Subrata Roy (scientist)

Roy (July 3, 1924 – August 26, 2010) was a physicist, born in India, who became a professor at Pennsylvania State University and was a leader in materials research. As an advocate for interdisciplinarity, he initiated a movement of materials research societies and, outside of his multiple areas of scientific and engineering expertise, wrote impassioned pleas about the need for a fusion of religion and science and humanistic causes.

Later in life he held visiting professorships in materials science at Arizona State University, and in medicine at the University of Arizona.

Early life and education

Roy was born in Ranchi, Bihar Province, India, the son of Narenda Kumar and Rajkumari Roy.

Rustum took a Cambridge School Certificate from Saint Paul's School Darjeeling. Rustum studied physical chemistry at Patna University, gaining his bachelor's degree in 1942 and master's degree in 1944. The following year he began study at Pennsylvania State University and earned his Ph.D. in engineering ceramics in 1948.

Rustum Roy married Della Martin on June 8 that year.

Career

In 1962 he was named the first director of the Materials Research Laboratory at Penn State. He edited the Proceedings of a 1968 Conference on the chemistry of silicon carbide. The next year a national colloquy was held on materials science in the United States for which Roy edited the Proceedings. In 1973 he edited the Proceedings of a conference on phase transitions and their applications.

In 1974 Roy and Olaf Müller published The Major Ternary Structural Families with Springer-Verlag, which described the principal crystal structures of ternary compounds. The book received two brief reviews in materials trade journals. A cement journal reviewer said it would be "Useful to the practicing materials researcher, whether in industry or university, as well as the non-specialist who needs to become informed about particular materials." A chemist writing for mineral processing readers, described its depth:

The structural descriptions are at times too brief but the chapters contain valuable information such as compositional structure field maps (radius A vs. radius B), figures of unit cells or the polyhedral arrangements in some common structures, phase diagrams (P vs. T , or P vs. ionic radius), structural relationships, and phase transition data.

By 1991 he was a spokesperson for the movement and his lecture "New Materials: Fountainhead for New Technologies and New Science" was published by National Academy Press. Roy presented the lecture to learned audiences in Washington, D.C.; Tokyo, Japan; New Delhi, Stockholm, Copenhagen, and London in 1991 and 92. He made the case for linking a technical need to investigative effort, which he terms "technology traction", noting that the method is productive and cost-effective in comparison to science conducted with other purposes.

Rustum Roy was referred to as "[o]ne of the legends of materials science" at the time of his death.

Roy was elected as a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering in 1973.

Other interests

University reform

In 1977 Rustum Roy proposed that the "science and engineering activity of a university ... [be organized] primarily around a dozen permanent mission-oriented interdisciplinary laboratories." To reach this conclusion he notes that "universities have been forced into new interdisciplinary patterns not only by the dollar sign but also by the inexorable logic that the real problems of society do not come in discipline-shaped blocks."

The daunting structural inertia of the university did not faze him:

A human being, that is both a naked ape and a fallen angel, can manage perhaps to organize the university with both the ivory tower and service-station character.

Health

Roy had no formal medical credentials but was an advocate of integrating science, medicine, and spirituality. In the inaugural issue of the Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine Roy contributed the article "Integrative medicine to tackle the problem of chronic diseases". He noted that chronic illness debilitates the lives of many seniors, and that medical interventions are often futile. He said "little of nothing is being spent on preventative medicine", and cited the ayurveda concepts of "ahara" concerned with nutrition, and "vihara" with the conduct of life. He noted the exemplary work of Dean Ornish in addressing coronary artery disease as a hopeful innovation.

In 2010, close to the end of his life, Roy co-wrote a post in the Huffington Post called "The Mythology Of Science-Based Medicine" with nonscientists Deepak Chopra and Larry Dossey, which David Gorski characterized as "an exercise that combines cherry-picking, logical fallacies, and whining, raising the last of these almost to an art form."

Personal life

Roy married Della Martin Roy on June 8, 1948. Their three children are Neill R. Roy, Jeremy R. Roy, and Ronnen A. Roy.

In 1953, Roy wrote a letter to Life magazine in response to the essay "Is Academic Freedom in Danger?" by Whittaker Chambers, stating:

Sirs:
Chambers neglects to note that since people rarely read Congressional Records, they get their News more by headlines and the tenor of the times. Thus, most professors "know" or "feel" it is safer today to keep your mouth shut, and, if you open it, not to support any liberal or leftish views. Let Chambers continue to remind us of the very real perils of the Communist left. Fanatical preoccupation with self-preservation will lead to loss of more valuable things, not merely academic freedom, but freedom.
Rustum Roy
Assistant Professor
The Pennsylvania State College
State College, PA

Roy died on August 26, 2010 at the age of 86. He was survived by his wife and children.

Awards and honours

• 1973: Member, National Academy of Engineering
• 1979: Hibbert Lecturer

Publications

Edited volumes

• Materials Science and Engineering in the United States: Proceedings (1970, contributor), Pennsylvania State University Press, ISBN 0271001011 Search this book on ..
• Materials Science and Engineering Serving Society (1998, with others), Elsevier Science, ISBN 0444827935 Search this book on ..
• The Interdisciplinary Imperative: Interactive Research and Education, Still an Elusive Goal in Academia (2000), Writers Club Press, ISBN 0595011799 Search this book on ..

Other authored/co-authored books

• Honest Sex (2003 [1969], with coauthor Della Roy), Signet Press, ISBN 0595272134 Search this book on ..
• Experimenting With Truth: The Fusion of Religion With Technology Needed for Humanity's Survival [1979 Hibbert Lectures] (1980), Pergamon Press, ISBN 0080258204 Search this book on ..
• Radioactive Waste (1982), Pergamon Press, ISBN 0080275419 Search this book on ..
• Lost at the Frontier: U.S. Science and Technology Policy Adrift (1985), ISI Press, ISBN 0894950428 Search this book on ..

Other works

• Science of Whole Person Healing: Proceedings of the First Interdisciplinary International Conference (2003, contributor), iUniverse, ISBN 0595301533 Search this book on ..
• Observations and Studies of the Healing Efficacy of the Life Vessel (2012) [2009].

Further reading

• Link, Phoebe Forrest (1994). Passionate Realist: Rustum Roy In Our Life And Time. Pittsburgh, PA, USA: Cricklewood Press. ISBN 978-0964307704. Retrieved 21 November 2015.CS1 maint: Uses authors parameter (link) Search this book on
• Dilip Mehta (2010) Dr. Rustum Roy (1924 — 2010), Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine 1(3): 233.
• Rotstein, Gary (2010). "Obituary: Rustum Roy, July 3, 1924 - Aug. 26, 2010: World-class materials science expert at Penn State". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Online, September 1). Retrieved 21 November 2015.CS1 maint: Uses authors parameter (link)
• Woodard, Kathy L. (2000). "Profiles in Ceramics: Rustum Roy". Amer. Ceramics Soc. Bull. 79 (12): 36ff. Retrieved 21 November 2015.CS1 maint: Uses authors parameter (link)

External links

• Rustum Roy Papers from Pennsylvania State University Libraries
• Profile and interviews at PBS Faith and Reason series
• Novella S, Roy R, Marcus D, Bell IR, Davidovitch N, Saine A (2008). "A Debate: Homeopathy-Quackery or a Key to the Future of Medicine?". Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. 14 (1): 9–15. doi:10.1089/acm.2007.0770. PMID 18199017.

📰 Article(s) of the same category(ies)

• Brian H. Cameron
• K. S. R. Krishna Prasad
• Cyriac Pappachan
• Myla Vicenti Carpio
• David Garcia (professor)
• Tapas Chakraborty
• Hakim Syed Atiqul Qadir

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