Ram Charan Mehrotra

Ram Charan Mehrotra (16 February 1922 – 11 July 2004) was an Indian analytical and organometallic chemist, academic, educationist and the vice chancellor of the Universities of Delhi and Allahabad.

[6] He lost both his parents before he turned 10 and had to continue his studies depending on merit scholarships and part-time jobs like private tuition.

Joining the University of Allahabad in 1939 for his graduate studies, he completed the course on the strength of three scholarships[note 1] and passed BSc with Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry as optional subjects.

[6] It was during this time, he served as a member of the Review Committee in Chemistry of the University Grants Commission of India under the chairmanship of T. R. Seshadri, where his colleagues included Asima Chatterjee, a noted chemist.

[8] In 1962, on invitation of Mohan Sinha Mehta, the then vice chancellor of the University of Rajasthan, he took up the post of a professor and head of the newly formed chemistry department and served the institution for two decades.

[10][11] Simultaneously, when the National Commission on Teachers was constituted by the Government of India in 1983 under the chairmanship of D. P. Chattopadhyaya, he was appointed as a member of the Research Advisory Committee.

[12] After his assignment with the committee, he took up the chair of the Book Writing Project of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and in 1991, he was appointed as the vice chancellor of the University of Allahabad, a position he held in 1993.

[14] Mehrotra, during his early years in research, made notable contributions in analytical chemistry which included studies on tin, gold and hydrated copper oxide.

[1] During 1971–72, as a UGC National Professor, he delivered lectures at many Indian universities and he was a pioneer in popularizing science through Hindi medium for which he was awarded a cash prize by the Government of India in 1985.

He was awarded the National Fellowship by the University Grants Commission in 1980 and the Golden Jubilee Medal by the Institute of Science, Mumbai in 1984.

[1] The J. C. Ghosh Medal of the Indian Chemical Society reached Mehrotra in 1986, followed by the Academic Achievements Award of the Sōka University in 1987.