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{{Short description|Indian scientist (1922–2010)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2019}}
{{Use Indian English|date=January 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Rajeshwari Chatterjee
| image = Rajeshwari_Chatterjee_image.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1922|1|24}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2010|9|3|1922|1|22|df=y}}
| death_place =
| other_names =
| alma_mater = {{ubl|[[University of Michigan]]|[[Indian Institute of Science]]|[[Mysore University]]}}
| occupation = Professor, scientist
| known_for =
}}
'''Rajeshwari Chatterjee''' (24 January 1922 – 3 September 2010)<ref name=Jayaram>{{cite news|title=The nuts and bolts of a superachiever|url=http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mp/2002/04/18/stories/2002041800540200.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030701073631/http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mp/2002/04/18/stories/2002041800540200.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=1 July 2003|access-date=15 March 2014|date=18 April 2002|newspaper=[[The Hindu]]|author=A. Jayaram}}</ref><ref name="On her own terms">{{cite news|author=D.P. Sen Gupta|date=1 October 2010|title=On her own terms|url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-fridayreview/on-her-own-terms/article805338.ece|access-date=15 March 2014|newspaper=The Hindu}}</ref> was an Indian scientist and an academic. She was the first woman engineer from [[Karnataka]] and described herself as an engineering-scientist.<ref name=Jayaram /> During her tenure at the [[Indian Institute of Science]] (IISc), [[Bangalore]], Chatterjee was a professor and later chairperson of the department of Electrical Communication Engineering.<ref name="On her own terms"/>

== Early life and education ==
Rajeshwari Chatterjee was born on 24 January 1922 in Karnataka. She had her primary education in a "special English school" founded by her grandmother, Kamalamma Dasappa, one of the first women graduates from Mysore and who was very active in the field of education, especially for widows and deserted wives.<ref name="auto1" /> After her school finals, Chatterjee was tempted to take up History but eventually chose physics and mathematics. She studied in [[Central College of Bangalore]] and earned B.Sc. (Hons) and M.Sc. degrees in mathematics.<ref name=Jayaram /> In both these exams she ranked first in [[Mysore University]]. She received the [[Krishnaraja Wodeyar III|Mummadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar]] Award, the M.T. Narayana Iyengar Prize and the Walters Memorial Prize respectively for her performances in the B.Sc. and M.Sc. examinations.<ref name="thebetterindia.com">{{Cite web|date=2017-07-27|title=All You Need to Know About Late Rajeshwari Chatterjee, One of India's First Women Engineers|url=https://www.thebetterindia.com/109876/things-to-know-rajeshwari-chatterjee-first-woman-achiever-posthumous-award/|access-date=2020-06-20|website=The Better India|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1943, after her M.Sc., Chatterjee joined the [[Indian Institute of Science]] (IISc), Bangalore as a Research Student in the then Electrical Technology Department in the area of Communication.<ref name="hackers">{{Cite web|last1=hackers|last2=artists|last3=designers|last4=engineers!|title=Remembering Rajeswari Chatterjee, IISc's First Woman Engineer – Connect with IISc|url=https://connect.iisc.ac.in/2017/05/rememberinm-rajeswari-chatterjee-iiscs-first-woman-engineer/|access-date=2020-06-20|language=en-GB}}{{Dead link|date=July 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

She approached physicist [[C. V. Raman|C.V. Raman]] to work under him. Some sources say that Raman refused to take her, stating that Rajeshwari had no degrees in physics,<ref name="auto">{{Cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-fridayreview/On-her-own-terms/article15764097.ece|title=On her own terms|last1=Gupta|first1=D. p Sen|date=2010-10-01|work=The Hindu|access-date=2018-01-20|last2=Gupta|first2=D. p Sen|language=en-IN|issn=0971-751X}}</ref> while others say that he was averse to the idea of having women students.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://connect.iisc.ac.in/2017/05/remembering-rajeswari-chatterjee-iiscs-first-woman-engineer/|title=Remembering Rajeswari Chatterjee, IISc's First Woman Engineer – Connect with IISc|website=connect.iisc.ac.in|language=en-GB|access-date=2018-01-20}}</ref>

After the Second World War, an interim government was set up in India to transfer power from the British to Indians, which offered scholarships to bright young scientists to study abroad. Chatterjee applied for a scholarship in the field of electronics and its applications, and in 1946, she was selected as a "bright student" by the Government of Delhi and given a scholarship to go abroad to pursue higher studies. Chatterjee chose to study in [[University of Michigan]], [[Ann Arbor, Michigan|Ann Arbor]] in the United States.<ref name="auto1" /> In the 1950s, it was very difficult for Indian women to go abroad to pursue higher education. But Chatterjee was determined to do so. In July 1947, one month before [[Independence Day (India)|India's independence]], she started her journey to the USA on a converted troop ship [[USNS Marine Adder|SS Marine Adder]] and reached there after 30 days.<ref name="auto"/>

In the US, she was admitted to the [[University of Michigan]] and obtained her master's degree from the Department of Electrical Engineering. Then following the guidelines of the contract she had with the Government of India, she underwent an eight months' practical training in the Division of Radio Frequency Measurements at the [[National Bureau of Standards]] in Washington, D.C. After the completion of the training she went back to the University of Michigan in 1949 on a Barbour scholarship and resumed her studies.<ref name="auto1" /> In early 1953, she obtained her Ph.D. degree under the guidance of Professor [[William Gould Dow]] and successfully completed her dissertation.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Rajeswari Chatterjee {{!}} ECE Bicentennial Alumni Awards|url=http://ece.umich.edu/alumni/awards/bicentennial/chatterjee.html|access-date=2020-06-20|website=ece.umich.edu|archive-date=22 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622113909/http://ece.umich.edu/alumni/awards/bicentennial/chatterjee.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== Career in India ==
[[File:Statue of Rajeshwari Chatterjee.jpg|thumb|Statue of Rajeshwari Chatterjee, Birla Industrial & Technological Museum, Kolkata, West Bengal, India]]
In 1953, after obtaining her PhD degree, she returned to India and became a faculty member at the [[Indian Institute of Science|IISc]] Department of Electrical Communication Engineering, later saying that she taught "[[electromagnetic theory]], [[Vacuum tube|electron tube]] circuits, microwave technology, and radio engineering".<ref name=auto1/> That same year, she married [[Sisir Kumar Chatterjee]], who was a faculty member of the same college.<ref name=auto1/> After their marriage, she and her husband built a microwave research laboratory and began research in the field of [[Microwave Engineering]], the first such research in India.<ref name="thebetterindia.com"/>

In the same period, Chatterjee was selected for the position of chairman in the Department of Electrical Communication Engineering. Over her lifetime, she mentored 20 PhD students, wrote over 100 research papers, and authored seven books.<ref name=Jayaram/> She taught classes in electromagnetic theory, electron tube circuits, microwave technology and radio engineering.<ref name="medium.com">{{Cite web|url=https://medium.com/sci-illustrate-stories/dr-rajeshwari-chatterjee-c2f701bc8b5e|title="Rajeshwari Chatterjee"|last=Chaudhary|first=R|date=7 July 2019 }}</ref>

Following her retirement from the IISc in 1982,<ref name=Jayaram/> she worked on social programs, including the Indian Association for Women's Studies.<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.ias.ac.in/public/Resources/Initiatives/Women_in_Science/Contributors/rajeshwarichatt.pdf|title=Lucky to be where I am, Rajeshwari Chatterjee|last=Shashikala|first=K}}</ref> She also preferred to call herself an "engineering-scientist", as she did not work in industry like most engineers.<ref name="medium.com"/>

== Publications ==
* ''Elements of Microwave Engineering''
* ''Antenna Theory And Practice''
* ''A Thousand Streams: A Personal History''
* ''Dielectric And Dielectric Loaded Antennas''
* ''Advanced Microwave Engineering: Special Advanced Topics''
* ''Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam: The Whole World Is But One Family: Real Stories of Some Women and Men of India''
* ''Antennas for Information Super Skyways: An Exposition on Outdoor and Indoor Wireless Antenna'', co-authored by Perambur S. Neelakanta<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/453527.Rajeswari_Chatterjee|title=Rajeswari Chatterjee|website=www.goodreads.com|access-date=2018-01-20}}</ref>

== Personal life ==
Rajeshwari's father, B.M. Shivaramajah, was an advocate in [[Nanjangud]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mp/2002/04/18/stories/2002041800540200.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020820113227/http://thehindu.com/thehindu/mp/2002/04/18/stories/2002041800540200.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=2002-08-20|website=[[The Hindu]]|title=The nuts and bolts of a superachiever|date=2002-04-18|access-date=2018-01-20}}</ref> Her grandmother, Kamalamma Dasappa, was one of the first women graduates in the erstwhile state of Mysore.<ref name="auto1"/> Rajeswari married Sisir Kumar Chatterjee, a faculty of IISc in 1953. The couple had a daughter Indira Chatterjee, who is now a professor of electrical and biomedical engineering at the [[University of Nevada, Reno|University of Nevada]], Reno, U.S.<ref name="hackers"/>

== Awards ==
For her contribution and works in the field of Microwave engineering, she won many awards. Some of the notable awards and honours are—<ref name="auto1" />
* Mummadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar Award for first rank in the BSc (Hons)
* M T Narayana Iyengar prize and the Waters Memorial prize for the first rank in M.Sc.
* Mountbatten prize for the best paper from the Institute of Electrical and Radio Engineering (UK)
* J.C Bose Memorial prize for the best research paper from the Institution of Engineers
* Ramlal Wadhwa Award for the best research and teaching work from the Institute of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers.
Chatterjee received a posthumous award in 2017 from the Indian [[Ministry of Women and Child Development]], when she was named as one of "the first women achievers of India" for her work in microwave engineering and antennae engineering.<ref>{{Cite news |author=Staff Reporter |date=2017-07-26 |title=Posthumous honour for pioneer researcher Rajeshwari Chatterjee |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/posthumous-honour-for-pioneer-researcher-rajeshwari-chatterjee/article19364956.ece |access-date=2024-08-25 |work=The Hindu |language=en-IN |issn=0971-751X}}</ref>

== References ==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chatterjee, Rajeshwari}}
[[Category:1922 births]]
[[Category:2010 deaths]]
[[Category:Articles created or expanded during Women's History Month (India) - 2014]]
[[Category:Indian women academics]]
[[Category:Bengali physicists]]
[[Category:University of Mysore alumni]]
[[Category:University of Michigan College of Engineering alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women scientists]]
[[Category:Engineers from Karnataka]]
[[Category:Indian Institute of Science alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women physicists]]
[[Category:Women scientists from Karnataka]]
[[Category:Women educators from Karnataka]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women engineers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian engineers]]
[[Category:Indian expatriate academics in the United States]]

Rajeshwari Chatterjee - Revision history

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