C.N.R. Rao

Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra (CNR) Rao (born June 30, 1934, Bangalore, India) is an Indian chemist.

Rao obtained his bachelors degree at University of Mysore in 1951, obtaining a masters from Banaras Hindu University two years later, and obtained his PhD in 1958 from Purdue University. He was the director of the Indian Institute of Science from 1984 to 1994, and has been a visiting professor at Purdue, the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge and Latrobe University.

Rao is currently the Linus Pauling Research Professor and Honorary President of the Jawaharlal Nehru Center for Advanced Scientific Research in Bangalore, India. He was appointed chair of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Indian Prime Minister in January 2005.

He was awarded the Hughes Medal by the Royal Society in 2000, and he became the first recipient of the India Science Award, for his contributions to solid state chemistry and materials science, awarded for the year 2004.