S. Pancharatnam
{{Short description|Indian physicist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2017}}
{{Indian name|Pancharatnam|Shivaramakrishnan}}
{{Infobox scientist
|name = Shivaramakrishnan Pancharatnam
|birth_date = {{birth date|1934|02|09|df=y}}
|birth_place = Calcutta, India
|death_date = {{death date and age|1969|05|28|1934|02|09|df=y}}
|death_place = Oxford, England
|image = LowRes 120dpi 150x205 picture of Indian physicist S. Pancharatnam.png
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|fields = Quantum optics, optics
|workplaces = University of Mysore
Oxford University
|alma_mater = Nagpur University
Raman Research Institute
|doctoral_advisor = C. V. Raman
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|father = {{ill|Sivaramakrishnan (Indian Accounts Service)|lt=Sivaramakrishnan|qid=Q125516718|short=1}}
|mother = {{ill|Sitalaxmi (Chandrasekhar family)|lt=Sitalaxmi|qid=Q124416098|short=1}}
|relatives = {{ubl|C.V. Raman (uncle)|S. Ramaseshan (brother)|Sivaramakrishna Chandrasekhar (brother)}}
|known_for = Geometric phase
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Shivaramakrishnan Pancharatnam (9 February 1934 – 28 May 1969) was an Indian physicist who did significant work in the field of optics. He is noted for his discovery of a type of geometric phase sometimes known as Pancharatnam phase for polarized beams passing through crystals.{{cite journal |last1=Anandan |first1=Jeeva |last2=Christian |first2=Joy |year=1997 |title=Resource Letter GPP-1: Geometric Phases in Physics |journal=American Journal of Physics |volume=65 |issue=3 |pages=180–185 |doi= 10.1119/1.18570|arxiv = quant-ph/9702011 |bibcode = 1997AmJPh..65..180A |s2cid=119080820 }}
Biography
He was born in Calcutta in West Bengal, India in 1934.{{cite journal |title=Foreword |journal=Current Science |date=1994 |volume=67 |issue=4 |pages=219 |jstor=24095725 }} His mother, {{ill|Sitalaxmi|qid=Q124416098|short=1}}, was C.V. Raman's sister, and his father {{ill|Sivaramakrishnan (Indian Accounts Service)|lt=Sivaramakrishnan|qid=Q125516718|short=1}} worked in the Indian Accounts Service.{{cite Q|Q125516639}}{{cite Q|Q125503928}} He was elected a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences at the early age of 25. He was a reader at the Department of studies in Physics, University of Mysore from 1961–1964.{{Cite web |url=http://uomphysics.net/faculty/former-fac.php |title=Former Faculty |access-date=23 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150225003137/http://uomphysics.net/faculty/former-fac.php |archive-date=25 February 2015 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }} From 1964 until his death in 1969 at the age of 35 he was a Research Fellow of St Catherine's College, Oxford, working in association with George William Series. His publications for this period were mainly concerned with the theory of effects found in experiments on optical pumping, e.g. double refraction in a gas due to spin alignment. Professor Series has written an introduction to the life and work of Pancharatnam. He also prepared, for the Proceedings of the Royal Society, the last three papers from notes left by Pancharatnam.{{Cite journal |doi = 10.1088/0031-8949/1997/T70/E02|title = George W Series Memorial Essays |journal = Physica Scripta|volume=1997 |issue=T70 |pages = 5|year = 1997|last1 = Dodd|first1 = J. N.|doi-access = free}}
In 1956, Pancharatnam was studying interference figures produced by light waves in crystal plates, under his advisor C. V. Raman, when he discovered the properties of what is now known as the geometric phase, and which predated Michael Berry's work on the topic from 1983.{{cite journal |last1=Berry |first1=Michael |title=Pancharatnam, virtuoso of the Poincaré sphere: an appreciation |journal=Current Science |date=1994 |volume=67 |issue=4 |pages=220–223 |jstor=24095727 }}
References
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External links
- {{JSTOR|i24092525}} Current Science Vol. 67, No. 4, 25 August 1994 Pancharatnam memorial issue
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pancharatnam, S.}}
Category:20th-century Indian physicists
Category:Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences
Category:Academic staff of the University of Mysore