chemistry

K. George Thomas

K. George Thomas is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand K. George Thomas rather than just read about it. In short: Kakkudiyil George Thomas is an Indian photochemist, nanomaterial scientist and a professor at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Thiruvananthapuram. He is known for his studies on photoresponsive nanomaterials and is an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy and the Indian Academy of Sciences.

Key takeaways

K. George Thomas belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect K. George Thomas to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of K. George Thomas from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Kakkudiyil George Thomas is an Indian photochemist, nanomaterial scientist and a professor at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Thiruvananthapuram. He is known for his studies on photoresponsive nanomaterials and is an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy and the Indian Academy of Sciences. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 2006, for his contributions to chemical sciences.

Biography

K. George Thomas, born in the south Indian state of Kerala, did his early schooling at his home state before joining Savitribai Phule Pune University from where he completed his master's course (MSc) in chemistry in 1983. He returned to Kerala for his doctoral studies under the guidance of K. Saramma and secured a PhD from the University of Kerala in 1989. His post-doctoral studies were at the Photosciences and Photonics Group of the Manapurathu Verghese George at the National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST) as a research associate. After completing his studies in 1994, he continued at NIIST to start his career as a scientist. Subsequently, he joined the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Thiruvananthapuram and serves the institution as a professor while continuing his researches at NIIST. He has also had various stints at the University of Notre Dame in 1999, 2003, 2004 and 2005 as a visiting faculty member and is an honorary faculty fellow at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research.

Legacy The research of Thomas has been focused on photoresponsive nanomaterials and his work is reported to have assisted in widening the understanding about their applications. He also worked on self-organization of molecules on surfaces and has developed methodologies for modulating molecular organization through the introduction of functional groups. Thus, he developed a number of near-infrared absorbing sensitizers which are relevant in biological imaging and optical data storage applications. He holds an international patent for one the processes he has developed viz. Squaraine based dyes and process for preparation thereof. His research has been documented by way of chapters in three books authored/edited by others and several peer-reviewed articles; the online article repository of the Indian Academy of Sciences has listed 54 of them. He sits on the advisory board of the Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences of the Department of Science and Technology and is the vice-president of the Asian and Oceanian Photochemistry Association. He has also delivered several keynote addresses and plenary lectures including the Inter Academy Seoul Science Forum held in Seoul on 3 November 2016 and the Nano Biotek 2016 held at New Delhi on 24 November 2016.

Awards and honors Thomas received the Bronze Medal of the Chemical Research Society of India in 2004 and the MRSI Medal of the Material Research Society of India in 2005; MRSI would honor him again in 2015 with the MRSI-ICSC Super Conductivity and Materials Science Prize. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 2006. He was elected as a fellow by the Indian Academy of Sciences in 2008 and he became a fellow of the Indian National Science Academy in 2015.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with K. George Thomas

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what K. George Thomas claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to K. George Thomas before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about K. George Thomas ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of K. George Thomas

In research: K. George Thomas appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses K. George Thomas in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: K. George Thomas is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1961 births, 20th-century Indian chemists, Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for K. George Thomas outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study K. George Thomas in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what K. George Thomas means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain K. George Thomas out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is K. George Thomas in simple terms?

Why does K. George Thomas matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study K. George Thomas?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on K. George Thomas.