Professor S K Rangarajan (1932 - 2008) Theoretical physical chemist Sarukkai Krishnamachari Rangarajan, best known for his contributions to interfacial electrochemistry, passed away on April 29, 2008 in Bangalore, India, unable to survive a massive heart attack. Monikered 'SKR' by his Indian colleagues and 'Ranga' by others, he was a mathematician-turned physical chemist. Deeply religious and at the same time egalitarian, Professor Rangarajan was a teacher beyond compare. A man given to tangential thinking, he also dabbled in poetry. Professor Rangarajan (born: September 9, 1932), was an alumnus of Madras Christian College from where he took his B.A. (Honors). He never bothered to obtain a Ph.D. degree although he produced several doctorates and guided research teams. In fact, academic degrees never mattered to him nor did the lack of such appendages matter to any of his associates. He was a bottomless treasurechest with a mosaic of other interests including music, astrology, poetry, philosophy and religion. Professor Rangarajan began his career as a lecturer at AC College of Engineering of Madras University in 1957, and was soon spotted by Professor K.S.G. Doss, the then Director of the Central Electrochemical Research Institute (CECRI), Karaikudi. In fact, Professor Doss considered Professor Rangarajan as his greatest discovery. It was at CECRI that Professor Rangarajan blossomed into an electrochemist, beginning with his theories on the redoxo-kinetic effect. He then moved to the National Aeronautical Laboratory, Bangalore (1970-1975) as a Homi Bhabha Fellow and later to the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore as professor (1975-1993). Between 1989 and 1993, he was back at CECRI, this time as its director. Later, he had brief stints as senior professor at the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai and as professor emeritus at the Raman Research Institute, Bangalore. At the time of his demise, he was an emeritus professor at IISc. Although Professor Rangarajan worked on a gamut of problems in electrochemistry and chemical physics, his most notable contribution was his unified approach to modeling interfacial phenomena a the macro, molecular and electronic levels. The most striking aspects of his research are mathematical rigour, and lucid and unbiased analysis of problems. This is exemplified by his “scheme of squares” in deriving the transient responses of complex electrochemical reactions. He also made seminal contributions to electrodeposition and corrosion science and these contributions laid the foundations for much of the later work in these fields. He was at various times Senior Professor at the :University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Visiting Professor at the Georgetown University, Visiting Professor at Penn State University, Visiting Scientist at the IBM Thomas Watson Research Centre, and Consultant to the Hooker Research Center. He was also an Associate Editor of Electrochimica Acta. Despite his achievements, Professor Rangarajan remained an extraordinarily modest person. His legacy will live through his work. His eminence as a thinker is clear in the words of praise that Professor Martin Fleischmann showered on him during his 1965 visit to the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne: “Look, Rangarajan, this university is a great place and we have had many visiting us. They all got something from here. You are the only person to whom we didn't give anything but took everything”. Professor Ashok K. Shukla Director Central Electrochemical Research Institute (CECRI) KARAIKUDI-630 006 Tamil Nadu, India and Distinguished Professor Digby D. Macdonald Director Center for Electrochemical Science and Technology Department of Materials Science and Engineering Pennsylvania State University University Park, PA 16802, USA.