Physicist Rohini Godbole passes away

Padma Shri recipient and pioneering particle physicist Rohini Godbole passed away on Friday in Pune.

In a condolence note, the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, said: “With great sadness, we deeply mourn the passing of Prof. Rohini Godbole. She passed away peacefully early this morning in her sleep. In addition to being a great scientist, she was a great leader, guide, colleague, and friend. She was a champion of women in science.”

Prof. Godbole joined the IISc in 1995 and retired as professor in 2018. She won many accolades and awards, including the Padma Shri, the Ordre national du Mérite from France, and had the memberships of various academies. Prof. Godbole also served on various advisory committees to governments in India and abroad.

A file photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacting with Prof. Godbole. | Photo Credit: PTI

Prof. Godbole was born in 1952 in Pune. After graduating from the University of Pune, she did her MSc in IIT Bombay and received the institute’s silver medal. She completed her PhD from the State University of New York, Stony Brook, in 1979.

She was a visiting professor at various institutes and universities around the world, including CERN’s theory department, where she was a scientific associate.

Guide to many

“After serving on the faculty of the University of Bombay, she joined the IISc in November 1995. She retired as a full professor from the institute in July 2018 but continued her research activities at the Centre for High Energy Physics (CHEP) till date,” the IISc note said. “During her tenure, she has guided over 14 PhD students, three MPhil students, and five Master’s students.”

In the note, the institute added that her last student submitted the thesis this past August. Most of her students have been successful and are settled as faculty members in top institutes in India and abroad.

“Prof. Godbole was a pioneer of particle physics in India. While she has ventured into various sub-branches of the field, the main focus of her research remained collider physics, in particular top and Higgs physics. She was a champion for future colliders, in particular the ILC [International Linear Collider] and its variants,” the institute said.