Celebrating the seminar spirit of Alladi Ramakrishnan
July 21, 2025 | Bharti Dharapuram
The inaugural lecture of the Alladi Ramakrishnan Centenary Lecture Series was delivered by Ashoke Sen, a Professor of Physics at the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Bangalore. The lecture series is instituted by Krishnaswami Alladi in the memory of his father Alladi Ramakrishnan, the founding Director of The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai. (Photo: IMSc Media)
The inaugural lecture in the Alladi Ramakrishnan Centenary Lecture Series was delivered on 26th June 2025 at The Institute of Mathematical Sciences (IMSc), Chennai by Ashoke Sen, a Distinguished Professor at the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Bangalore. Sen, a renowned string theorist, spoke about ‘Classical gravitational wave tails from quantum soft theorem’. Krishnaswami Alladi has instituted the lecture series to celebrate the centenary of his father Alladi Ramakrishnan, the founding Director of IMSc.
Alladi Ramakrishnan was born in Madras on August 9, 1923 and studied physics at Presidency College in the city. He worked with Homi Bhabha in the early years of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bombay, and later completed his doctoral studies at the University of Manchester. He returned to India and served as a faculty member at the University of Madras. Ramakrishnan was greatly inspired by lectures by eminent physicists at the Institute of Advanced Study, Princeton, where he spent a year in the late fifties. On his return, he started a seminar series in theoretical physics in his family home, where visiting scientists from around the world gave lectures to students.
"Alladi Ramakrishnan at a Theoretical Physics Seminar in January 1960. (Photo: IMSc archives)
The Nobel laureate Niels Bohr was one such visitor, who offered praise for the students at Ramakrishnan’s seminar series in Madras. This came to the attention of the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, whose subsequent meeting with Ramakrishnan led to the establishment of IMSc (also known as Matscience). Ramakrishnan served as the Institute’s Director for over two decades, continuing to host lectures by leading scientists of the time, which inspired generations of students.
Even after his retirement, Ramakrishnan organised popular lectures at his family home, which were attended by college students, teachers and IMSc members. “After he passed away, I continued the tradition, calling them Alladi Ramakrishnan Memorial Lectures,” says Krishnaswami Alladi, who is a professor of mathematics at the University of Florida, Gainesville. During the Alladi Ramakrishnan Centenary Conference (16-18 December 2023) at IMSc, Alladi suggested that these lectures in his father’s memory may be continued at the Institute. “I felt that the best venue for these lectures would be Matscience itself, the Institute that my father founded,” Alladi says.
"I think the lecture series is a really nice way to not only remember Alladi Ramakrishnan for introducing the seminar spirit in Madras but it also allows young researchers to interact with leading scientists," says Krishnaswami Alladi. (Photo: IMSc Media)
“Lectures like these benefit young students. Talks by leaders in the discipline can inspire them to pursue fundamental problems in science,” says Alladi. “I think that is precisely what Prof Ashoke Sen's inaugural lecture did. He spoke about his work with PhD students and postdocs, giving credit to young people for some key ideas,” he adds. “Hearing these talks gives young students hope that they also can work at the frontier level and enter exciting domains.”
“I think the lecture series is a really nice way to not only remember Alladi Ramakrishnan for introducing the seminar spirit in Madras but it also allows young researchers to interact with leading scientists, which can lead to future career opportunities,” adds Alladi.
“In my father’s case, a single lecture by a very eminent physicist on a fundamental problem changed his life,” Alladi says. When Ramakrishnan was an undergraduate student in physics at Presidency College, Madras, he was greatly inspired by a talk delivered by Homi Bhabha. However, after his Bachelor’s degree, Ramakrishnan studied and practised law in his father’s footsteps. But Bhabha’s lecture on meson theory stayed on his mind, and a chance encounter with the scientist drew Ramakrishnan back to physics. “That is how my father started his life in physics. This is why I think it is important to listen to inspiring talks,” stresses Alladi.
