Dr R Gopalan retired as Head of the Department of Chemistry, Madras Christian College, Chennai. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Madras and went on to do his postdoctoral research at Baylor University, USA. He has 35 years of experience in teaching and research, and was awarded a UGC Emeritus Fellowship on his retirement. He has published 45 research papers, many articles on popular science and education, and 30 books for M.Sc., B.Sc. and school courses. He was the principal investigator for a research project – Chemical Decontamination of Nuclear Reactor Heat Transfer Units – funded by the BRNS, Department of Atomic Energy of India. He is currently honorary secretary for two schools and Director, Sri Malolan College of Arts and Science, Madurantagam.
Dr K S Viswanathan is currently Professor and Head, Department of Chemical Sciences, IISER Mohali. He earned a Ph.D. in Chemistry under the guidance of Professor Joel Tellinghuisen at Vanderbilt University, USA in 1983. He went on to do his postdoctoral research at Indiana University, USA. He spent the next 25 years at IGCAR, DAE, Kalpakkam, before joining IISER Mohali. His field of research involves the study of the infrared spectroscopy of molecules trapped in a solid inert gas matrix. His research also includes developing techniques for trace level detection of lanthanides and actinides. He has published several research papers in international peer-reviewed journals.