J Chandrasekhar obtained his BSc (1970) from Bangalore University and MSc (1972) and PhD (1977) from IIT, Madras with specialization in computational chemistry and theoretical organic chemistry. He was Professor of Organic Chemistry at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and is now at Neurogen corporation in Branford.

Academic and Research Achievements: Chandrasekhar used computational methods in three inter-related areas: (i) to quantify a variety of electronic effects, (ii) to predict structures and energies of novel species, reactive intermediates and transition states, and (iii) to compute molecular properties. With this wide perspective, he has established the importance of negative hyperconjugation in organic, organometallic and inorganic systems, captodative stablization in radical ions, and distonic effect in radical ions. He has predicted several unusual structures, which combine novel through-space and through-bond interactions. These include rings with phantom bonds and olefins with inverted carbon centers. He has used computational procedures to interpret several subtle features of chemical reactivity, such as face selectivity in additions to sterically unbiased ketones and olefins, stereo-control of rearrangement rates, and symmetry effects on radical cation cyclizations. He developed efficient algorithms to compute molecular hyperpolarizabilities and band structures. He has critically evaluated the factors determining ?-face selectivity, analysed the role of angle strain in fullerene derivatives and rationalized the trends in molecular hyperpolarizabilities of push-pull systems on the basis of ground and excited state properties. He has published over 140 papers in different peer-reviewed journals and written chapters in 3 books.

Other Contributions: Chandrasekhar has served as Member of the Scientific Board of World Association of Theoretically Oriented Chemists. He was Associate Editor of Resonance and Journal of Science Education. He served as Member of Editorial Board of Current Science and Proceedings of Chemical Sciences.

Awards and Honours: Dr Chandrasekhar received Dr Hussain Zaheer Young Scientist Award. He is a Fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore (1992) and recipient of SS Bhatnagar Prize (1995). He was conferred on SERC National Lectureship and Professor K Venkataraman Lectureship of UDCT. He is an Honorary Senior Fellow of Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research.