Right from the start, there was a steady stream of eminent visiting scientists to MATSCIENCE, even though the accommodations of the Institute were very modest. Indeed, the first few years had perhaps the greatest concentration of world renowned visitors.
After the inauguration of MATSCIENCE, the great astrophysicist Subrahmanyam Chandrasekar, Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago, gave the first seminar of the new Institute on gravitation in physics. Two distinguished visiting professorships were created - The Niels Bohr Professorship (after Bohr passed away in 1963) in physics, and the Ramanujan Professorship in mathematics. The eminent mathematician Marshall Stone, Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago, was the First Ramanujan Visiting Professor in 1963. Likewise, Professor Robert Marshak (University of Rochester) was the First Niels Bohr Visiting Professor in 1963. Professor Leon Rosenfeld, a colleague and collaborator of Bohr at the Copenhagen Institute, was the Niels Bohr Visiting Professor in 1964. When Rosenfeld arrived he said that at every conference he attended in the past year in Europe, some physicist or the other said that he/she had either visited the MATSCIENCE or was planning a visit. Professor Rosenfeld was surprised that the new Institute managed such an outstanding visiting program with such modest accommodation at the Presidency College in Madras. Later in 1964, MATSCIENCE moved to the Central Polytechnic Campus to gain access to an upper floor of a large building, but even then space was not adequate. It was only in 1969 that MATSCIENCE moved to its permanent new building.
The steady flow of visitors had a tremendous effect on the research output of the faculty and the PhD students because the seminars by the visitors exposed them to the latest research developments. It also drew the attention of the visitors to work being done at the Institute and led to collaborative research.
Even though there were visitors throughout the year, the greatest concentration was in January each year in connection with the Anniversary Symposia held around January 3, the date of the MATSCIENCE inauguration. It was also an occasion to release the Anniversary Reports. I provide here a list of some of the visitors in the early years (the list is not complete):
1962 - T. H. R. Skyrme (Atomic Research Establishment, England), Ugo Fano (National Bureau of Standards, USA), Caude Bloch (SACLAY, France), D. G. Bourgin (Urbana, Illinois), W. Thirring (Vienna), Bogdan Maglic (CERN, Geneva), Einar Hille, Richard Guy (Univ. Calgary) and Emilio Segre (Nobel Laureate, Berkeley).
1963 - Robert Marshak (Rochester), Leonard Schiff (Stanford), Charles Zemach (Berkeley), G. Takeda (Tokyo), Maurice Shapiro (Naval Research Labs, USA), Marshall Stone (Chicago), Shreeram Abhyankar (Purdue), Paul Roman (Boston Univ.), R. Hagedorn (CERN, Geneva), N. Fukuda (Japan), Peter Duerr (Germany), H. Umezawa (Italy), S. Kamefuchi (Tokyo), and George Sudarshan (Syracuse).
1964 - Leon Rosenfeld (Copenhagen), A. T. Barucha Reid (Wayne State Univ.), McCrea Hazlett (Rochester), Bruno Zumino, Hugh DeWitt, L. O'Rafertaigh (Dublin), Maurice Jacob (Saclay, France), Henri Stapp (Berkeley), E. R. Caianiello (Naples), J. Lukierski (Warsaw, Poland), and J. L. Jensen (Nobel Laureate, Germany).
1965 - Victor Weisskopf (CERN, Geneva), Harish Chandra (Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton), Blankenbeckler (Princeton), Keith Symon (Wisconsin), H. Ruegg (Geneva), Michel Gourdin (Orsay, Paris), Philippe Meyer (Orsay, paris), and C. de Dominicis (Paris), Gerson Goldhaber (Berkeley), Sulamith Goldhaber (Berkeley), Bruno Gruber (Southern Illinois), Y. Takahashi (Dublin) and Jayant Narlikar (Cambridge, England).
1966 - Gunnar Kallen (Sweden), T. Kotani (Tokyo), Andre Mercier (Berne, Switzerland), J. Rzewuski (Poland), H. Ruegg (Berne), Walter Hayman (Imperial College, London), Burton Moyer (Berkeley), George Sudarshan (Syracuse), A. N. Mitra (Delhi), Richard Arens (UCLA), Ernst Straus (UCLA), and Bruno Gruber (St. Louis).
In what follows I have selected a few photographs of visitors to MATSCIENCE and to Ekamra Nivas during these early years of the Institute.
The eminent physicist Robert Marshak of the University of Rochester inaugurating the First Anniversary Symposium of MATSCIENCE, January, 1963. On the dais is Professor Fukuda (Japan), Professor Ramakrishnan and the Ministers of the Madras Government Cabinet.
Professor and Mrs. Marshak (University Rochester) at MATSCIENCE with Director Alladi Ramakrishnan, Finance Minister C. Subramaniam, Chief Minister M. Bhakthavatsalam and Education Minister R. Venkataraman. (January, 1963)
The eminent physicist Robert Marshak and Mrs Marshak with Alladi and Lalitha Ramakrishnan and other guests at Ekamra Nivas (January, 1963). Professor Fukuda (Japan) is also in the picture.
Professor Leonard Schiff of Stanford University at Ekamra Nivas, Febuary 1963. Schiff released the First Anniversary Report of MATSCIENCE and gave a series of lectures on gravitation. Seated next to Schiff is Justice Patanjali Sastry, former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India. Justice Sastry, a neighbor of Alladi Ramakrishnan, did his apprenticeship under Sir Alladi Krishnaswami Iyer, Ramakrishnan's father.
Professor Alladi Ramakrishnan leading a discussion with Russian visitors during a seminar at MATSCIENCE in December, 1963. Seated next to Alladi Ramakrishnan is Professor Rosenfeld from Sweden, who was Niels Bohr Visiting Professor.
Professor Shreeram Abhyankar (Purdue University) and other visiting scientists at Ekamra Nivas with Alladi Ramakrishnan. From l to r: Professors Shreeram Abhyankar (Purdue), Paul Roman, Umezawa and Mishra with Alladi Ramakrishnan in Ekamra Nivas (1963). Abhyankar visited MATSCIENCE many times starting from 1963.
Education Minister Mr. C. Subramaniam meets the visiting foreign scientists at MATSCIENCE (1963)
Dinner at MATSCIENCE in honor of Marshall Stone (Distinguished Service Professor, University of Chicago). Professor Stone is in conversation with Chief Minister of Madras, Mr. M. Bhakthavatsalam, while Mrs Lalitha Ramakrishnan is conversing with Mrs. Stone - December, 1963
Alladi Ramakrishnan in discussion at MATSCIENCE with Dr. Maurice Shapiro of the U.S. Naval Research Labs in December, 1963. It was Shapiro's visit to the Theoretical Physics Seminar September, 1961 and his comments that prompted Minister C. Subramaniam to urge Prime Minister Nehru to meet Ramakrishnan and his students.
Professor Alladi Ramakrishnan presenting his book "Elementary Particles and Cosmic Rays" to Education Minister C. Subramaniam who inaugurated the Second MATSCIENCE Anniversary Symposium in Jan 1964. Seated to the right is Niels Bohr Visiting Professor L. Rosenfeld (Copenhagen) who gave the opening lecture at the Symposium.
Professor Rosenfeld of Copenhagen at Ekamra Nivas with Alladi Ramakrishnan, Lalitha Ramakrishnan, Minister C. Subramaniam and other guests in January, 1964
Provost McCrea Hazlett of the University of Rochester delivering the Anniversary Address of MATSCIENCE in Febuary 1964. Seated on the dais are the Ministers of the Madras Government, Niels Bohr Visiting Professor L. Rosenfeld, and Director Alladi Ramakrishnan
Provost McCrea Hazlett of the University of Rochester (near camera) at Ekamra Nivas. Young Krishna is next to his father in January, 1964
The Hazletts are in Madras during the Pongal (harvest) season. At Ekamra Nivas, on Pongal Day, the staff of Alladi Ramakrishnan show the Hazletts the family cow all decorated! (January, 1964)
Professor Alladi Ramakrishnan introducing eminent foreign visiting scientists of MATSCIENCE to Cabinet Minister C. Subramaniam - 1964
Prof. Victor Weisskopf (Director-General, CERN, Geneva) with Minister of Education R. Venkataraman and other guests at "Ekamra Nivas" - Jan 1965. Weisskopf inaugurated the Third Anniversary Symposium of MATSCIENCE
I.B.M. Von Neumann Professor Harish Chandra (Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton) at Ekamra Nivas - Janurary 1965
Alladi Ramakrishnan walking with eminent Swedish physicist Gunnar Kallen towards the auditorium where Kallen gave the inaugural address of the Fourth Anniversary Symposium of MATSCIENCE on January 2, 1966.
The great Indian Statesman Sir C. P. Ramaswamy Iyer (standing) inaugurating the Fourth Anniversary Symposium of MATSCIENCE, Jan 1966. Prof. Gunnar Kallen (seated, next to Sir C.P.) from Sweden is the distinguished speaker of the Symposium. As president of the Inter-University Board, Sir C.P. made it possible for a student at MATSCIENCE to receive a PhD from any university in India. Sir C. P., an eminent lawyer, was a contemporary and close friend of Sir Alladi Krishnaswami Iyer, Alladi Ramakrishnan's father.