Another sad news... Ex-Director of IGCAR Dr. Placid Rodrigues passed away at the age of 68. Here is the article from Times of India
CHENNAI: Eminent metallurgist and former director of Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, Dr Placid Rodriguez died on Sunday morning.
The 68-year-old scientist was admitted to the Apollo Hospitals here after he complained of chest pain on Sunday morning. However, he did not respond to the treatment and died. Dr Rodriguez is survived by his wife, a daughter and son. "His untimely demise is a very sad moment for the scientific community, especially everyone at IGCAR, Kalpakkam," said Daniel Chellappa, head, technical coordination, IGCAR.
A recipient of various national and international awards, Rodriguez had served in many national funding agencies for science and technology.
Born in Kollam, Kerala, on October 5, 1940, Rodriguez was a BSc graduate from Kerala University and pursued BE in metallurgy at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore. He finished his MS from the University of Tenessee in USA, PhD from IISc and an MBA from the Indira Gandhi National Open University.
He joined the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) in 1960 and worked at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai until 1974, after which he moved to IGCAR as a senior metallurgist and established world-class research laboratories for metallurgy.
Rodriguez took over as the director of IGCAR in December 1992 and continued with the post till October 2000.
Following this, he served as Chairman for Recruitment and Assessment Centre of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) between November 2000 and October 2003, and since 2004, he had been a visiting professor at National Institutes of Technology at Surathkal, Nagpur and Tiruchi.