Prof. R. Vijayaraghavan (d.o.b. 3-Jan-1931) is from an illustrious family of Iyengars. One of his forefathers was the deputy chief minister of Ramnad Samasthanam and was responsible for constructing a big hall in the holy temple of Rameswaram. His grandfather was Mahawidwan R. Raghava Iyengar a renowned Tamil and Sanskrit scholar of the twentieth century. Prof. Vijayargahavan, after graduating from the Annamalai university in 1951 joined the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research at Bombay as a Research Student,[Ph.D,1961] and rose to the position of Distinguished Professor and Dean (Physics Faculty).He formally retired in 1996 . He was awarded INSA Senior Scientist position from 1996 to 2001, during which he worked at SAMEER, Mumbai in collaboration with TIFR. .

He specialized in the area of condensed matter physics and pioneered active research in the areas of metal physics, magnetic resonance in biophysical systems and fine particle physics, a forerunner to nanoscience. He is a Fellow of several science academies and twice elected as a member of the IUPAP commission in magnetism.

He was conferred the prestigious Bhatnagar prize in 1976 and received the UGC Raman award in Physical Sciences in 1983. Apart from science, he is well versed in Hindu philosophy and Tamil literature. His wife Susila is a M.A., B.Ed. and his daughter Nalini Sudharshan (M.S.) is presently at Lexington (Ky), USA. His son, Prof. R.V. Ramanujan (B.Tech. (IIT-B), Ph.D.(Carnegie Mellon) is in the School of Materials Science and Engg. at Nanyang Tech. Univ., Singapore. Prof. Vijayaraghavan can be reached at [email protected]