Chillakuru Abhirama Reddy obtained his BSc (Hons) in 1955, MSc in Physics (1956) and DSc (1963), all from the Andhra University. He worked in the Physics Department of Andhra University as Demonstrator (1956-57), UGC Research Scholar (1957-59), Research Assistant (1959-61) and Lecturer (1961-64). He was Research Associate in the University of Chicago (1964-65), and Visiting Scientist in the High Altitude Observatory (HAO) of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) during 1965-68. Thereafter, he worked as Scientist in the newly created Space Physics Division (SPD) of Space Science & Technology Centre (SSTC) in Trivandrum where he was appointed as Associate Head (1973) and Head (1974). Upon SPD being upgraded in 1984 as Space Physics Laboratory (SPL), he was designated as its Director (1984-91). He was Visiting Researcher for at CNET of CNRS in France (1970-71), Visiting Professor at Radio Atmospheric Science Center (RASC) of the Kyoto University (1989), and at Institute of Space & Astronautical Science (ISAS), Japan (1989-90); and NRC Senior Research Associate at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center (1992-95).

Academic and Research Achievements: Dr Reddy developed and used a very difficult experiment to measure the polarization of radio waves reflected from the ionosphere at the low-latitude of Vizag. His studies on the reflection and propagation of gravity waves in the atmosphere turned out to be seminal in this emerging research area. His work on different aspects of Blanketing Sporadic-E led to definitive new results on crucial aspects of the phenomenon. Some of his notable findings involve: (a) theoretical study of the effects of shearing winds on the Equatorial Electrojet (EEJ); (b) pioneering results on the one-to-one response of the EEJ to the Auroral Electrojet changes during magnetic sub-storms; (c) increase of phase velocity of type-I plasma waves beyond the local 'acoustic velocity' with increasing plasma velocity in the EEJ; (d) design of a new beam-switching method for VHF/HF radars using an interlaced phased array; and (e) extensive theoretical study on the reflection and attenuation of Kelvin and Rossby-Gravity waves in the low latitude middle atmosphere. While working at RASC, a large height rise of ionospheric F2-layer observed during a magnetic sub-storm was explained as the effect of a large electric field rather than a Gravity Wave propagating from auroral region. While working at ISAS, Tokyo, he established the frequent presence of electric field-driven F-region height rises during magnetic sub-storms, and also brought out the discrepancy of theoretical predictions with the observed sub-storm-time F-region height changes. At GSFC/NASA, occurrence of very intense zonal plasma flows even at low latitudes during intense magnetic sub-storms was brought out from the study of DE-2 data. He has 80 publications in refereed scientific journals to his credit.

Other Contributions: Reddy was a Member of the American Geophysical Union.

Awards and Honours: Dr Reddy was elected Fellow of the Indian Geophysical Union.