Arni Medal

Arni Jagirdar Gold Medal

The Jagirdar of Arni Gold Medal was instituted at the Presidency College, University of Madras in 1877. There was one for Physics and one for Chemistry. They were not annual awards but presented to outstanding students only. Why I highlighted this page was the fact that the only 2 Nobel Prize winners in Science from India had both won this award earlier and this college was my alma mater where I graduated and post graduated (MSc) in Chemistry. I was nowhere in the race for being an outstanding student.

Year	Recipient	Arni Medal for	Succeeding events
1905	C.V.Raman	Physics	Awarded Nobel Prize for his work on "scattering of light" in 1930. Knighted by the British ( Sir CV.Raman ) . Awarded Bharat Ratna 1954.
1930	S.Chandrasekhar	Physics	Awarded Nobel Prize for his work on"structure and evolution of stars" in 1983
1921	Govind Rau	Chemistry	His work on the "structure of liquids" drew C.V.Ramans attention who sought his collaboration for his own work. He was the founder member of the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers.

Though I was aware of this award when I was studying in Presidency (1945 to 1950) I did not question whether the awards were still being granted. It was only in 1983 when Sri S. Chandrasekhar won the Nobel Prize and I got to know of his background, that I raised the subject with my college and was shocked to realise that the awards had stopped in 1936. Here again my father is to be faulted as the award was instituted by his grandfather and he did not bother to ensure its life. I am trying to get the award revived but there is a problem in that the Commissioner of Endowments and Charitable Affairs in Madras has not been able to locate the scheme under which these awards were instituted and this is essential.( A red tape situation a!!). You can still see the 2 Planks with the details of Medal winners from 1877 in the Central Hall ( M-28) of Madras Presidency College .

If I fail, I suggest the Sagari and Vidyuth pursue this. If they too are not able to get the medal reinstituted then Persis and Sid must do so. It will be a great contibution to the pursuit of pure Science and it will be their Karma !