Dr Rajeshwari Chatterjee Memorial Inspiring Talk Series is a series of talks commemorating Dr. Rajeshwari Chatterjee, the first woman engineer from Karnataka. This year, the talk series starts from the August 6th and will be held every fortnight. The theme of the this year’s talk series is ‘Inspiring research in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields’.
About Dr. Rajeshwari Chatterjee:
The first woman engineer from Karnataka, and one of the pioneering women scientist-cum-engineers in India, Dr. Rajeshwari Chatterjee is an inspiration to us all.
Born in 1922 in an upper class family in Karnataka, she received her primary education in a “special English school” founded by her grandmother, Kamalamma Dasappa who fought for women’s right to education in a patriarchal society. Rajeshwari studied in Central College of Bangalore and earned B.Sc (Hons) and M.Sc degrees in Mathematics, where she was a topper in both the courses.
After being denied the chance to work under Dr C V Raman, Rajeshwari joined as a research student under Dr. SP Chakravarty at the Department of Electrical Technology. Finally, in 1947, just a month before India’s independence, she, an unmarried woman in her 20s, set sail for USA aboard a troop ship, for further studies at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA under the aegis of a prestigious scholarship awarded by the Government of Delhi (the interim government set up to transfer power from British to Indians). After earning a Masters from the Electrical Engineering Department, she underwent an 8-month practical training in Division of Radio Frequency Measurements at the National Bureau of Standards in Washington DC. In 1953, Rajeshwari completed her PhD under Prof. William G. Dow.
Upon returning to India in 1953, she was employed by IISc in the Department of Electrical Communication Engineering as a faculty member, and eventually Chairman of the department. Along with her husband, Sisir Kumar Chatterjee, she helped setup India’s first microwave engineering research labs, and was the first to teach the subject in India. The Chatterjee duo mentored women scientists both in their personal and academic endeavors.
In her long spanning career of 30 years, Rajeshwari not only pioneered microwave engineering research in India, but also authored 100 research papers, 6 textbooks, and mentored 20 PhD students. Even after retiring, she continued working for the empowerment of women on many issues such as caste segregation, gender discrimination and financial instability along with the Indian Association for Women’s.
From being denied to be a student under Dr. C V Raman for not having a degree in physics(some sources say it was because she was a woman), Dr. Rajeshwari Chatterjee went on to make significant contributions to the field of microwave and antenna engineering for aircrafts and spacecrafts. For her contribution and works in the field of microwave engineering, the great engineer was bestowed with many awards and recognition, including the Mountbatten prize from the Institute of Electrical and Radio Engineering in UK, J.C Bose Memorial prize from the Institution of Engineers and Ramlal Wadhwa Award for the best research and teaching work from the Institute of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers.
Speakers
Career Diversity – Perspective of a Woman
Recent advancements in Microwave Photonics
Contact Details:
Prachi Singh (prachisingh@iisc.ac.in)
