astronomy

Mohindar Singh Seehra

Mohindar Singh Seehra is a astronomy 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 Mohindar Singh Seehra rather than just read about it. In short: Mohindar Singh Seehra (born 1940) is an Indian-American Physicist, academic and researcher. He is Eberly Distinguished Professor Emeritus at West Virginia University (WVU).

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Mohindar Singh Seehra (born 1940) is an Indian-American Physicist, academic and researcher. He is Eberly Distinguished Professor Emeritus at West Virginia University (WVU). Seehra has authored over 325 publications. His research has focused on structural and magnetic properties of materials, with focus on nanomaterials and thin films, and their applications in catalysis and biomedicine. He is a fellow of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, American Physical Society (APS), and Institute of Physics (UK). WVU has honored him with the Buswell Award for advancing the career of women scientists under his mentorship and Order of Vandalia Award for Distinguished Service. Seehra has edited books on Magnetic Spinels, Nanostructured Materials, and Noble and Precious Metals, published by InTech Publishers (UK).

Early life and education Seehra was born in 1940 in a village near the town of Burewala which is now part of Pakistan. During the independence and partition of British India in 1947, he along with his family migrated to India and received his early education there. He graduated from high school in 1955, followed by B.Sc. degree in 1959 from R.K. Arya College of Punjab University. He then worked as a Laboratory Instructor in Chemistry at the Arya College for one year. In 1960, he enrolled in Aligarh University and received his M.Sc. degree in Physics in 1962, followed by one-year teaching as a Lecturer in Physics at Jain College, Ambala City. In 1963, he moved to the United States, earning his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Rochester in 1969.

Career After receiving Ph.D. in 1969, Seehra joined West Virginia University (WVU) as Assistant Professor of Physics, becoming Associate Professor in 1973 and full Professor in 1977. In 1992, he was appointed Eberly Family Distinguished Professor of Physics. After retiring in 2016 as Eberly Distinguished Professor Emeritus at WVU, he continues collaborative research with research groups in USA and India.

Research Broadly, Seehra's research work has focused on structural and magnetic properties of transition metal oxides, sulfides, fluorides, spinels, perovskites and carbons, and size and surface effects in magnetic nanostructures and their applications in catalysis and biomedicine.

Magnetic nanoparticles Seehra's work includes that on CuO nanoparticles (NPs) which showed strong size and temperature dependence of magnetism in CuO NPs prepared by the sol-gel method and structural characterization via x-ray diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. For CeO2 NPs with applications in biomedicine and catalysis, his research implied that transformation of Ce4+ to Ce3+ driven by oxygen vacancies is the key factor to understand the catalytic properties of ceria. Another important research has been the ferromagnetic and semiconducting behavior of sputtered Co-doped TiO2 thin films above room temperature. For Co3O4 NPs, he used magnetic and electron magnetic resonance studies and showed how the properties of NPs differ from those of bulk Co3O4. Among his other notable magnetic studies on NPs are those on nearly defect-free maghemite NPs, ferrihydrite NPs undoped and doped with Ni, Mo, and Ir, CdSe quantum dots, and FePt NPs. His study regarding the size dependence of magnetic properties of maghemite NPs demonstrated unusual enhancement of effective magnetic anisotropy with decreasing particle size.

Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy Trained in EPR spectroscopy during his Ph.D. work, Seehra discovered the sample size effect in EPR which affects the EPR linewidths, he then went on to study various factors that affect the EPR linewidths with special attention to the changes observed near magnetic ordering temperatures such as in antiferromagnet MnF2, and ferromagnets CrBr3 and La0.7Sr0.3MnO3, and (K3CrO8). He also conducted a study focused on the role of magnetic anisotropy and spin-lattice coupling in the temperature dependence of EPR linewidths. His research combining theory, EPR and magnetic studies explained the origin of spin canting in Mn3O4.

Magnetic-Optical-Dielectric Correlations In his paper published in 2006, he studied structural and multiferroic properties of La-modified BiFeO3 ceramics and showed enhancement in the multiferroic properties of BiFeO3 due to stabilization of crystal structure and nonuniformity in spin cycloid structure by La substitution. Seehra investigated the temperature dependence of dielectric constants of MnO and MnF2 and discussed how the dielectric, magnetic and optical properties are related. In NiO NPs, his studies showed how the size dependence of the magnetic ordering temperature and optical properties are related. The decrease in the optical band gap of the semiconductor FeS2 with increase in temperature were compared with those in Si and Ge.

Carbons Seehra's research on carbons include modeling of disorder in graphitic carbons, x-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy of commercial graphene-based materials and use of nanocarbons for energy-efficient hydrogen production via water electrolysis.

Awards and honors 1973-76 - Research Fellow, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation 1984 - Fellow, American Physical Society 1985 - Outstanding Researcher of the College of Arts and Sciences award, West Virginia University 1992 - Eberly Family Distinguished Professor of Physics, West Virginia University 2001 - Fellow, Institute of Physics(UK) 2010 - Outstanding Referee, American Physical Society (APS) 2015 - Mary Catherine Buswell Award, West Virginia University 2017 - Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award, Marquis Who's Who in America 2019 - Order of Vandalia Award for distinguished service to West Virginia University

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mohindar Singh Seehra

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mohindar Singh Seehra claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, 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 Mohindar Singh Seehra 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 Mohindar Singh Seehra 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 Mohindar Singh Seehra

In research: Mohindar Singh Seehra appears in astronomy 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 Mohindar Singh Seehra 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: Mohindar Singh Seehra is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1940 births, Aligarh Muslim University alumni, American people of Punjabi descent, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mohindar Singh Seehra 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 Mohindar Singh Seehra in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mohindar Singh Seehra 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 Mohindar Singh Seehra out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mohindar Singh Seehra in simple terms?

Mohindar Singh Seehra (born 1940) is an Indian-American Physicist, academic and researcher. He is Eberly Distinguished Professor Emeritus at West Virginia University (WVU).

Why does Mohindar Singh Seehra matter?

Because it connects several astronomy 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 Mohindar Singh Seehra?

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 Mohindar Singh Seehra.