Panjab University scientist loses battle against cancer
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, October 6
Panjab University today mourned the demise of one of its iconic and world-renowned scientists Prof Dharam Vir Singh Jain, who left for his heavenly abode on Sunday morning at the PGI.
Prof Jain was born in Hansi, in erstwhile Punjab on June 16, 1933. He had been suffering from cancer for the past six years. Before he was cremated, his sons took his body to the Department of Chemistry, PU.
“When my father was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 80, he wrote a very positive poem in Hindi about fighting it out and he did so for six years. He also suffered a heart problem during this time. When he passed away today morning, we took his body to his favourite place first — Department of Chemistry at the PU,” said Jain’s eldest son, Rakesh Jain.
DVS Jain obtained BSc (Hons), MSc in Chemistry from the University of Delhi, MS and PhD in Mathematics (1954-58) from the University of Southern California, USA. Prof Jain and Prof SV Kessar were PhD scholars at the University of Southern California at the same time. He returned to India in 1958 and joined as a lecturer, University of Delhi, then he moved to the PU as a Reader (1963), subsequently became a Professor at the Department of Chemistry. He served as Director, Regional sophisticated Instrumentation Centre (1985-87 and 1992-95) and INSA senior scientist (1996-2001). He was serving as Professor Emeritus and INSA Honorary Scientist at the Chemistry Department.
Prof Jain worked in several areas of physical and theoretical chemistry. His major scientific contributions included understanding the thermodynamic and transport properties of binary mixtures of short chain n-alkanes. He published more than 150 research papers in international journals, wrote seven books and edited two books. He was a member of the editorial boards of several journals and publication committee of the IUPAC. He supervised 24 PhD scholars and more than 50 MSc/MPhil students.
Parvinder Singh, Controller of Examinations, PU, recalled: “Jain sir was my mentor. He was gifted with brilliant wisdom, and not only in the field of physical chemistry. He was also a good administrator. He donated Rs 50 lakh to the university.”
Prof Jain donated Rs 50 lakh for setting up the Smt Prem Lata Jain and Prof DVS Jain Research Foundation at the Department of Chemistry, PU. The foundation has been created for the promotion of scientific research in Panjab University. Prof Jain was an able administrator and served as a nominated member of the PU Senate from 2012-2019. He also co-authored the biography of the PU titled ‘The Flight of Phoenix’ in the commemorative 125th birth year of the university. Prof Jain was a recipient of SR Patil Award, JC Ghosh Award, KSG Doss Award, RP Mitra Award, Silver medal of CRSI, Platinum Jubilee Lecture of the ISCA and Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Centenary lecture of INSA. With the passing away of Prof DVS Jain, the nation has lost an eminent scientist.
