Famous Scientist Patcha Ramachandra Rao

 

Patcha Ramachandra Rao

Dr. Patcha Ramachandra Rao (21 March 1942 – 10 January 2010) was a metallurgist and administrator. He has the unique distinction of being the only Vice-Chancellor (2002–05) of the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) who was also a student (1963–68) and faculty (1964–92) at that institution. From 1992 to 2002, Rao was the Director of the National Metallurgical Laboratory, Jamshedpur.

After his tenure as Vice Chancellor of B.H.U., in 2005, he took the reins of the Defence Institute of Advanced Technology (DIAT) as its first Vice-Chancellor. He was to serve DIAT until his superannuation in 2007. From 2007 till the end, Rao was a Raja Ramanna Fellow at the International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials, in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.


Rao was born on 21 March 1942 to Late Mr. S.R. Narayanaswamy Naidu and Mrs. Laxmi Bai at Kavutavaram in the Krishna District of Andhra Pradesh. His father Mr. Narayanaswamy Naidu, was a government servant and retired as Deputy Registrar of Co-operative Societies while his mother, Laxmi Bai was also educated and studied up to matriculation when very few women were going to school.
 

DrRao was married to Sudha Rao in 1966. In his own words, "she has been a great support to me and let me pursue my professional life without any worry of running the family. She was herself an employee of Andhra Bank. She joined the Bank when it opened a branch in Varanasi at the beginning of 1980 and rose to become an officer.".[1] They have two children, a daughter and a son. Dr. Suparna Dandamudi is a medical practitioner currently practicing in New Jersey, USA. Dr. Animesh Patcha is a computer engineer who did his doctoral study at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and is currently located in the United States.


From his mother's side, Rao is the nephew of Narla Venkateswara Rao, a Telugu language writer, journalist and politician from Andhra Pradesh, Narla Gowri Shankar Rao, an assistant accountant-general (retired) in the Central Government of India, and Narla Tata Rao, a doyen of the power sector in India and a former chairman of the Andhra Pradesh State Electricity Board.