V. Balakrishnan (physicist)

V. Balakrishnan (born 1943 as Venkataraman Balakr-ishnan) is an Indian theoretical physicist who has workedin a number of fields of areas, including particle physics,many-body theory, the mechanical behavior of solids,dynamical systems, stochastic processes, and quantumdynamics. He is an accomplished researcher who hasmade important contributions to the theory of anelastic-ity, continuous-time random walks, and recurrences indynamical systems.[1]

He received his PhD from Brandeis University in 1970.After a decade at TIFR and IGCAR Kalpakkam, hejoined IIT Madras as a Professor of Physics in 1980. Hewas elected a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciencesin 1985.[2]

In addition to his research, Balakrishnan is a popular andnoted teacher of physics, known for his engaging teach-ing style, which combines physical insight, mathemati-cal rigor, and wry wit. He has taught a wide range ofcourses over the past 30 years from introductory physicsto quantum field theory to dynamical systems. Two of hiscourses (38 lectures on classical physics and 31 on quan-tum physics) taught at IIT Madras through National Pro-gramme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL)are available on YouTube, and are extremely popular,having received about 1 million views in all (as of De-cember 2011).[3] A third series appeared in June 2014 onmathematical physics.[4] Towards the end of July 2014,NPTEL released a fourth series of lectures titled Topicsin Nonlinear Dynamics.[5]

Balakrishnan has authored the book Elements of Nonequi-librium Statistical Mechanics (CRC Press 2008).[6] A re-view in the journal Soft Materials explained that ratherthan providing comprehensive coverage of the field ofnonequilibrium statistical mechanics, the book focuses onexplaining the Langevin and Fokker–Planck equations.[7]He co-authored the book Beyond the Crystalline State: AnEmerging Perspective (Springer 1989).[8]

His wife, Radha Balakrishnan, is a theoretical physicistwho works on nonlinear dynamics (in particular, solitonsand integrable systems). His son, Hari Balakrishnan, iscurrently the Fujitsu Professor of Computer Science atMIT. His daughter, Hamsa Balakrishnan, is also on thefaculty at MIT as an Associate Professor of Aeronauticsand Astronautics.

1 References[1] http://www.physics.iitm.ac.in/people_files/faculty/

vbalki.html

[2] “Fellow profile”. Indian Academy of Sciences. Retrieved15 April 2015.

[3] http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Lectures+-+Prof.+Balakrishnan+Madras&search_type=&aq=f

[4] https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiUVvsKxTUr66oLF6Pzirc1EgSstMbRZR

[5] https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiUVvsKxTUr7IHEbT0-NPVqKW05CFWCaE

[6] http://www.amazon.com/dp/1420074199 Elements ofNonequilibrium Statistical Mechanics

[7] Duenweg, B (2008). “Book review: Elements ofNonequilibrium Statistical Mechanics”. Soft Materials 6(3): 157––158. doi:10.1080/15394450802330356. Re-trieved 15 April 2015.

[8] http://www.amazon.com/dp/0387191100 Beyond theCrystalline State: An Emerging Perspective

2 External links• University Physics courses by Prof. Balakrishnan atIITM

• Core YouTube courses by Prof. Balakrishnan inClassical and Quantum Physics

1

2 3 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

3 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

3.1 Text• V. Balakrishnan (physicist) Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V._Balakrishnan_(physicist)?oldid=660111433 Contributors: Slave-ToTheWage, Mgrinich, RussBot, SmackBot, Wikipedia brown, CmdrObot, IndianGeneralist, Illspirit, Hans Dunkelberg, Hdpal, ImaginaryPi Slicer, Black Kite, TubularWorld, EmanWilm, Zwikki, RogDel, OllieOwl, Lightbot, Yobot, Andychauhan, Bashrules, LilHelpa, Sgi-itm, Omnipaedista, Emailrprasanna, Karan Kamble, MusikAnimal, 220 of Borg, EricEnfermero, Startwaves1, Tiredandwired, VIAFbot,Initialfluctuation, Ugog Nizdast, 7Sidz, Harsh fi6, Educationtemple, KasparBot and Anonymous: 19

3.2 Images• File:Albert_Einstein_Head.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Albert_Einstein_Head.jpg License:Public domain Contributors: This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division underthe digital ID cph.3b46036.This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing for more information.Original artist: Photograph by Oren Jack Turner, Princeton, N.J.

• File:Flag_of_India.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/41/Flag_of_India.svg License: Public domain Contributors:? Original artist: ?

• File:Question_book-new.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/99/Question_book-new.svg License: Cc-by-sa-3.0Contributors:Created from scratch in Adobe Illustrator. Based on Image:Question book.png created by User:Equazcion Original artist:Tkgd2007

• File:Scientist.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Scientist.svg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors:Own work Original artist: Viktorvoigt

3.3 Content license• Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0