Noted professor of chemistry, researcher, and former administrator of Andhra University M.N. Sastri passed away at his youngest son’s residence in Mumbai in the early hours of Thursday. He was 91, and is survived by his wife and three sons.
Prof. Sastri was associated with Andhra University for more than four decades. He was instrumental in launching the Centre for Nuclear Techniques in Andhra University. He also headed Gayatri Vidya Parishad and PG Colleges for some time.
He worked for his D.Sc. under the guidance of Prof. G. Gopala Rao after receiving Ph.D. from University of Durham, U.K., under the Govt. of India Fellowship after working under Prof. G.R. Martin.
The main areas of his research interests were solvent extraction, ion exchange, reaction kinetics, environmental studies, precipitation from homogenous solution, and catalysis.
He was the visiting professor at La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia, and San Jose State University, USA.
He was awarded the Dr. P.C. Ray Medal by Calcutta University in 1980 for his contributions in analytical chemistry and the prestigious Dr. M.V. Ramanaiah memorial prize of the Indian Association for Nuclear and Allied Sciences in 2004 for his work in nuclear science. He was among the earliest to receive the Best Teacher Award of the Government of A. P.
Prof. Sastri’s articles in the Bulletin of Centre for Policy Studies were brought out in book form and the three publications ‘Profligate Civilization’, ‘World Demographic Trends’ and ‘Nuclear Genie’ were appreciated by former President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He was intellectually active till the last.
