Born: 1956
Biography:
Sumathi Rao (born 5 December 1956) is an Indian theoretical physicist and professor at Harish-Chandra Research Institute working in the field of condensed matter physics. She is a former member of women in physics promotion of International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) from 2000 to 2008.
Education:
Rao earned her Bachelor of Science degree in physics from Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in 1977 and Master of Science degree in physics from Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai with distinction in 1979. She worked on Neutrino Oscillations during her Masters. She received her doctoral degree entitled B-L violation in grand unified theories from Stony Brook University, US under the supervision of Robert Shrock in 1983.
Research career:
Rao completed her PhD in high energy physics in the sub-field of grand unified theories. After holding postdoctoral positions at Fermilab and at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, she joined the Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar in 1987. However, she made the crucial decision to shift her field of research to theoretical condensed matter physics from high energy physics upon finding that her achievements were being belittled, and her work and papers attributed to her husband Ashoke Sen, who was working in the same field. Despite the challenges, Rao decided to start all over again and pursue her passion in condensed matter physics.
Currently, Rao is a condensed matter systems professor at the Harish-Chandra Research Institute (HRI), a position she has held since 1995. Her research focuses on electronic transport in quantum wires, quantum dots, and the field of correlated mesoscopic physics in low dimensions. In addition to her work at HRI, she has also served as an associate scientist at the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS) and at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste.
In 2020, Rao joined the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal (IISER Bhopal), Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India as a Visiting/Adjunct Professor in the Department of Physics.
Women in science promotion:
Rao has always been vocal about the detrimental biases faced by women academic scholars. Throughout her career, she experienced the undervaluation of her scientific contributions, with innuendos that her husband, also a famous scientist in the same field, wrote her papers for her. However, Rao remained resilient and continued to make significant contributions to the field of physics.
She has been involved in the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) working group women in physics, which has been working to increase the representation of women in physics, particularly at higher and decision-making levels, from its inception in 2000 until 2008. Rao wrote articles focusing on the topic of getting girls interested in a career in science or engineering and interested in reaching the top of their profession.