M. G. K. Menon

Mambillikalathil Govind Kumar Menon

Goku

New Delhi, India

1949-1955

M. G. K. Menon was a particle physicist and statesman. He was born in Mangalore, India to Justice Sankara Menon Kizhakkepat and Narayanikutty Amma Mamballikalathil. He completed his BSc at Jaswant College in 1946 and his MSc at Mumbai’s Royal Institute of Science in 1949. In 1949, he joined Nobel Laureate Cecil F. Powell’s research team at the University of Bristol to work towards his PhD. He remained there until 1955, when he was invited by director Homi Bhabha to conduct research at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai. After Bhabha’s death in 1966, he took over as director, a position he held until 1975. In 1972, while still at Tata, Menon was appointed chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). From 1974 onwards, Menon was assigned multiple advisory and research-based positions in the Indian government. These included becoming Director General of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (1978-81), and Scientific Adviser to the Prime Minister (1986-1989). In 1990 he was elected Member of Parliament for Rajasthan in the Rajya Sabha (upper chamber of the Indian Parliament), finishing his term in 1996. He was also appointed President of Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, which he maintained until 2012.

During his time in Bristol, Menon made notable developments in the study of meson particles using cosmic rays, which helped advance understanding of nuclear physics in the following years. Under Powell, Menon worked alongside other influential physicists, such as Peter Fowler and William Owen Lock. He maintained contact with both for years after leaving Bristol, which ranged from sending Christmas cards to making recommendations for new Royal Society fellowships. He also met and married his wife Indumati Patel while in Bristol, who was studying philosophy at the time.

Menon was recognised internationally and held positions in scientific societies across the globe, such as in the Russian Academy of Sciences, Rome’s Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He received multiple awards and honours throughout his career, including Fellowship of the Royal Society (1970), which recognises ‘substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge’. In 2008, Asteroid 7564 was named Gokumenon in his honour.