The intellectual arrangement strives to preserve provenance and original order of the papers. Where an original order could not be found, the Archives has applied an order, and folders within sub-series are arranged usually in chronological or alphabetical order. See Scope and Content section for details.
Vasant Natarajan was an experimental physicist who worked primarily at IISc, Bangalore. Natarajan got his BTech degree in Electronic Engineering from IIT Madras, and then moved to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the US, where he obtained his MSc in the same discipline. Natarajan switched to experimental atomic physics, and joined the laboratory of David Pritchard, MIT as a PhD student. He obtained his PhD in 1993, after which he joined Bell Labs. After two years at Bell Labs, he joined IISc as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics in 1996. Natarajan worked in the field of laser cooling and trapping of neutral atoms and his lab had produced a cloud of trapped laser-cooled Rubidium atoms in 2001. His laboratory also worked on high precision frequency metrology and quantum optics experiments employing precision atomic spectroscopy. He also collaborated with biologists on malaria parasite-affected red blood cells. Natarajan was also interested in scientific temper, rationalism and science communication.
Collection is open for access unless mentioned in specific folders of the finding aid.
Copyright may not have been assigned to Archives, National Centre for Biological Sciences. Permission for reproduction or distribution must be obtained in writing from the Archives at NCBS (archives@ncbs.res.in). The Archives at NCBS makes no representation that it is the copyright owner in all of its collections. The user must obtain all necessary rights and clearances before use of material and material may only be reproduced for academic and non-commercial use.
The collection was processed by Nisha B, Metadata-Archivist, Archives at NCBS along with Anjali Ramachandran.
The collection has been divided into 3 series.
Series 1 titled Biographical and Personal contains Natarajan's academic certificates, adminstrative records related to his career, obituary and a set of photographs.
Series 2 is titled Scientific research. It includes Natarajan's PhD thesis, lecture notes, research references such as books and articles as well as slides showing a research laboratory.
Series 3 contains media clippings of Natarajan's writings on science communication and a draft of a letter to a collaborator.
When quoting from this material, kindly use the following format: Collection id/identifier, name of collection, Archives (Eg MS-052-1-1-1-1, Vasant Natarajan Papers, Archives at NCBS)
Marksheets and merit cards
Marksheets from Grade I to VIII and merit cards from grade XI and XII/
Access Level 1: Online. See
Certificate - extra curricular activities
Cerificates from competitions and workshops including general knowledge, various sports, traffic training, quiz, talent search contest, etc.
Access Level 1: Online. See
Marksheets from IIT Madras
Marksheets from semester 1 through 8 along with provisional certificate for B.Tech in Electrical Engineering (Electronics) from IIT Madras.
Access Level 1: Online. See
Certificates -- Extra curricular, IIT Madras
Certificates for dumb charades and institute open prolix
Access Level 1: Online. See
Marksheets from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Marksheets from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for MS in Electrical Engineering
Access Level 1: Online. See
Admission documents from MIT Physics Department
Two letters, course structure and prospectus documents for Natarajan's admission as a student at the department of physics, MIT in an envelope
Access Level 1: Online. See
General examination from MIT
Letters informing Natarajan of his successful completion of various parts of the General Doctor's examinations at MIT Department of Physics
Access Level 1: Online. See
Investiture of doctoral hoods, MIT
Brochure about the doctoral award ceremony of MIT in the year 1993 when Natarajan received his PhD in atomic physics
Access Level 1: Online. See
Postdoctoral associate appointment at MIT
Letter of appointment from vice president and dean of research appointing Natarajan as a postdoctoral associate from 1 June 1993 to 31 August 1993 at research laboratory of electronics, MIT
Access Level 1: Online. See
Employment at AT&T Bell Laboratories
Offer letter for Natarajan as postdoctoral member of technical staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories and related communication about his visa application.
Access Level 1: Online. See
Ephemera from IISc
Natarajan's visiting card, a faculty association membership certificate, and a volleyboll competetion certificate from Natarajan's time at IISc.
Access Level 1: Online. See
Obituary by Arnab Rai Choudhury
A tribute to Natarajan from Choudhuri (Professor, Department of Physics, IISc) in Volume 88 No.1-2 of Science and Culture maagzine (pages 69-72).
Access Level 1: Online. See
Photographs
A collection of photographs from various points of Natarajan's life.
Access Level 1: Online. See
Slides -- Laboratory and equipment
People working in the lab, along with some laboratory equipment. Pictured are anvil cells with electrical connections likely to measure conductivity or gas ionisation. Also pictured, a spectrometer and a cryogenic system.
Access Level 1: Online. See
Class notes -- Theory of solids
Notes taken by Natarajan during a Postdoc course offered by XYZ on theory of solids including copies of graded assignments.
Access Level 1: Online. See
PhD Thesis
Bound copy of Natarajan's PhD thesis at MIT titled 'Penning trap mass spectroscopy at 0.1 ppb'.
Access Level 1: Online. See
Research correspondence: Mendel Sachs
Letter from Mendel Sachs to Natarajan discussing various experiments proposed by Natarajan, on EPR and on twin paradox effect
Access Level 1: Online. See
Gordon Research Conference documents
Includes an acceptance letter for Natarajan from Gordon research conference on microstructure fabrication, ephemera from the conference, and three group photos from 3 consecutive conferences.
Access Level 1: Online. See
Membership, The New York Academy of Sciences
A letter welcoming Natarajan to the New York Academy of Sciences and a certificate in recognition of being an active member of the academy.
Access Level 1: Online. See
Preprint : Europhysics letters
Preprint for a paper titled 'Observations of sub-natural linewidths for cold atoms in a magneto-optic trap' by Umakant D Rapol, Ajay Wasan, and Vasant Natarajan. All authors are affiliated to department of physics, Indian Institute of Science.
Access Level 1: Online. See
Lecture notes: IISc Master's course on electromagnetism
Contains lecture notes on electromagnetism, standard derivations, and attendance sheets.
Access Level 1: Online. See
Lecture notes: IISc Master's course on quantum mechanics
Contains course outline, standard derivations and has references from other texts
Access Level 1: Online. See
Book : Fundamentals of Physics
A book authored by Natarajan published by department of physics, IISc.
Access Level 1: Online. See
Media clippings
Newspaper articles written or collected by Natarajan.
Access Level 1: Online. See
Letter to Sorab K Ghandhi
Partial draft of a letter from Natarajan to Ghandhi discussing their work experience and dynamic.
Access Level 1: Online. See