Rohini Godbole (1952-2024): A trendsetter physicist and a devoted gender equality protagonist in the science community

Rohini Godbole’s Early life and education

Rohini Godbole was born in 1952, in Pune, where at school . Rohini Godbole did very promising work in the field of physics.
BSc from the University of Pune, finished with distinction.
Graduate Studies: Rohini Godbole received her MSc from Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in 1974 with a silver medal and completed her PhD at Stony Brook University, New York, in 1979.

Professional Achievements

• Career at IISc: Godbole worked with the Centre for High Energy Physics at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru for more than 25 years. She came to IISc in 1995, after a decade on the faculty of University of Bombay.
• Research work in Particle Physics: This included work in particle physics, collider physics, including the top quark, and the Higgs boson.
• CERN Collaborations: Godbole collaborated with CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research), where she was involved in the Large Hadron Collider and its potential to discover new particles.
• Advocate for Future Colliders: An advocate for collider physics development, she also advocated future projects like ILC and other variants.

Contributions to Science and Gender Equity

• Women in Science: Besides her scientific contribution, Godbole was very instrumental in bringing to fore the issues women face in science and in advocating changes in policy.
• INSA Report: She co-authored the landmark “INSA Report: Access of Indian Women to Careers in Science,” a first-of-its-kind report on the issue of the barriers for women in scientific careers.
• Lilavati’s Daughters: She coedited in 2008 a book titled Lilavati’s Daughters with nearly 100 biographical essays that celebrate Indian women scientists and have inspired thousands of young women to take up science.

Advocacy for Gender Equity

Godbole chaired many committees and panels related to women in science and included the Women in Science panel of the Indian Academy of Sciences. She formed programs that improved participation levels of women in India in the STEM fields.

• Changing Attitudes: Godbole, while giving interviews, always spoke about changing attitudes in society about women scientists. She considered science to be as respectable a profession as medicine and wanted it to be on an equal footing; she wanted more opportunities, more respect, and not less.
• Call for policy changes: She was emphatic about how careers considered “suitable” or “unsuitable” depended on traditional gender roles attached to teaching and such roles. She advocated for policies to undo these biases.
  Personal legacy
• Inspiring Mentor: According to Nandita Jayaraj, co-author of Lab Hopping: A Journey to Find India’s Women In Science, Godbole was a great mentor though she was senior in years.
• Publications and Impact: Her co-authored book on supersymmetry along with scientists Manuel Drees and Prabir Roy has been a textbook for all students of particle physics.
• International Contributions: Godbole was a member of several international scientific committees, including the CERN-India Steering Committee and the Scientific Advisory Committee to India’s Union Cabinet.

Awards and Recognition

• Padma Shri: Godbole received India’s Padma Shri for her contributions to science and gender equity.
• Ordre national du Mérite: She received France’s Ordre national du Mérite, which recognized her outstanding achievements and contributions.
• Lifetime Achievement Awards : Several accolades, to include a Lifetime Achievement by the Karnataka’s Science and Technology Department, were befallen on Godbole’s head.

Tribute and Legacy

• Prime Minister: The Prime Minister recognized Narendra Modi’s impact thus “Her academic efforts would still guide the coming generation forward.”
• IISc’s Statement: IISC had termed her as, “a great scientist a great leader, guide colleague and friend,” who for them had relentlessly fought through with her advocacy for women’s scientific presence.
• Principal Scientific Advisor’s Comments: Dr. Ajay Kumar Sood, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Indian government, described her as “a beacon of excellence and inclusion.”

Conclusion

This is the end of an era in Indian science, but it lives on with Professor Rohini Godbole’s research, advocacy on gender equity, and inspiring mentoring. She left a trail for future generations of women in science as a prescription with passion and determination to follow knowledge and equity.