• Renowned physicist and Padma Shri awardee Rohini M. Godbole passed away on October 25. She was 71.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the demise of Godbole, calling her a pioneering scientist and innovator who also was a strong votary of more women in the world of science. 

• She has won many accolades and awards including Ordre national du Mérite from France, memberships of various academies, and DLitt and DSc degrees from several institutes/universities. She also served on various advisory committees to governments in India and abroad.

Who was Rohini Godbole?

• Rohini Godbole was born in 1952 in Pune. After graduating from the University of Pune, she did her MSc at IIT Bombay and received the institute 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 the CERN theory department where she was a scientific associate. 

• After serving on the faculty of the University of Bombay, she joined 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). 

• 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 International Linear Collider (ILC) and its variants. She was widely consulted all over the world for her expertise in these areas. She led the scientific community in India in this direction through various programmes, schools, conferences, and networking activities. She has also done significant work in other areas such as supersymmetry.

• She wrote and edited several books. Her book on supersymmetry with Manuel Drees and Probir Roy is famous and recommended by many universities and particle physics schools. 

• Godbole was a champion and facilitator for women in science, playing a pivotal role in bringing their challenges to the forefront. She published two well-known popular books: ‘Lilavati’s Daughters’ and ‘The Girl’s Guide to a Life in Science’ with Prof Ram Ramaswamy. These books have inspired many young women. 

• She was the founding Chair of the Women in Science panel of the Indian Academy of Sciences, and has put in place several programmes to increase the participation of women in science in India.

• In 2019, she was honoured with Padma Shri for her contributions to the field of science and engineering.

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