examination in 1958, and was associated with the commissioning of the Cyrus Research Reactor between 59-61. After getting his Masters' and PhD degrees from the University of California, Berkeley in 1969,  he worked in the Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, California, the Argonne National Lab, CETEC Corporation ( NASA Project on solid-rocket propulsion), and as a project manager in US-AEC projects, his expertise being in fast-breeder reactors and nuclear safety, before returning to India in 1976. Between 1976-1987 he established the BHEL R&D centre in Balanagar, Hyderabad and was associated with various Clean-Coal technology projects and responsible for planning and implemention of several renewable rural energy development projects. In 1984, he received the NRDC Nationa...

 I was very moved by the hearfelt messages I received from people who wrote to express their condolences on my fathers' passing. I have created this blog to gather remembrances from people who knew him as a friend, colleague, or family member--stories/ anecdotes/ ideas you may want to share from your interactions with my father Dr. A. Gopalakrishnan. Kindly share this with whomsoever you feel would like to contribute, thanks. May his soul rest in peace. Om Shantih.