Sneh Kumar Dogra received his BSc (Hons) and MSc (Hons) in Chemistry from Panjab University, Chandigarh in 1964 and 1965, respectively. He studied and worked in Canada and USA (1965-72) and received his PhD degree (1970) under the supervision of Professor N Basco at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. After that he worked with Professor Jack G Calvert at the Department of Chemistry, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA, as a Research Associate and then with Dr RW Yip at the National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, Canada as Post-doctorate Fellow. His PhD work involved Flash Photolysis and Gas Phase Spectroscopy. This work led to the conclusion that atoms can be very good quenchers of vibrational energy provided they form sticky collisions, whereas at Ottawa he worked on energy transfer reactions in condensed phase. After coming back to India, Professor Dogra joined Department of Chemistry, Panjab University, Chandigarh as a Pool Officer, before moving to Department of Chemistry, IIT Kanpur in 1973, where he stayed till his retirement (2004).

Academic and Research Achievements: At IIT, Kanpur, Dogra started his teaching and research career. He was involved in undergraduate, engineering and science and post-graduate courses in Chemistry and Physical Chemistry in particular, as well as in developing laboratory and theory courses. He fabricated his own spectrofluorimeter, working at different temperatures and recording both fluorescence and phosphorescence spectra. His main contributions are in the field of proton transfer and electron transfer reactions in the excited singlet state. Besides the presence of acidic and basic centers, intramolecular hydrogen bonding in the ground state and ?-?* as the lowest excited singlet state, his research work has established that proton transfer efficiency increases if the electron withdrawing groups are present at the proton donor moiety and electron donor groups are present at proton acceptor moiety. Some of the molecules, he synthesized, has proved to be very good and stable tunable dye lasers. He has also contributed in understanding the physics of micelles (ionic and neutral), reverse micelles and cyclodextrin molecules. He has published over one-hundred sixty research articles, wrote one book and authored chapters in couple of books. He has mentored a large number of students, including fourteen fourteen PhD students.

Other Contributions: Professor Dogra is one of the few chemists who fabricated his own instruments of research and was the first to start the research on excited state proton transfer reactions in India. He has been involved in the curriculum development of NCERT and also writing books for school teaching. He is also writing chapters for the CSIR e-learning programme. He was elected once the Vice-President of Indian Chemical Society. He was on the Editorial Board of Indian Journal of Chemistry A. He is currently acting as Editor of Physical Section of PINSA.

Awards and Honours: Professor Dogra received TR Sesadhari 70th Birthday Commemoration Medal of INSA (2006). He is a Fellow, National Academy of Science (India), Allahabad (1991).