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Man Mohan Sharma: A Dnyanayogi and Karmayogi, a Knowledge and Action Seeker Par Excellence Man Mohan Sharma is a legend in India. Considered as an institution in himself, he has done yeomen services to the chemical engineering profession, chemical industry, and government on matters vital to the growth of science and technology and nation at large. Born on May 1, 1937 to parents of modest income in the state of Rajasthan, his life’s story is very enthralling and mesmerizing. He created a place for Indian chemical engineering on the global scene and sustained the glamour of this marvelous profession in an impoverished country. Having been associated with him first as a student and then as a colleague for almost 37 years, I have witnessed his rise to an iconic status. It is my immense pleasure and privilege to write the preface for this special issue honoring him on the occasion of his 70th birthday. After passing the Intermediate Science examination in 1954 with distinction, Sharma joined Bombay University’s Department of Chemical Technology, popularly called UDCT, to earn the Bachelor of Chemical Engineering degree in 1958. (Note: Bombay has since become Mumbai and the department has become an institute. The UDCT is referred to as MUICT or simply UICT, which is an autonomous institute.) He pursued a research degree and, in 1960, earned a M.Sc.(Tech.) degree in Chemical Engineering under the advice of N. R. Kamath. He also served as a Lecturer from December 1959 to September 1961. Meanwhile, in 1958, Kamath had left for the newly established Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay as the Head of Chemical Engineering and Deputy Director. They published a couple of papers on reactions and pyrolysis of alcohol. Because no qualified adviser was available for the Ph.D. program, Sharma started applying overseas and accepted an offer from
Johns Hopkins University with H. E. Hoelscher. However, the providence provided a different path for him. At this juncture, G. P. Kane appeared in his life serendipitously and was to play a godfather’s role in his career thereafter. Kane was the first Professor of Chemical Engineering in the UDCT but had left in 1954 for a Central Government position. P. V. Danckwerts, the Shell Professor of Chemical Engineering at Cambridge (U.K.), had asked Kane to recommend a good candidate for the Ph.D. program. Having learned about the high credentials of Sharma through G. M. Nabar, the Director of UDCT, Kane recommended Sharma very strongly to Danckwerts. Indeed, Kane also extracted a promise from him that he would return to the UDCT to serve on the faculty for at least five years. An offer from Danckwerts in 1961 put Sharma in a bit of quandary, because he had earlier accepted the scholarship from Johns Hopkins. He secured permission and also blessings of Dean Hoelscher to join Cambridge. That was the turning point in his life. Sharma had the most memorable time at Cambridge. Being a voracious reader of a variety of technical, nontechnical, and commercial literature, he spent long hours, weekends, and his spare time in the library. Going through Chemical Abstracts quite regularly became his habit and he has converted it into a life-long passion. He is endowed with a very powerful memory and came to be known as a walking encyclopedia on many subjects. His project on gas absorption with chemical reaction was both academically and industrially fascinating; he spent almost three months planning in the library before commencing any experiments. In fact, in June 1962, he had done enough research to submit his thesis; however, with the Cambridge rules
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being inflexible, it was impossible. A year later, he was ready with his dissertation. Still, he decided against submitting it and continued to conduct a different kind of research. Meanwhile, he wrote two research papers on gas absorption with chemical reaction with Danckwerts [Trans. Faraday Soc. 1963, 59, 386395 and Chem. Eng. Sci. 1963, 18, 729-735]. A paper on the absorption of COS in amines and alkalis appeared thereafter [Chem. Eng. Sci. 1964, 19, 991-992]. Danckwerts was a motivator and held an esteemed opinion of Sharma and allowed him to pursue his own interests. Sharma wrote an independent paper on the kinetics of reaction of COS and CO2 with amines and catalysis by Brønsted bases in hydrolysis of COS [Trans. Faraday Soc. 1965, 61, 681-688]. Near the end of his stay in Cambridge, Sharma came out with an idea that he shared with Danckwerts, who was so magnanimous that he asked Shell to patent the idea exclusively in Sharma’s name. He created a history in Cambridge by becoming the first person to have patented an idea and having sold it exclusively for 1000 pound sterling to Shell. In the Cambridge tradition, writing scholarly papers was more valuable than acquiring intellectual property rights (IPR), which is a recent phenomenon in academia. Unfortunately, he never patented many of his ideas, which were worthy of IPR, during his later career in Mumbai, but, instead, put many of them in the public domain. The desorption of hypochlorous acid gas from alkaline solutions during chlorine absorption was such a novel idea, both proved theoretically and practically [Lahiri, Yadav, and Sharma, Chem. Eng. Sci. 1983, 38, 1119-1133], and it was further exploited by Dow Chemicals and is cited in their patents. The university system in India did not encourage patenting; that era lacked university support for patent filing. Within a period of less than three years, he had to his credit four papers in esteemed journals and a patent. Meanwhile, he convinced Danckwerts, before leaving for India, that they should write a monograph on the absorption of carbon dioxide in amines and alkalis. This is a citation classic which would set a new trend in chemical engineering, in regard to how to go from fundamentals to process design, and has been quoted by both academicians and practitioners throughout the world [Chem. Eng. (London) 1966, (October), CE244-280]. Danckwerts was his true mentor. Sharma had a very enduring Guru-Shishya (teacher-disciple) relationship with Danckwerts who described in his book, Insight into Chemical Engineering, that “Sharma was the most diligent student he ever supervised”. The Cambridge experience had lasting impressions on him, where he had met and heard the world’s leading scientists, Nobel laureates, and practitioners from reputed industries. Several renowned academicians used to spend sabbaticals in Cambridge. Octave Levenspiel was impressed by Sharma and had offered him a faculty position in his institution and so did Don Scott of Waterloo, Canada, and G. A. Ratcliff of McGill, Canada. He was also offered lucrative positions by Shell and ICI. However, he had no interest in these offers. He was honor-bound to return to India to take a faculty position in the UDCT. Danckwerts was full of praise for young Sharma and wrote to G. P. Kane about his outstanding achievements. Just a fortnight before Sharma was to leave for Mumbai, Danckwerts advised him to apply for the post of Professor of Chemical Engineering at the UDCT. He quite honestly expressed to Danckwerts his apprehensions that he did not deserve more than a Reader’s (equivalent to an Associate Professor) position. The selection committee found him to be a highly knowledgeable, scholarly, enthusiastic, and potential star. Sharma thus became the youngest professor in India at the tender age of 27 on September
16, 1964. He was also the longest serving professor in India until he retired on April 30, 1997 at the age of 60. On his return sojourn from the United Kingdom to India in 1964, he had prepared a long list of problems of academic purity and industrial sanctity. With contagious enthusiasm and vision, he set goals and priorities before him. He had to build undergraduate laboratories, develop courses, manage the administration, and do research, which was his first love. With an annual budget of 17 000 rupees (approximately $4000 U.S. then) for both the undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Chemical Engineering and Technology, he pursued vigorously idea-oriented research, rather than equipment-oriented research. Generating ideas was his fortitude, which he used cleverly throughout his life. As strange as it may sound, he had never applied to any funding agencies in his entire career but did help other colleagues to get support. He launched research in mass transfer with chemical reaction, in gas-liquid and liquid-liquid systems, by using the so-called stirred cell, which is nothing but a beaker and a stirrer. The other “biggest” instrument was the soap-film meter, for measuring gas flow rates. Soap-film meters with diameters up to 10 cm were reliably employed by his students in preference to the rotameter, which was an alien and unavailable instrument. Most reactive and inert gases from partially empty cylinders borrowed from friends in industry had the pleasure of flowing in his laboratory. He did not have the funds to buy chemicals but his friends in industry were too willing to gift them. He literally became the “zero-budget researcher from Bombay”. Two Ph.D. students, Ashok K. Nanda and Joseph B. Fernandes, had just registered with him. V. D. Mehta, P. J. Kothari, R. K. Gupta, and A. D. Vidwans had joined the institution to earn Master’s degrees under his guidance. There was no moment for relaxation and allowance for things to happen. He used to work with them for long hours in the laboratory, even on weekends, dine with them occasionally, and discuss and plan with them, lending them assurances that they had nothing to fear. A team of young researchers was ready to take on the whole world! The first paper published in an international journal was on the effect of diffusivity on the gasside mass-transfer coefficient, based on V. D. Mehta’s Master’s thesis [Chem. Eng. Sci. 1966, 21, 361-365] and the second was an outcome of the Master’s thesis of P. J. Kothari [Chem. Eng. Sci. 1966, 21, 391-396]. In 1967, his first Ph.D. student, Ashok Nanda, arrived and his graduation was on the horizon in less than three years. In fact, Nanda earned the first-ever Ph.D. degree from the Chemical Engineering division in the history of the UDCT. Their paper published in Chemical Engineering Science on effective interfacial area in liquid-liquid extraction [Chem. Eng. Sci. 1966, 21, 707-714] was quoted within two months of its appearance in an editorial of Industrial Engineering Chemistry in 1966. Nanda migrated to the United States as a post-doctoral fellow and is now the President of PMC Specialties, a fine chemicals company. A succession of Ph.D. holders then began to appear at a sustainable rate, almost 3-4 per year until he retired, with a tally of 71 doctorates and 35 Master’s degrees. The first five years of his career saw 14 doctorates: A. K. Nanda and J. B. Fernandes in 1967; A. S. Jhaveri and P. K. Sundaram in 1968; R. A. Mashelkar, S. A. Puranik, J. K. Gehlawat, and R. C. Sharma in 1969; V. D. Mehta, M. E. Ladhabhoy, and K. C. Mehta in 1970; and P. A. Ramachandran, A. T. Kaji, and A. K. Shah in 1971. This group produced 42 international papers. Among his students, Mashelkar is the most celebrated, and he retired very recently as the Director General of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Secretary, Depart-
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ment of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), Government of India. He considers the first five years of his illustrious career to have been the most challenging and rewarding. He had found the right formula and mantra to combine academic excellence with professional activities and administrative duties. He went on with the business of teaching and research like a missionary, never shirking from the call of duty and beyond. He indeed practiced, literally and figuratively, the chemical industry’s pet theme: “more from less”. Nanda, Jhaveri, and Mashelkarssome of his earlier studentsshad experienced these constraints of funds. It was to the credit of young Man Mohan Sharma to have retained good-quality students to pursue for Ph.D. degrees. It was a herculean task. Besides, good students would opt for higher studies in the West. Against all these odds, Sharma tried to develop a research culture in the UDCT, with practically no money in his kitty. Papers were getting published in succession in top-notch international journals. Robert Southey’s quotation applies to him very aptly:
“The three indispensable qualities of genius are understanding, feeling, and perseVerance. The three things that enrich genius are contentment of mind, the cherishing of good thoughts, and exercising of the memory.” Sharma realized, while at Cambridge, that the synergism of research of academic excitement and industrial value would be the theme of his research career. Sharma’s now-acclaimed original contribution of microphase catalysis, or the role of particles smaller than the diffusion film thickness (the so-called “nanoparticles” in today’s context) on the liquid side in intensification of the reaction rates, has been a genesis of a variety of papers. The theory was published in 1969 in Chemical Engineering Science [Chem. Eng. Sci. 1969, 24, 1681-1686] and was coauthored with P. A. Ramachadran, now a Professor at Washington University in St. Louis. T. K. Sherwood, the celebrity from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), wrote in Chemical Engineering Education (fall 1974, pp 204213) that when he was confronted with an industrial problem on gas absorption in a slurry reactant where he thought particle sizes smaller than the diffusion film could affect the rate of absorption, he discovered unexpectedly that such a theory had already been developed in 1969 by researchers from Bombay. Sherwood’s eloquence is worth noting:
“It might seem that some of the cases analyzed will neVer find practical application, but one cannot predict. When I recently had occasion to analyze the process of SO2 absorption by a suspension of limestone particles in a stack gas scrubber I was surprised and pleased to find this case analyzed in a published paper.” An intuitive theory will find applications sooner than later, as the Bombay authors had predicted. This is considered to be one of the epoch-making contributions of Sharma. Ramachandran has reviewed the relevance of nanophases and microphases in this issue, which, quite appropriately, originated from their work in 1969. In Ramachandran, he had the unique distinction of producing the first-ever theoretical doctorate in chemical engineering of a full-time research student in 1971. For their monograph on the simultaneous absorption of two gases [Trans. Inst. Chem. Eng. 1971, 49, 252-280], Ramachandran and Sharma were given the Moulton Medal of the Institution of Chemical Engineers, U.K., for the most outstanding contribution
of the year. Sharma was bestowed with the same honor again in 1977 for a paper that he co-authored with V. A. Juvekar. Another pioneering area of research Sharma initiated was the now-ubiquitous phase-transfer catalysis (PTC), with chemical engineering aspects of industrially relevant reactions. The mechanism and kinetics of solid-liquid PTC was first reported from his laboratory, and this research was also directly commercialized for benzyl ester manufacture in India. This author had the honor of being the collaborator in this endeavor [Ind. Eng. Chem. Process Des. DeV. 1981, 20, 385-390]. The socalled gradientless contactor, for fluid-fluid reactions, was also developed in his laboratory and two more groups also simultaneously reported it. This novel stirred contactor with independent control of the gas- and liquid-side mass-transfer coefficients was used in several fast and instantaneous reactions, and, once again, I had the pleasure of working on it. The Sharma era had commenced in UDCT by the late 1960s and influenced the destiny of countless students and faculty during next three decades or so. His theme of research was centered in multiphase reactions, reactors, and separations, which covered gas-liquid reactions, liquid-liquid reactions, gasliquid-solid (catalyst/reactant) reactions, solid-liquid reactions, four-/five-phase reaction, phase transfer catalysis, micellar catalyis, microphase catalysis, ion-exchange resin catalysts, clays as catalysts, novel separations through reactions, selectivity engineering, converting liabilities into assets, design of multiphase reactors, bubble columns, mechanically agitated contactors, packed columns, and slurry reactors. He has provided great insight to resolve many paradoxical practices in industry. He developed original techniques to study the kinetics of extremely fast reactions supported through novel theory. He also pioneered new strategies to increase the rate of fast gas-liquid reactions and to propose novel aspects of enhancement of fast and slow liquid-liquid reactions. He demonstrated, in industry, novel ways to recover valuable chemicals from waste streams. Many of these ideas have led to substantial improvements in the existing plants of sodium bicarbonate, soda ash, phthalic anhydride, and nitroaromatics. He remained active as a consultant to some of the best Indian and overseas companies. He has published over 250 research papers in a variety of areas and journals of international repute, including the following journals: Chemical Engineering Science; Industrial and Engineering Chemistry (which later became Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research, which also published Sharma’s work); Process Design and DeVelopment; ReactiVe and Functional Polymers; Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering; Transactions of the Institution of Chemical Engineers, UK; Journal of Separation Processes Technology; Journal of Applied Chemistry, UK; Journal of Applied Chemistry and Biotechnology; Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology; Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Japan; British Chemical Engineering; SolVent Extraction and Ion Exchange; Chemical Engineering Communications; Transactions of the Faraday Society; Separations Technology; American Institute of Chemical Engineers Journal; ACS Symposium Series; Synthesis; Journal of American Oil Chemists Society; Organic Processes Research and DeVelopment; Separation Science and Technology; Synthetic Communications; Pure & Applied Chemistry; ReViews in Chemical Engineering; Chemical Engineering Education; Journal of Catalysis; Catalysis Letters; Separation and Purification Methods; and Journal of Physical Chemistry. A record number of 73 papers are in Chemical Engineering Science. He also produced several monographs, two celebrated books, several chapters in books, and several authoritative
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reviews. His two-volume book with L. K. Doraiswamy, Heterogeneous Reactions: Analysis, Examples and Reactor Design (Wiley-Interscience, New York, USA, 1984), is acclaimed. A recent book, Fine Chemicals: Technology and Engineering (Elsevier, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2001) with Delft co-authors A. Cybulusky, J. A. Moulijn, and R. A. Sheldon is also highly rated. He was rated as one of the 23 top researchers to influence chemical engineering through the co-word analysis technique reported by A. F. J. van Raan of the University of Leiden in The Netherlands in 1989. He changed his research areas every six or seven years. He believes that the students whom he initiated have taken that area to greater heights. Whosoever came in contact with him while doing research has developed a passion for the library, and many of his students have gone into academics and research, including R. A. Mashelkar (Salford, U.K.; NCL, Pune, India), P. A. Ramachandran (Washington University, St. Louis, MO), J. K. Gehlawat (IIT-Kanpur, India), V. G. Pangarkar (UICT, India), V. A. Juvekar (IIT-Bombay, India), J. B. Joshi (UICT, India), V. V. Mahajani (UICT, India), G. D. Yadav (UICT, India), V. G. Gaikar (UICT, India), A. Mehra (IIT-Bombay, India), Anand V. Patwardhan (IIT-Kharagpur, India), Basab Chaudhuri (Calcutta University, India), S. S. Bhagwat (UICT, India), N. C. Pradhan (IIT-Kharagpur, India), Basu Saha (Loughborough, U.K.), and S. M. Mahajani (IIT-Bombay, India). Other influenced students include S. A. Puranik (MSU, Baroda), M. C. Chhabria (LDCE, Ahmedabad), and Ms. Alpana Mahapatra-Gaikar (DJSCE, Mumbai, India). A few students had brief stints in academics but did not pursue active research, including A. S. Jhaveri, J. B. Fernandes, K. C. Mehta, A. T. Kaji, R. K. Tiwari, R. R. Bhave, K. A. Ramanarayanan (Ram Narayan), and Swades Choudhary. The Sharma research tree has prospered enormously, in that every branch has borne spectacular flora, fauna, and fruits. These include highly experimental to highly theoretical research, ranging from mathematical sciences to biological sciences, petroleum engineering to advanced catalysis, fluid mechanics to sonochemistry, food engineering to polymer engineering, and silicon chips to solar energy, to name just a few areas. The total number of first- and second-generation doctorates produced by his students and their students is more than 200 and the number of papers would be easily more than 1500, with a citation statistic of more than 10 000. The most gratifying part of his academic career is that three of his Chemical Engineering doctoratessJ. B. Joshi, R. A. Mashelkar, and G. D. Yadavshave been elected as Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), which is a rare honor for scientists and more so for engineers in India. Mashelkar has achieved several distinctions like his mentor. Mashelkar’s election as Fellow of Royal Society London, Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Engineering (USA), Foreign Associate, Academy of Science (USA), and International Fellow, The Royal Academy of Engineering (U.K.) are matters of great pride for Sharma. Many of the papers in this special issue are authored by several of his former collaborators. Over the years, Man Mohan Sharma became a force to be reckoned with. With that came memberships of prestigious government bodies with this legend, whom I refer to as Dnyanayogi (or Jnanayogi), which means a perpetual knowledgeseeking sage, and a Karmayogi, which means an action-seeking sage, according to Indian scriptures. Other honors were accidental in his path of knowledge (dnyana) and action (karma). He happens to be not only one of the most decorated scientists and engineers in India, but also a humble human being. His
most coveted honor is the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize in various science and engineering disciplines for persons younger than 45 years of age. For the Engineering Sciences, he became the youngest ever to be awarded the prize, at the age of 36. Such is the quality of training and research that he inspired many of his students to write independent papers in reputed international journals, even though they were working under his guidance and the problems were suggested by him. His resume contains a long list of such papers (more than 40), published independently by his students. This should be a very rare example of an academician who does not have a list of sponsored projects but of independent papers of his students. He believes that the real worth of a student is known five years after he has left him with a Ph.D. degree. If he is a creative individual, an independent thinker, a self-motivated doer, and a motivator, the student is bound to flourish. He had never expected any rewards or honors and he never craved any award, nor has he ever worked for an award. He has never talked to anyone for any honor, whether in this country or abroad. He is such a modest man that he attributes many of his awards to lady luck. Sharma is a phenomenon to come by, to discuss, and to get inspired. He has made a tremendous impact on chemical engineering as well as the chemical industry in India. A superb teacher, he is described by his students as the chief motivating force, who generates ideas faster than their rate of absorption. He takes great pride in their accomplishments. To cite an example, his fifth doctorate student, R. A. Mashelkar, who had an independent paper in his name, also was awarded the Bhatnagar Prize in 1981; both were under the age of 45 when they were awarded this prize. It is another first and a record, because both were younger than 45 years old. The Bhatnagar Prize was also bestowed on his 29th doctorate, J. B. Joshi, in 1991. Both Mashelkar and Joshi are highly accomplished individuals. In 1972, Danckwerts asked Sharma to join him as the Editor of Chemical Engineering Science from India. This coveted journal had independent editors from different parts of the world. He declined the editorship politely. Sharma thought he was not in the senior age group to cultivate enemies, because the Editor invariably must perform the unpleasant job of rejecting more papers than he accepts. Danckwerts offered the editorship to him again in 1975, which he then accepted gladly. But after a dozen years, he left it for R. A. Mashelkar. He has also served on the editorial boards of Chemical Engineering Research and Design, UK (1974-1986), Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering (1989-1993), Separation and Purification Technology (1997-1999), and Green Chemistry (1999-2000). He currently serves on editorial boards of Clean Technologies and EnVironmental Policy (2002 to present), and ReactiVe and Functional Polymers (1995 to present). The list of honors and accolades is a mirror of the mission of his life: FICCI Award in Science and Technology, Engineering and Technology (1981); Best Teacher Award, Government of Maharashtra (1984); Om Prakash Bhasin Award, Engineering (1985); Danckwerts Memorial Lecture, Chemical Engineering Science/Institute of Chemical Engineers, U.K. (1987); Prof. N. R. Dhar Memorial Lecture Award (1999); P.C. Ray Lecture (1998); Shreve Distinguished Visiting Professor, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA (1989); Jawaharlal Nehru Lecture, (1989); Vishwakarma Medal (1985); Meghnad Saha Medal (1994); Sir J. C. Bose Memorial Lecture (1994) (all of INSA); P. C. Ray Memorial Award (1995); Platinum Jubilee Lecture, Chemistry (1995); Shatabdi Puraskar, Engineering and Technology (1999); Millennium Award (2003); Indian Science
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Congress Association; H. K. Firodia Award for Excellence in Science and Technology (1999); G. M. Modi Science Award, Modi Foundation (1991); and Dhirubhai Ambani Oration, IIChE (2004). The most prestigious fellowship in Indiasthat of the Indian National Science Academy (INSA)swas accorded to him in 1976. He was elected to the Fellowship of Indian Academy of Sciences in 1974 and National Academy of Sciences in 1988. He has received honorary fellowships from Indian Chemical Society in 1997, Indian Plastics Institute in 2003, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore in 2004, and Indian Association for Cultivation of Sciences, Kolkatta in 2005. Several professional bodies, such as the Indian Speciality Chemicals Manufacturers Association (1994), the Perfumery and Flavors Association of India (1995), and the Indian Chemical Manufacturers Association (1997), accorded him honorary memberships. Lifetime achievement awards were bestowed upon him by four professional bodies: India National Academy of Engineering (2001); Dr. B. P. Godrej-IIChE (2002); Gold Medal, Chemical Research Society of India (2003), Indian Chemical Society (2004); and the newspaper Mid Day (2005). Sharma’s election to coveted academies started with INSA in 1976. He is the first Chemical Engineer and only the second engineer in the history of the INSA to be its President (198990). His election as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1990 was a crowning glory. He created, once again, history by being the first engineer from India to be a Fellow of the Royal Society. Quite fortuitously, in London, on June 10, 1990, I had the privilege of attending his oath ceremony and signing the official register, which was more than 300 years old and beared the signatures of giants in science and engineering, from Newton to Dalton to Faraday to Danckwerts. The bestowal of the prestigious Leverhulme Medal by the Royal Society of London upon him in 1996 is an eloquent testimony of his research philosophy, moreso because this medal previously has been awarded to some Nobel Laureates. He was elected to the fellowship of TWAS, the Academy of the Developing World in 1990, and he also received the TWAS Medal Lecture in Engineering Sciences and Technologies in 1997. Sharma’s election as an International Fellow, The Royal Academy of Engineering (in 2005), and Foreign Associate, U.S. National Academy of Engineering (in 2006) demonstrates his caliber and scholarship. He emphasized the value of Ph.D. students. He ensured that every young faculty member had Ph.D. students. He also ensured that they were attached to some industry as consultants. He has cultivated friendship with scientists and industrialists from all over the world and enriched his knowledge through discussions on a variety of topics. Any important person visiting the UDCT always ended up giving a scholarly seminar for the benefit of the students and faculty. Invariably, these visitors enjoyed the special cup of tea prepared by Sharma. He encouraged many female chemical engineering students to pursue doctoral research; some of them have done exceptionally well professionally. In traditional Indian society, female chemical engineers had been a rare site and, now, almost 20% of the students in chemical engineering classes are females, and most of them outperform their male counterparts. Not only did he build a research culture, but also the chemical engineering department. He realized early in his life that in order to retain talented teachers in the UDCT, the merit holders must have avenues for promotion and their income must be supplemented by industrial consultancy. He has helped practically all
his young colleagues in getting their first consultations. The consultation income generated by the chemical engineering faculty in the UDCT is the highest in the country, and he and some of his colleagues earned their own salaries. When he was felicitated in February 1997, prior to his formal retirement, unbelievably generous funds were received from industry and persons from all walks of life is a testimony of his popularity and reverence in industry, academia, and elsewhere. It was a unique event in India and particularly in the life of a teacher who has served his profession, alma mater, industry, society, and the country of India at large. It was a very small team of five faculty when he started his career in 1964. The job of creating new positions at an orthodox and old University of Bombay (now Mumbai) was very difficult. And he worked against all odds. He created five more professor positions, including one with an endowment, which, incidentally, this author is occupying. From the original five, the faculty strength had grown to 20 when he retired. Financial stringency was a part and parcel of his life; it continued all the way up to the late 1970s. It was only from the early 1980s that the fund position improved. He made sure that none of his colleagues and successors went through the same ordeal as he did and saw to it that they had much better equipment, apparatus, facilities, consumables, and money. Today, the Chemical Engineering Department is in an altogether different situation, in terms of facilities and contingency money, from what it was when he started his career. There are many academics from other institutions and persons in industry, holding high positions, whom he has helped in giving their first breakthrough. He made sure that the UDCT research had academic purity, academic utility, and academic rigor, to merit publication in peer journals, and yet it should have some industrial bias. The first real challenge that he faced was that, if one wanted to do research, apart from the problems of funding, a daunting task was how to find placement for Ph.D. chemical engineers in industry during the 1960s. Getting a job in academic or national research laboratories was relatively easy. The industry was mostly multinational and Indian companies did not care for the recruitment of Ph.D. engineers. He went from door to door to captains of the industry, convincing them of the usefulness of a Ph.D. engineer on their payrolls. He created a market for Ph.D. engineers, who are now respected as an integral part of many industries in India. The UICT has a rich culture of research, but Ph.D. research in chemical engineering had not taken root. Now, this department is considered to be number one in the country, according to the survey by Jude Sommerfeld of Georgina Tech. This is the legacy Man Mohan Sharma has left behind. This culture of raising private money to support various activities is a chapter by itself. The UICT is a unique organization in India to have created many endowments, in the name of former professors, sometimes living, and he started it all, including several endowments for the library, having no parallels for such a noteworthy provision for libraries in India. He has been responsible for creating many traditions that are absolutely unique in the history of this country and, for that matter, of any educational institute. He was instrumental in the development of several activities in the UDCT, such as the merit-cum-means scholarships, international travel, welfare of nonteaching staff and their children, medical assistance, and campus development. In order to invite accomplished persons from industry as visiting faculty, several endowments have been instituted. His contributions as the Director of the UDCT from 1989 to 1997 are too numerous to mention. He has advocated
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that the UDCT must remain the center of excellence for teaching and research in chemical technology and engineering, and the industry must look to the UDCT for inventions and innovations. No wonder our current prime minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, who was also the UGC Chairman before plunging into politics, had spotted him in apex UGC committees and was highly appreciative of his role in promoting excellence in the university system in India. He has been a member of the Science Advisory Council of the Prime Minister since 2005. The Ministry of Human Resource and Development of GOI has made Man Mohan Sharma the Chairman of the Committee to improve the infrastructure in the university system for S and T. His desire to bring complete autonomy to the UDCT was fulfilled only in 2004 and the UDCT became UICT. Now, it is poised to be a separate university. Meanwhile he chaired many committees of the Central Government on policy matters ranging from education to petroleum to chemicals to pharmaceuticals to fertilizers to forensic sciences. The University Grants Commission (UGC), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Department of Science and Technology, Government of India (DST), Department of Biotechnology, India (DBT), Ministry of Natural Gas and Petroleum, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers (MoCF), Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), and Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) are but a few of these organizations, and he has been associated with them since the mid-1960s. He gave industrial consultations, many times free, and was never found wanting of knowledge of any subject, be it chemical engineering and technology, chemical industry, or financing. He was the only serving faculty in the entire history of the University of Mumbai to have bestowed upon him a civil honor: “Padma Bhushan”, by the Government of India in 1987 for the meritorious services to chemical engineering. Thereafter, the President of India put him on a higher pedestal: he was honored with “Padma Vibhushan” in 2001. The honorary doctorates have been bestowed on him by premier universities in the country, including IIT-Bombay, IIT-Delhi, IT-BHU, University of Calcutta, University of Kanpur, University of Bundelkhand, University of Lucknow, and University of Roorkee. The UDCT conferred upon him the Golden Jubilee Distinguished Fellow (1984), UDCT Alumni Association Distinguished Alumnus Award (1990), and UDCT Diamond (1994). The University of Mumbai honored him with a LL.D. after his formal retirement in 1998 and also named the UICT library after him. Notwithstanding this impressive list of honors, he must have shied away from many honors and accolades. The unbelievable legacy of M.M. Sharma is reflected in a Vedic philosophy, as quoted in Vivekchudamani:
“Great teacher comes, and with him comes great power, a new influx of energy. In the wake of great teacher come creatiVe indiViduals who ask deep questions, and striVe to discoVer the answer for themselVes. The teacher must be wonderful and the student must be talented if their contact is to result in an illumination.” He has not formally been associated with any research activity in his own alma mater after his retirement on April 30, 1997. He was appointed as the Emeritus Professor of Eminence by the University of Mumbai (2003), which is a unique honor, and
he is currently Kothari Research Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore. He is also the Chairman of the Research Council of National Chemical Laboratory, Pune (1998 to present), a member of the Advisory Board at IIT, Bombay (2003-2009), and a member of the Council, I.I.Sc., Bangalore (2002-2008). He has continued his research activities as a Visiting Professor prior to, as well as after, retirement with T. Sridhar’s group at Monash University, Australia and has produced excellent papers on oxidation and catalysis. He has remained a very active consultant. By denying the pleasure of his life, he has worked hard and long hours to serve the University of Mumbai. His wife, Sudha, has been extremely understanding and the proverb ”Behind every successful man there is a woman” proves that her support has been very vital in all his professional activities. The other lady who influenced him was his mother. His daughter Prerna and son Vibhu are both well-settled professionals in the United States. He has a legendary memory, is a “walking encyclopedia”, and a man of values and principles. A religious and regular visitor to Ramakrishna Mission, he fasts once a week, every Tuesday. He is a lovable father and a considerate, devoted husband. Light reading and listening to light and classical music are his only relaxations. He can regale old Hindi songs and can give lecture on the movies of famous Indian actresses, whether she be Madhubala or Madhuri Dixit, with equal authority. He has mesmerized one and all whosoever came into contact with him, by his fantastic memory. But nobody knows that he is equally forgetful. He forgets to whom he lent money or for whom he went out of his way to do favors. He never publicizes what he does for somebody. These days, he has continued to serve the industry as a consultant on a full-time basis. He continues to seek knowledge, come up with bright ideas, and remember minute details of characters and handwritings of his students. He still embarrasses quite a few researchers by asking them whether they have read a new reference or patent in their areas, which he has already read. Man Mohan Sharma has become an unbelievable phenomenon because, throughout his life, he has remembered his mission, the value of time, the power of knowledge, the ecstasy of research, the obligation of commitment and duty, the success of perseverance, the pleasure of working long hours, the dignity of simplicity, the worth of character, the power of kindness and charity, the influence of setting examples, the wisdom of economy, the virtue of patience, the improvement of talent, and, above all, the joy of originating. To end, I would like to quote a Vedic hymn; for the health and prosperity of this modem missionary, a symbiosis of Dnyanyogi and Karmayogi. “Pashyet sharadah shatam, JiVet sharadah shatam, Buddhyet sharadah shatam, Rohet sharadah shatam, Pooshet sharadah shatam, BhaVet sharadah shatam, Bhuyet sharadah shatam, Bhuyasee sharadah shatat”. (Translation: May he see through a hundred autumns, May he live through a hundred autumns; May he know through a hundred autumns; May he rise through a hundred autumns; May he remain established through a hundred autumns; May he grow through a hundred autumns, Even more than a hundred autumns!) Ganapati D. Yadav Department of Chemical Engineering, UICT, UniVersity of Mumbai, Mumbai, India IE078002G
