View source for Krishna Kamini Rohatgi-Mukherjee

{{Short description|Indian photochemist and photophysicist (1924–2009)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2025}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Krishna Kamini Rohatgi-Mukherjee
| other_names = K. K. Rohatgi-Mukherjee; Krishna Kamini Rohatgi Mukherjee
| birth_date = {{birth date|1924|8|2|df=y}}
| birth_place = Patna, Bihar, British India (now Bihar, India)
| death_date = {{death date and age|2009|12|31|1924|8|2|df=y}}
| death_place = Nagpur, Maharashtra, India
| fields = Photochemistry; photophysics
| education = [[University of Calcutta]] (BSc, MSc); [[University of Oxford]] (DPhil)
| doctoral_advisor = [[E. J. Bowen]]
| workplaces = [[Jadavpur University]]; [[Indian National Science Academy]] (INSA)
| known_for = Photochemistry and photophysics of anthracene derivatives and dyes; establishment of the Indian Photobiology Group (later Indian Photobiology Society)
| awards = C. V. Raman Gold Medal (Indian Science Congress Association, 1990)
}}
'''Krishna Kamini Rohatgi-Mukherjee''' (2 August 1924 – 31 December 2009) was an Indian photochemist and photophysicist who was a professor of chemistry at [[Jadavpur University]] in [[Kolkata]].<ref name="INSA2010">{{cite journal |last=Bera |first=Subhash Chandra |title=Krishna Kamini Rohatgi-Mukherjee (2 August 1924 – 31 December 2009) |journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy |volume=38 |year=2010 |pages=111–128 |url=https://www.insaindia.res.in/BM/BM38_1010.pdf |format=PDF |access-date=22 December 2025}}</ref> She was elected a Fellow of the [[Indian National Science Academy]] (INSA) in 1984.<ref name="INSAarchive">{{cite web |title=Archive Detail Page: Professor KK Rohatgi Mukherjee |website=Indian National Science Academy |url=https://insajournal.in/intranetinsa/deceased_detail.php?id=N84-0667 |access-date=22 December 2025}}</ref> Rohatgi-Mukherjee helped establish the Indian Photobiology Group (later the Indian Photobiology Society) in 1964.<ref name="INSA2010" /> She served as president of the [[Association Internationale de Photobiologie]] (AIP) from 1984 to 1988,<ref name="Tyrrell1993">{{cite journal |last=Tyrrell |first=R. M. |title=International cooperation in photobiology: Association Internationale de Photobiologie Part 3: 1984–1992 |journal=Photochemistry and Photobiology |volume=58 |issue=1 |year=1993 |pages=149–153 |url=https://iuphotobiology.org/sites/default/files/pdf/IUPB-1993.pdf |format=PDF |access-date=22 December 2025}}</ref> and was president of the Tenth International Congress of Photobiology held in [[Jerusalem]] in 1988.<ref name="INSA2010" /> She authored the textbook ''Fundamentals of Photochemistry'' (first published 1978).<ref name="INSA2010" /><ref name="FundamentalsGB">{{cite book |last=Rohatgi-Mukherjee |first=K. K. |title=Fundamentals of Photochemistry |publisher=Wiley |year=1978 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eSspAQAAMAAJ |access-date=22 December 2025}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Rohatgi-Mukherjee was born on 2 August 1924 in [[Patna]] (then in [[Bihar]], [[British India]]).<ref name="INSA2010" /> Her family later lived in Kolkata, where she attended Gokhale Memorial Girls' School.<ref name="INSA2010" />

She studied chemistry at colleges affiliated with the [[University of Calcutta]], earning a BSc with honours in 1943 and an MSc in 1945 (physical chemistry). During her undergraduate and master's studies, she received multiple awards, including the Basanti Debi Medal and Kunj Behari Basak Medal (1943), and the University Silver Medal and Jogmaya Debi Gold Medal (1945).<ref name="INSA2010" />

In 1950, she joined the [[University of Oxford]], where she completed a [[DPhil]] in 1952 under [[E. J. Bowen]] on the [[photochemistry]] of anthracene derivatives and subsequently remained a senior member of [[St Anne's College, Oxford]].<ref name="INSA2010" />

==Academic and research career==
Rohatgi-Mukherjee began research in 1948 at the Department of Chemistry of the College of Engineering and Technology, Jadavpur (later [[Jadavpur University]]), working on fluorescence and quenching phenomena in anthracene solutions. After returning from Oxford, she held a Sir P. C. Ray Research Fellowship at the University College of Science, University of Calcutta (1954–1956), during which she delivered photochemistry lectures to MSc students. In 1956, she went to the [[University of California, Berkeley]] as a [[Fulbright Program|Fulbright]]/Smith–Mundt grantee to work on measuring excited-state lifetimes using phase-shifting techniques.<ref name="INSA2010" />

She joined Jadavpur University in 1958 as a reader in physical chemistry and became a professor of chemistry in 1974.<ref name="INSA2010" /> She held visiting and temporary posts including assistant professor at [[Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur]] (1963–1964) and visiting scientist at the School of Life Sciences, [[Jawaharlal Nehru University]] (1973–1974).<ref name="INSA2010" /> She served as head of the Department of Chemistry at [[Jadavpur University]] (1979–1982), retired in 1989, and continued at the department as an INSA senior scientist (1990–1993).<ref name="INSA2010" />

==Research==
Rohatgi-Mukherjee's research addressed photophysical and photochemical processes in organic and inorganic systems, with work spanning fluorescence, excited-state reactions, and spectroscopy. She also investigated dye aggregation and fluorescence quenching in systems relevant to laser dyes, including thermodynamic analysis of dimer formation and exciton-related splitting of absorption bands.<ref name="INSA2010" />

From the late 1970s, she incorporated flash photolysis and related approaches, including work with [[George Porter]] at the [[Royal Institution]] (1978), and later visiting-scientist appointments abroad, including the [[University of Notre Dame]] (1984) and an inter-academy exchange visit to [[Poland]] (1986). Her later work included photochemical and photoelectrochemical approaches to solar energy conversion and storage, including model studies using micelles and liposomes.<ref name="INSA2010" />

==Professional service and honours==
Rohatgi-Mukherjee helped establish the Indian Photobiology Group (later renamed the Indian Photobiology Society) in 1964, and the society became affiliated with the Association Internationale de Photobiologie (AIP) in the same year. She served as UGC National Lecturer in 1980 and as vice-president of the [[Indian Chemical Society]]. She was India's national representative to a committee of the [[International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry]] (1982–1983).<ref name="INSA2010" />

Within AIP, she served as president from 1984 to 1988.<ref name="Tyrrell1993" /> In 1988, she presided over the Tenth International Congress of Photobiology in Jerusalem and was elected an honorary life member of AIP. She received the C. V. Raman Gold Medal from the Indian Science Congress Association in 1990.<ref name="INSA2010" />

==Personal life==
She was married to the chemist [[Sushil Kumar Mukherjee]], who served as vice-chancellor of the [[University of Calcutta]] and the [[University of Kalyani]].<ref name="INSA2010" />

Rohatgi-Mukherjee died on 31 December 2009 in Nagpur, India.<ref name="INSA2010" />

==References==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rohatgi-Mukherjee, Krishna Kamini}}
[[Category:1924 births]]
[[Category:2009 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Patna]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Oxford]]
[[Category:People associated with St Anne's College, Oxford]]
[[Category:University of California, Berkeley people]]
[[Category:Academic staff of IIT Kanpur]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Jawaharlal Nehru University]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Jadavpur University]]
[[Category:University of Notre Dame people]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian chemists]]
[[Category:Indian physical chemists]]
[[Category:Indian women chemists]]
[[Category:Photochemists]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy]]