IIT Madras Professor T. Pradeep elected to Two Global Academies
Chennai: Indian Institute of Technology Madras Faculty and Prominent nanotechnologist Prof. Thalappil Pradeep has been elected to two global academies.
He is one of the Seven Fellows globally to be elected in the field of Chemistry to the Fellowship of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), based in Trieste, Italy. Prof Pradeep was also elected to American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), based in Washington DC, U.S.A.
The AAAS, founded in 1848, elects Fellows from all areas of science, engineering, medicine and social sciences. Around 416 fellows were elected globally this year. TWAS, founded in 1983, is an academy of distinguished scientists and engineers, chosen mostly from developing nations and having a Fellowship base of about 1,200 from 90 countries. Around 46 fellows from across the world were elected this year.
Prof Pradeep, Institute Professor and Deepak Parekh Institute Chair Professor, Chemistry Department, IIT Madras, has been recognised for his distinguished contributions to the field of materials chemistry and for discovering, developing and implementing solutions for affordable clean water.
Speaking about the recognition, Prof Pradeep said, “Recognitions of this kind are important and they will enhance the quality and quantity of science.”
His technologies are delivering drinking water to nine million people in the country each day. He has discovered new chemistry that are the basis of these technologies and has incubated multiple companies to convert such science to technologies and products.
He is an inventor of about 100 patents and technologies resulting from them have resulted in benefits over Rs. 500 crores for the nation. He has built laboratories housing sophisticated instrumentation to enable advanced science in materials. Some of those instruments were also built by him.
He has published 430 papers in journals, authored several books and is an inventor of close to 100 patents. He has trained over 250 researchers and has received several Indian and international recognitions and holds visiting positions across the world.
His research Interests include molecular and nanoscale materials, nanoscience and nanotechnology, molecular surfaces, ion scattering, instrumentation and water purification.