Bharat Rakshak

Alumni Association, IIT Kanpur deeply mourns the tragic and untimely demise of one of its most illustrious faculty member of IIT Kanpur, Prof. R. Balasubramaniam, today on December 9, 2009, after losing his battle with cancer.
Professor R. Balasubramaniam (fondly known as 'Bala'), born on 15 April 1961 in Salem, TamilNadu, obtained his Bachelor of Technology (Gold medalist) in Metallurgical Engineering from Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. He then proceeded to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, USA and obtained his Doctor of Philosophy in Materials Engineering in 1990. He joined the Department of Materials and Metallurgical Engineering at IIT Kanpur on 2nd April 1990, as Lecturer and became Professor on 13th December 2001.
Professor Balasubramaniam's research interests included Material-Hydrogen Systems, Environmental Degradation of Materials, Structure-Property Co-relations in Advanced Materials and Indian Archaeometallurgy. Professor Balasubramaniam was a prolific researcher and has published more than 250 research papers in refereed journals of repute. He has published 10 books. Two of his recent books, which dealt Indian Archaeometallurgy are on 'The Saga of Indian Cannons' and 'Story of Delhi Iron Pillar'. His research on the corrosion resistance of Delhi?s iron pillar attracted worldwide attention. One of his most recent research project was his work on Corrosion Prevention of Rails under the Technology Mission on Railway Safety. In recognition to his outstanding contribution as an active researcher in the field of Metallurgy, Materials Science and Archeometallyurgy, Dr. Balasubra! maniam received a number of prestigious awards, including Young scientist award (1993), Indian National Science Academy, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Research Fellowship (1996), Materials Research Society of India (MRSI) Medal (1999), Metallurgist of the Year award (1999), Ministry of Steels and Mines, Government of India. He was a member of the National Commission for History of Science. He was an editorial member of a number of international journals in the area of corrosion and Archeometallurgy. He was one of the finest teachers and recently received the inaugural Distinguished Educator Award (2009) from Indian Institute of Metals (IIM). Prof. Balasubramaniam was bestowed with B B Lal Chair Professor at IIT Kanpur in September 2009. Dr. Balasubramaniam was a life member of Indian Institute of Metals.
Apart of Academics, Dr. Balasubramaniam was an enthusiastic cricketer and an ardent lover of Indian and western music. Professor Balasubramaniam's illustrious career was cut short by his untimely demise on December 9, 2009 at 2:20 am. He is survived by his wife Dr. Gaitri Saini Balasubramaniam and two daughters, Gowri and Gargi. The entire community of IIT Kanpur, his friends and professional colleagues wish that his departed soul may rest in peace.
In this hour of grief, we join the family members of Professor R Balasubramaniam in praying that his soul may rest in peace.


Messages from IITK board:

http://www.iitk.ac.in/mme/obituary/message.php

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Rest In Peace Bala!
Thanks for the knowledge about ancient Indian metallurgy and the awesome book about the cannons. Wish I had the privilege to meet you and continue our discussion about Indian salt peter.
We will miss you here for sure. What a young life and what a talent!

ramana


PS: Folks this is our member Dr Balasubramaniam who used to write about Indian cannons here.

viewtopic.php?p=470914#p470914

and

Here is his intro to BRF:

viewtopic.php?p=554576#p554576

and his pride in Indian metallurgy:

viewtopic.php?p=554652#p554652

His being on BBC documentary:
viewtopic.php?p=600509#p600509
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His Website : http://home.iitk.ac.in/~bala/
His Posts: search.php?author_id=14162&sr=posts

Sad news indeed. I cant recall exactly but I might have met him through a family friend who also used to teach there.

ramana, you might want to add BRFite in the title since otherwise BRF members may not immediately realize his link with the B-R communit.

sad to know of his demise.

P.S. he used to post here using his full name, not Dr Bala.
this is his profile. memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=14162
some of his other posts might have been deleted in routine forum pruning.

I remember having read his posts, such a tragic loss.
A lot of people come and exist on this mortal terra but you my dear, lived!
May god grant fortitude to the bereaved family unfortunate utterly unfortunate. . .

It is a sad day when someone from one's community and extended family departs. Although I have not had the opportunity to interact with him, I can feel that we have lost an intellectual and an erudite gentleman from amongst us.

May you rest in peace sir. May the almighty give solace to your kind soul.
My heartfelt condolences with the family.

My condolences.
rest in peace.

Rest in peace sir.

This is a terrible terrible loss, not just to Prof Bala's family, but to the Material Science dept of IITK, and to the nation. I am yet to come across a teacher/professor who was as energetic as him. His lab was one of the most productive labs, producing quality papers in material science, especially in corrosion science. I won't be surprised if he was advising on some critical defense projects.

He was an immensely proud Indian, a true Bharatiya and would often during the lectures feel sad that we Indians should be doing this this and that...we can do it here in India, develop better technologies useful to India than the West.

During cultural functions he would play amazing drums and bring the entire crowd to life!

A BIG BIG loss to his family, IITK and for quality research in materials in India.

A big thanks for instilling pride and a 'can do' in your students.

Rest in peace Sir.

My condolences to his family. May his soul rest in peace.

IIT Kanpur Metallurgy Dept webpage:

http://www.iitk.ac.in/mme/test/

May your transition to the next phase be in peace.

I distinctly remember him for his saltpeter comment in another thread and those words echoed in my ears for long time, that "India exported the saltpeter and, by that had the whole world blown up, including India"!

Sad to note this tragic loss.
May your soul rest in peace!

My condolences to Prof Balasubramaniam's family.

A tragic loss for India.

He could have had so many more productive years ahead of him if the illness had not taken him.

My deepest condolences to his family

His posts here on BRF inspired me to visit Golconda Fort and look at the cannons there in a new light.

A sad loss for the nation and for history buffs everywhere.

May his soul rest in peace

Rest in peace, Sir.

Rest in Peace, sir.

RIP sir.. my condolences to your family...

My deepest condolences

i was fortunate ot have gone through the good professors posts on BR.
may the Almighty grant peace to his soul.
I pray that the Almighty grants strength for bearing this hevy loss to the bereaved family.

My condolences to the family of the bereaved soul. You shall be remembered for the great services rendered to the fields of education and research.

May your soul rest in peace and the Almighty give the strength to your family to bear your loss. My condolences to the family of Dr. Bala.

My condolences to the family...
Rest In Peace SIR....

RIP.

May your soul find it's rightful place in the heavens. I pray that Ishwar will give Dr. Bala's family the strength to deal with this tragedy. My condolences to the family of Dr. Bala.

My condolences to his family. May his soul rest in peace.

My condolences to Dr. Bala's family. RIP sir.

nkumar, Later can you post this thread on the obit page so his family can read about him and BR?

Thanks, ramana

From the IIT K page and the few posts of his in BR I understand that he was extremely proud of his Indian culture and Indian innovations. May his tribe increase. I regret I was not able to meet in person a man of such caliber.

May your soul find peace in a place better than this.

It was shock for me to know about his sudden demise. My deepest condolences for his family.

Na hanyate hanyamaan e sharir e.....

My condolences to Dr Bala's family.

my CONDOLENCES to his entire family

ramana, I will sure post the link to this thread on IITK obit page. I will wait for a day or two for BRFites to express their condolences.

Thanks, ramana

God bless his soul.

RIP Sir Bala. You made us proud.

My sincere and heartfelt condolences to Dr. Bala's family. Indeed, a great son of India and a teacher par excellence!

His work will be a testimony of a life well lived and an inspiration for millions of Indians of as a glimpse into what it is to be an Indian. His work is a product of an unshackled mind with a full understanding of the legacy of bharitya thought.

May God grant him peace and solace to his family.

miss you buddy.

self edited.

A very sad news