Rajeshwari Chatterjee

Rajeshwari Chatterjee

Biography

Rajeshwari Chatterjee was an Indian scientist and academic, and the first woman engineer from Karnataka. She was well known for her contributions to the scientific and engineering communities, serving as a venerable educator throughout her years. She eventually went on to become the chairperson of the department of Electro-communication Engineering. Historically, she is a role model for engineers and scientists, overcoming gender and cultural boundaries to pursue higher knowledge.

Madam Rajeshwari was born January 24th, 1922 to a upper class family in Nanjanagud near Mysore, Karnataka in India. During this time period in India's history, it was unknown for women to receive an education; as children, women weren't given the opportunity to pursue their own desires, and were forced to abide by cultural norms. However, because she belonged to a wealthy family, she was able to pursue her education interests in a "Special English School" set up by her grandmother Kamalamma Dasappa, who was a social reformist for women in India.

After receiving her education in the "Special English School", Rajeshwari went on to attend the Central College in Bangalore, and in 1939 she received her B.S (Hons) and M.S.c degrees in Mathematics and Physics, receiving both with first rank from the Mysore University in 1942. As a post graduate she attended an interview at the IISc for a project fellowship. There was a heavy debate on whether or not to accept her, as she was the first woman candidate to attend the interview. After hesitation, Sir C V Raman, the director at the time, accepted her for the post of project fellow.

After India received its independence on August 15th, 1947, the Government of India invited applications for scholarships to pursue higher studies in aboard, with the condition to serve the nation for three years after completing one's education. Rajeshwari took the opportunity to study at the University of Michigan with a scholarship to complete her Mater's in Electrical Engineering, receiving her Ph.D in 1954. She arrived back to India to serve her time in the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) as faculty in Electrical Engineering.

In 1953, Rajeshwari came to be known as Mrs. Chatterjee after marrying to Sisir Kumar Chatterjee, a fellow scientist and engineer. They went on to join the Department of Communication Engineering in the Indian Institute of Sciences. Working there, she published seven technical books of high quality and mentored various students; within a three decades of her stay at the Indian Institute of Sciences, she had made a name for herself in studying the effects of microwaves. Eventually, her and her colleagues went on to develop the first microwave research lab within India, an accomplishment unheard of from women of her time.

As a result of serving years to the university, Rajeshwari subsequently became a Professor and received the position of Chairman in the Department of Electrical Communication Engineering. Teaching electromagnetic theory, experimenting on electron tube circuits and microwave technology, she successfully guided 20 Ph.D students and published over 100 research papers and seven books in Microwave Engineering and Antennas. She had won numerous awards for her contributions, and eventually retired with content in 1982. After retirement she started working in social programs, mainly with the Indian Association for Women's Studies, addressing many issues in caste, gender discrimination, and peoples who suffer from poor financial backgrounds. Living a content life, she passed away on September 3rd, 2010.

But despite living an accomplished life, there have been little to no references to Rajeshwari as a historical engineering and science figure. On a personal note form a person who attended the "Women in Engineering' international conference organized by IEEE in Bangalore in 2009, she noted that she was fortunate to attend the event, but found that nobody was aware of or had known about Dr. Rajeshwari Cahtterjee's honor of being the first woman on the faculty of the Indian Institute of Science, let alone head of chair. Regardless, it is only recently that her name has been brought into historical context, as she is now being praised as a leading woman in engineering and science.