Mangipudi Venkata Ramaniah did PhD (1956) from University of Washington, USA. He worked as IAEA Expert in Radiochemistry, Instituto Energia Atomica, Sao Paulo, Brazil (1963-64); Officer-in-Charge, Nuclear Materials Accounting Cell, Department of Atomic Energy (1973-87); Head, Radiochemistry Division (1965-80) and Director, Radiology Group (1979-87), Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai.

Academic and Research Achievements: Dr Ramaniah has done radiochemical studies on fission of actinides. He showed that the one-, two- and three- peeked mass distributions in low-energy fission are due to the relative contributions of the symmetric and asymmetric modes of fission, which, in turn, depend on the difference in the barrier heights for these modes. This difference depends on the neutron number rather than on the proton number of the fissioning nucleus. His work also showed the influence of the doubly magic shell at mass 132 on the total kinetic energy and its distribution.

Other Contributions: Ramaniah was Member of the Standing Advisory Group on Safeguard Implementation to Director-General, IAEA, Vienna (1975-83) and a number of UN bodies concerned with nuclear energy; Chairman, Safety Review Committee of Department of Atomic Energy and Member, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (1986-87). He was on the Editorial Advisory Board of Radiochim Acta (1965-77).

Awards and Honours: Dr Ramaniah was elected Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chemistry, London, Maharashtra Academy of Sciences, Andhra Pradesh Academy of Sciences; President, Indian Association of Nuclear Chemists and Allied Scientists (1984-87); and Founder President, Indian Nuclear Society (1989-90). He was also conferred Joliot-Curie Memorial Lectureship by the University of Pune (1992).