Background
Rappal Krishnan was born on September 23, 1911 in Kerala, India.
Rappal Krishnan was born on September 23, 1911 in Kerala, India.
Krishnan did his early schooling at local schools and, securing a scholarship, joined St. Joseph's College, Tiruchirappalli from where he completed his bachelor's degree with honours and a first rank in 1933.
Rappal Krishnan subsequently joined the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore as a research student under the physics Nobel laureate Sir C. V. Raman. For his research, he received a doctorate from the University of Madras (DSc) in 1938, as the IISc did not then confer doctoral degrees. In 1938, he became a researcher at Cavendish Laboratory of Cambridge University under Sir John Cockroft. His researches at Cambridge is reported to have assisted in the development of the 37’ Cyclotron and to the observation of deuteron-induced fission in uranium and thorium. The University awarded him Doctor of Philosophy, in 1941, for his research work. He conducted his thesis research under Norman Feather, a colleague of Cockroft's and also a student of Lord Rutherford.
Krishnan returned to India the same year and joined the Physics department of the Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore in 1942 where he returned to work under C.V. Raman's tutelage. After the retirement of Raman, Krishnan succeeded him as the Head of the Department of Physics in 1948. He served the institution till 1972 and, on his superannuation, he was appointed as the vice chancellor of the University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram in 1973 and held the position till 1977.
Rappal Krishnan is known to have been active during his retirement life in Bengaluru, involved with the compilation of research publications on Raman Effect and publishing a number of articles. During this period, he served as a visiting scientist at the National Aerospace Laboratories (1987-1990)and was an Emeritus Scientist of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
He died on 2 October 1999, at the age of 88, at Bengaluru.
Rappal Krishnan was married to Narayani Krishnan.