Prof A P Balachandran, an internationally recognised theoretical physicist and the first graduate student of The Institute of Mathematical Sciences (Matscience), passed away in Coimbatore on 18th April, 2025. He was the Joel Dorman Steele Emeritus Professor at Syracuse University.
Prof Balachandran, fondly known as Bal, was born in Salem and finished his schooling in Cochin, Kerala. After his intermediate education at the Guruvayurappan College in Calicut, he went on to do his BSc (Honours) in Physics from the Madras Christian College. He later received his PhD from Madras University under the guidance of Prof Alladi Ramakrishnan. He did his postdoctoral research from the Institute of Theoretical Physics Institute, Vienna and the Enrico Fermi Institute, Chicago.
He joined as a faculty member at Syracuse University in 1964 and continued working there until his retirement. He played a key role in making Syracuse a thriving research center and an attractive destination for physicists from all over the world, especially India.
He has been closely associated with several universities and research centers in India, where he regularly gave lectures and interacted with scientists. He was also invited to research centers and universities across the world.
Prof Balachandran obtained several recognitions for his research and teaching. Notably, he received the Award of the American Chapter of the Indian Physics Association for his contributions to physics, 1992, the William Wasserstrom Award for graduate teaching, 1991, the Chancellor's Citation for exceptional academic achievement, 1990, and was elected as a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 1988.
His major research contribution was in reviving the Skyrme model and describing baryons as topological solitons of meson fields. He used the mathematical concepts of topology and differential geometry to understand the structure of gauge theories underlying the Standard Model, currently the best framework to understand the interactions of elementary particles. In particular, his work focused on Quantum Chromodynamics, the part of the Standard Model pertaining to the nuclear forces. He also worked on the quantum physics of non-commutative geometries and axiomatic field theories. He was very active till the end and continued to publish his research in highly reputed journals.
He is the author of more than seven books and monographs on quantum field theory, group theory and Hopf algebra with applications in quantum physics. He also contributed more than 200 publications and graduated nearly 40 students from across the world.
He was deeply interested in Marxism and scientific thought and was an active participant in several anti-war movements and action programs in the United States.
TR Govindarajan Retired Professor, IMSc Visiting Professor, Krea University
A word cloud from the tributes shared by Prof A P Balachandran’s friends and colleagues.
Header photo of Prof Balachandran by Daltonaj shared under a CC BY-SA 3.0 license.
Bal (first from the left) at the Theoretical Physics Seminar at Ekamra Nivas, 1961. (Source: IMSc Archives).
Bal (first from the right) along with other students during the visit of Prof McCrea Hazzlet (third from right) from the University of Rochester, November 1961. (Source: IMSc Archives).
Bal (in white) attending a lecture during the workshop ‘High Energy Physics Phenomenology’ at IMSc, January 2008. (Source: IMSc Archives).
Bal delivering a lecture on ‘Entanglement, von Neumann Entropy and GNS Construction’ during a conference on ‘Topology and Differential Geometry in Quantum Physics’ at IMSc, March 2012. (Source: IMSc Archives).
R Simon felicitating Bal during the IMSc 50 celebrations, January 2013. (Source: IMSc Archives).
The conference ‘Bal-Fest: Quantum Field Theory in Quantum Spacetime’ was held at IMSc to celebrate Bal’s 85th birthday, January 2023.
R Ramachandran, (left) and Bal (centre) at the Bal-Fest, January 2023.(Source: IMSc Archives)
TR Govindarajan speaking at Bal-Fest. In the background are Bal (centre), his spouse Indra (left) and IMSc Director V Ravindran (right), January 2023.(Source: IMSc Archives)
Bal presenting a talk during the Alladi Ramakrishnan Centenary Conference, December 2023. (Source: IMSc Archives)
Bal (first from the left) at the Theoretical Physics Seminar at Ekamra Nivas, 1961. (Source: IMSc Archives).
Bal (first from the right) along with other students during the visit of Prof McCrea Hazzlet (third from right) from the University of Rochester, November 1961. (Source: IMSc Archives).
Bal (in white) attending a lecture during the workshop ‘High Energy Physics Phenomenology’ at IMSc, January 2008. (Source: IMSc Archives).
Bal delivering a lecture on ‘Entanglement, von Neumann Entropy and GNS Construction’ during a conference on ‘Topology and Differential Geometry in Quantum Physics’ at IMSc, March 2012. (Source: IMSc Archives).
R Simon felicitating Bal during the IMSc 50 celebrations, January 2013. (Source: IMSc Archives).
The conference ‘Bal-Fest: Quantum Field Theory in Quantum Spacetime’ was held at IMSc to celebrate Bal’s 85th birthday, January 2023.
R Ramachandran, (left) and Bal (centre) at the Bal-Fest, January 2023.(Source: IMSc Archives)
TR Govindarajan speaking at Bal-Fest. In the background are Bal (centre), his spouse Indra (left) and IMSc Director V Ravindran (right), January 2023.(Source: IMSc Archives)
Bal presenting a talk during the Alladi Ramakrishnan Centenary Conference, December 2023. (Source: IMSc Archives)
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