Nirupama Raghavan

Nirupama was born in Madras on 19 July 1940.{{cite journal|url=http://isaw.nyu.edu/members/alexander.jones-40nyu.edu/chama/CHAMAnews_6_2_200812.pdf|title=Obituaries|volume=6|number=2|year=2008|journal=CHAMA Newsletter}}

In 1959, she received an undergraduate degree in physics at Women's Christian College, Madras.{{cite web|url=https://wccalumnae.wordpress.com/distinguished-alumni/|title=Distinguished alumni|publisher=Women's Christian College, Chennai|access-date=5 February 2019}} Her master's degree was from the Presidency College, which she followed up with a doctorate in astronomy with work at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and the Kodaikanal Solar Observatory of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics.

She married Raghavan, a metallurgist at Kharagpur, and moved to the United States with him.

Her thesis advisor was Vainu Bappu. Her dissertation (1968) investigated the line asymmetry in sunspots and line profiles of carbon molecules.{{cite journal|title=Fifty Years of Solar Tower Telescope at Kodaikanal Observatory|journal=IIA Newsletter|page=13|year=2012|author1=Jagdev Singh|author2=Christina Birdie|volume=17|number=1}}

She died of cancer in February 2007 in Chennai. To honour her achievements, especially in the outreach to students, a Space Fair was held at the Nehru Planetarium, Delhi, in March 2007.{{cite news|newspaper=The Hindu|url=https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-newdelhi/A-space-journey-of-a-different-kind/article14728374.ece|title=A space journey of a different kind|author=Madhur Tankha|date=3 March 2007|access-date=5 February 2019}}

Nirupama Raghavan was the first woman in the field of observational astronomy in India.{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy|volume=10|year=1985|page=22|title=Manali Kallat Vainu Bappu|author=J.C. Bhattacharyya|publisher=|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.211586|access-date=5 February 2019}}

On her family's return to India from the United States in 1982, she joined the Nehru Planetarium in New Delhi.{{cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/2001/05/17/stories/13170786.htm|title=Fascinated by the stars|author=V.R. Devika|date=17 May 2001|newspaper=The Hindu|access-date=5 February 2019}}{{dead link|date=April 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

In 1985, she started the Amateur Astronomers Association in New Delhi.{{cite news|newspaper=The Times of India|date=7 September 2009|url=https://www.pressreader.com/india/the-times-of-india-new-delhi-edition/20090907/281642481204653|title=Celestial passion unites them|author=Dipak Kumar Dash|access-date=5 February 2019}} The astrophysicists Priyamvada Natarajan and Sangeeta Malhotra as students were among those who were active in the association and conducted research with her.{{cite journal|journal=India Abroad|title=A Life of the Mind|date=12 March 2010|author=P. Rajendran|url=http://im.rediff.com/news/iapoy-pdf/indiaabroad20100312-dl.pdf|access-date=5 February 2019}} In the 1990s, she initiated a programme of telescope construction techniques with Chander Devgun for schools in New Delhi.{{cite journal|journal=Dream 2047|volume=21|number=1|year=2018|url=http://vigyanprasar.gov.in/wp-content/uploads/dream-oct-2018-eng.pdf|title=Chander Devgun: Astronomer, science populariser and a pioneer of astrophotography in India|author=Mila Mitra|issn= 0972-169X|access-date=5 February 2019}}

She taught astrophysics at the Indian Institutes of Technology at Kanpur and Delhi.{{cite news|author=G. Sundari|newspaper=The Hindu|url=https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-fridayreview/first-female-astrophysicist/article2271695.ece|title=First female astrophysicist|date=2 March 2007|access-date=5 February 2019}}

Nirupama Raghavan published works in atmospheric science, especially in relation to the spread of pollutants.{{fact|date=August 2020}}

Her other major interest was in archaeo-astronomy. Among her contributions here was the identification of Arudra (the red star of the god Shiva) with Betelgeuse, and the coincidence of the festival of Arudra Darsinam at Chidambaram with the ascent of Orion in December.{{cite news|newspaper=The Hindu|author=V.R. Devika|title=A moment in a movement|url=https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-fridayreview/a-moment-in-a-movement/article24588910.ece|date=3 August 2018|access-date=5 February 2019}} She also showed evidence that the stellar arrangement of Orion provided the template for Chola bronze sculptures of Nataraja.{{cite book|title=Cosmic Dance|author=Sharada Srinivasan|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/241662863|year=2007|page=133|access-date=5 February 2019}} Another observation was on the likely consecration of the Valleswarar Temple in Mylapore, Chennai to have been on 6 June 1761, exactly upon the transit of Venus (Valle being the Tamil name for the planet, to which the temple was dedicated).{{cite journal|url=http://prints.iiap.res.in/bitstream/2248/6448/1/Indian%20astronomy%20and%20the%20transits%20of%20Venus.pdf|title=Indian astronomy and the transit of Venus|author=R.C. Kapoor|page=281|year=2013|journal=Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage|volume=16|number=3|doi=10.3724/SP.J.1440-2807.2013.03.04 |s2cid=130133152 |access-date=7 February 2019}}

• {{cite journal|author1=M. K. V. Bappu|author2=Nirupama Raghavan|title=An Analysis of the Cepheid Variable RT Aurigae|journal= Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society|volume=142|issue=3|pages=295–316|date=1 February 1969|doi=10.1093/mnras/142.3.295|doi-access=free}}
• {{cite journal|url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1970AJ.....75..258E|author1=Edgar Everhart|author2=Nirupama Raghavan|title=Changes in Total Energy for 392 Long-Period Comets, 1800-1970|journal=Astronomical Journal|volume=75|number=3|year=1970|page=258|doi= 10.1086/110974|bibcode=1970AJ.....75..258E}}
• {{cite journal|author2=George L. Withbroe|author1=Nirupama Raghavan|title=EUV analysis of an active region|doi=10.1007/BF00155149|journal=Solar Physics|year=1975|issue=1|volume=43|pages=117–128|bibcode=1975SoPh...43..117R |s2cid=119761624}}
• {{cite journal|author=Nirupama Raghavan|title=A quantitative study of Ca II network geometry|journal=Solar Physics|year=1983|volume=89|issue=1 |pages=35–42|doi=10.1007/BF00211950|bibcode=1983SoPh...89...35R |s2cid=119585593}}
• {{cite book|author=Nirupama Raghavan|title=Celestial Hide and Seek: The Game of Eclipses|publisher=National Book Trust|year=1997}}

• {{cite journal|title=A Gaussian Model for Predicting SO2 Concentration in the City of Agra|author1=Nirupama Raghavan|author2=Pramila Goyal|author3=Swati Basu|journal= Atmospheric Environment| volume=17|number=II|year=1983}}
• {{cite journal|title=Prediction of inversion strengths and heights from A 1-D nocturnal boundary layer model|author1=Swati Basu|author2=Nirupama Raghavan|journal=Boundary-Layer Meteorology|volume=35|issue=1–2|pages=193–204|year=1986|doi=10.1007/BF00117308|bibcode=1986BoLMe..35..193B |s2cid=121693415}}
• {{cite journal|title=Prediction of Wind Speed, Direction and Diffusivity under Neutral Conditions for Tall Stacks|author2=Swati Basu|author1=Nirupama Raghavan|year=1988|journal=Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology|volume=27|number=3}}

• {{Cite journal|url=https://www.insa.nic.in/writereaddata/UpLoadedFiles/IJHS/Vol41_3_3_NRaghavan.pdf|author=Nirupama Raghavan|title=Is Siva Iconography Inspired by the Stars?|journal=Indian Journal of History of Science|year=2006|volume=41|number=3}}

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Category:Indian astrophysicists

Category:Women's Christian College, Chennai alumni

Category:2007 deaths

Category:1940 births

Category:Scientists from Chennai

Category:20th-century Indian women scientists

Category:20th-century Indian scientists