N. A. Ramaiah

N. A. Ramaiah, born on 26 August 1923 in the south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, passed his master's degree from Banaras Hindu University and continued there to secure a PhD; his thesis for the doctoral degree was on the origin of triggering electrons for electric discharge in electrode-less ozone tubes. His career started at his alma mater where he joined as a member of faculty but, later, shifted to the University of Delhi. In 1956, joining Government of India service, he began an association with the National Sugar Institute, Kanpur (NSI) which would last almost a quarter of a century. Starting as a professor of physical chemistry, he became the director of the institution in 1974 and stayed there till his superannuation in 1981. When the Sugar Industry Enquiry Commission was constituted by the Union Government in 1969, he was made the secretary of the commission and he stayed at the assignment, on deputation from NSI, till 1974.{{cite book | url=http://dfpd.nic.in/writereaddata/images/pdf/sugar/Report.pdf | title=Sugar Industry Enquiry Commission, 1974 | year=1974 | pages=9 of 373}} Vasantdada Patil and his comrades, Shankarrao Mohite-Patil, Vishwanath Anna Kore, Ratnappa Anna Kumbhar, Yashwantrao Mohite and Shankarrao Kolhe, founded the Deccan Sugar Institute in 1975{{cite web | url=http://www.vsisugar.com/india/organisation/genesis.htm | title=Genesis | publisher=Vasantdada Sugar Institute | date=2016 | access-date=9 November 2016}} and his association with them during the tenancy of the commission gave him an opportunity to join them as the director of the institute in 1981.{{Refn|group=note|Deccan Sugar Institute has since been renamed as Vasantdada Sugar Institute}}

Ramaiah's researches during his doctoral studies were on electron triggering and his concept of a mechanism for originating the trigger earned him an invitation to take part in the first International Ozone Conference held in Chicago in 1956. Later, he shifted his focus to the physicochemical reactions involved in resolving the color issues during sugarcane processing.{{cite web | url=http://www.csirhrdg.res.in/ssb.pdf | title=Handbook of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize Winners | publisher=Council of Scientific and Industrial Research | date=1999 | access-date=5 October 2016 | pages=34 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304043957/http://www.csirhrdg.res.in/ssb.pdf | archive-date=4 March 2016 | url-status=dead }} The sugar industry in India, in those days, resorted to excessive use of sulphur for clarifying sugarcane juice and the chemical being a scarce commodity in India, had to face escalating cost for the processing. Ramaiah developed several analytical methodologies for color assessment and for the production of active carbon which assisted the industry to lessen their dependence on sulphur, thereby making the processing more cost effective.{{cite book|title=Advances in Carbohydrate Chemistry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=axruOYEviIYC&pg=PA229|date=1 January 1967|publisher=Academic Press|isbn=978-0-08-056280-3|pages=229–}} The protocols developed by him have since become industry-standards.

Ramaiah has written extensively on sugar technology{{cite book|author=Praveśa Caturvedī|title=Experiences in cane sugar manufacturing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IzIOeuSynW8C&pg=PR3|date=1 January 2004|publisher=Regency Publications|isbn=978-81-87498-12-4|pages=3–}} by way of over 325 articles, many of them published in peer-reviewed journals{{Refn|group=note|Please see ''Selected bibliography section}} and his articles have been cited by others.{{cite book|author1=Zahid Amjad|author2=Konstantinos D. Demadis|title=Mineral Scales and Deposits: Scientific and Technological Approaches|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JxCdBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA637|date=21 May 2015|publisher=Elsevier Science|isbn=978-0-444-62752-0|pages=637–}}{{cite book|author1=M.R. Masson|author2=H.D. Lutz|author3=B. Engelen|title=Sulfites, Selenites & Tellurites|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H0cXBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA193|date=22 October 2013|publisher=Elsevier|isbn=978-1-4832-8643-3|pages=193–}}{{cite book|author=Thomas E. Furia|title=CRC Handbook of Food Additives, Second Edition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XcSp015g4X0C&pg=PA294|date=2 January 1973|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=978-0-8493-0542-9|pages=294–}} He has mentored 23 doctoral students in their studies and has trained many sugar industry professionals. He sat on the Board of Directors of the World Sugar Research Organization (WSRO) from 1981 to 1985 and has been involved in performance-improvement measures taken by WSRO in various countries. While serving as the chair of the ICAR Committee, he prepared a project report for the manufacture of ethanol from sugarcane in which he proposed the use of ethanol as motor fuel. He served as the president of Walkers Club, Visakhapatanam, the city chapter of Walkers International{{cite web | url=http://walkersclubvisakhapatnam.com/PastPresidents.html | title=Past presidents | publisher=Walkers Club, Visakhapatanam | date=2016 | access-date=9 November 2016}} and is a life member of Indian Chemical Society and the Sugar Technologists' Association of India.

The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research awarded Ramaiah the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 1966.{{cite web | url=http://www.csir.res.in/External/Heads/career/award/BPRIZE/CHEMICAL_SCIENCES.htm | title=Chemical Sciences | publisher=Council of Scientific and Industrial Research | date=2016 | access-date=7 November 2016 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120912012851/http://www.csir.res.in/external/heads/career/award/BPRIZE/CHEMICAL_SCIENCES.htm | archive-date=12 September 2012 | df=dmy-all }} The Sugar Technologists Association of India (STAI) honored him with the Noel Deer Gold Medal and followed it up with the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005. He is an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Royal Institute of Chemistry. A street, Atchuta Ramaiah street, in Kakinada in East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh has been named after him.{{cite web | url=http://www.whatpincode.com/atchuta-ramaiah-st-kakinaka-andhra-pradesh-533004-pin-code-is-533004/ | title=Atchuta Ramaiah street | publisher=What Pin Code | date=2016 | access-date=9 November 2016}}

• {{cite journal |title=A Note on Secondary Processes in a Low-Frequency Electrodeless Discharge |author1=O P Dogra |author2=M G Bhatawdekar |author3=N A Ramaiah |journal=Proceedings of the Physical Society |year=1953 |volume=66 |issue=5 |pages=431 |doi=10.1088/0370-1301/66/5/115 |bibcode=1953PPSB...66..431D}}
• {{cite journal |title=Comparative studies of alternating and direct current polarography: Effect of concentration |author1=N. A. Ramaiah |author2=S. K. D. Agarwal |journal=Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences |date=July 1956 |volume=44 |pages=25–35 |doi=10.1007/BF03051862 |s2cid=92195392}}
• {{cite journal |title=Comparative studies of alternating and direct current polarography: Effect of pH |author1=N. A. Ramaiah |author2=S. K. D. Agarwal |journal=Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences |date=August 1956 |volume=44 |issue=2 |pages=83–89 |doi=10.1007/BF03048805| s2cid=92764307}}
• {{cite journal |title=Studies on irreversible polarographic reduction of Brilliant Green |author1=N. A. Ramaiah |author2=S. S. Katiyar |journal=Bull. Natl. -Inst. Sci. (India) |year=1965 |volume=29 |issue=267}}
• {{cite web |title=KInetic Studies on Caramelization of Reducing Sugars |publisher=National Sugar Institute |date=1968 |author1=N. A. Ramaiah |author2=M. B. Kuma |s2cid=29800379 |url=http://issct.org/pdf/proceedings/1968/1968%20Ramaiah%20Kinetic%20Studies%20on%20Caramelisation%20of%20Reducing%20S.pdf}} {{deadlink|date=October 2022}}
• {{cite journal |url=http://docplayer.net/14958572-N-a-ramaiah-deccan-sugar-institute-pune-india-and.html |title=Determination of Factors relating to Automation for Boiling of Low Grade Massecuites in Plantation White Sugar Industry (full text) |author1=N. A. Ramaiah |author2=G. N. Acharya |author3=P. Kapur |journal=Deccan Sugar Institute |year=2016}}

{{portal|India|Chemistry}}

{{Div col|colwidth=18em}}

• Vasantdada Patil
• Shankarrao Mohite-Patil
• Ratnappa Kumbhar
• Yashwantrao Mohite

{{div col end}}

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• {{cite book | url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000957916 | title=Report of the Sugar Industry Enquiry Commission, 1974 | publisher=Ministry of Agriculture | work=Commission report | date=1974 | access-date=9 November 2016}}
• {{cite web | url=https://www.geni.com/people/Achuta-Ramaiah-Nanduri/6000000017566181331 | title=Achuta Ramaiah Nanduri | publisher=Geni | work=Family tree | date=2016 | access-date=9 November 2016}}

{{SSBPST recipients in Chemical Science}}

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Category:1923 births

Category:Living people

Category:Telugu people

Category:Indian physical chemists

Category:Scientists from Andhra Pradesh

Category:Banaras Hindu University alumni

Category:Academic staff of Banaras Hindu University

Category:Academic staff of Delhi University

Category:20th-century Indian chemists

Category:Fellows of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences

Category:Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy

Category:Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Chemical Science

Category:Sugar technologists