Awards and Honours (instead of “Awards”, put “Awards and Honours”)
Professor DS Kothari received many honours in his lifetime. He was awarded Padma Bhushan by the President of India in 1962 and Padma Vibhushan in 1973.
Many universities awarded honorary degrees to him. These include Roorkee University, Aligarh Muslim University, Udaipur University, Guru Nanak Dev University (Amritsar), University of Leningrad (USSR). In 1948, when Sir Maurice Gwyer was the Vice-Chancellor, Delhi University decided to award him DSc (honoris causa) along with DLitt to Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, Maulana AbulKalam Azad and others. Dr. Kothari politely declined to accept the degree saying that as a member of the University faculty, it would not be proper to accept the honour being bestowed on him. The Chancellor wrote back to Sir Maurice saying : I am sorry to hear that Doctor DS Kothari has asked for his name to be withdrawn from the list and I accept his request. I fully appreciate the reasons which have motivated him to make this request. He also made if a point that as long as he was the Chairman of the UGC he would not accept any honorary degree from any Indian University
He was invited by a number of universities from all over the country to deliver convocation addresses. He delivered more than forty addresses: from Universities of Jammu and Kashmir in the north to the University of Kerala in the south, Guhati University of Bombay in the west. He also delivered number of memorial lectures. Among them were Ninth Pandya Memorial Lecture (on ‘Effect of high explosives on metals’) at Indian Institute of Metals, Bhilai, Krishnan Memorial Lecture (on ‘Nuclear Explosions’) at National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi, DadabhaiNaoroji Memorial Lecture (on ‘Education, Science and National Development I and II’) Ninth JN Tata Memorial Lecture (on ‘Science and Self-knowledge’) at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Shri Raj Krishna Jain Memorial Lecture (on ‘Some thoughts on science and religion’) at Delhi University, SiremlBapna Memorial Lecture (on ‘Science and Ahimsa’) at Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya, Indore
In his convocation addresses and memorial lectures, he covered very widely different topics. His presentation was always so engrossing that the audience listened to him with rapt attention. Addressing the students of Delhi University, in his Annual Convocation Address (1983) he said: ‘The advancement of science and technology and its use for human welfare-economic, science and culture will be in jeopardy unless there is a moral advancement of man, a strengthening of the human spirit. Science and technology without self-control and Ahimsa can only result in widening the frightening gap still further, widening beyond, repair the gap between the poor and the rich countries, and the gap between the poor and the rich within a country…. The survival of man depends on science and self-control, on ‘Atom and Gandhi’. That can be a road to a glorious future. And every step counts, no matter how modest’.
In 1977, delivering Sh. Raj Krishna Jain Memorial Lecture at Delhi University, he said ‘Anti-science, negation of science, is to be totally rejected. It is most important to make an unequivocal distinction, even if it cannot be sharply made, between rational, beyond-rational (beyond-reason), and anti-rational (anti reason). Anti-rational or anti-science has no place in the affairs of man. It is untruth. But beyond-reason is not anti-reason. And beyond physics is not anti-physics. It is not a negation of physics……
‘Faith in the pursuit and value of science goes beyond science and reason. It is akin to a religious feeling: it goes beyond science. Faith in science, faith in reason is not anti-reason, but beyond reason. To suffer for the sake of science and truth is a moral quality. It depends on the strength of the spirit. Paradoxically, reason and faith, though oppose to each other, yet sustain and reinforce each other beyond measure…..
‘Science is the search for truth. The practical value of science has been astonishingly great, beyond the most daring expectations. A passionate and unfaltering devotion to the pursuit of truth, and the use of knowledge for man’s material and spiritual advancement is the ideal of all those who seriously dedicate themselves to science.
It is interesting to recall that after this lecture, the Vice-Chancellor of the University presented Dr. Kothari a cheque of Rs. 10,000/-, this being the honorarium for the lectures, Dr. Kothari declined to accept the cheque and suggested that the money be used to provide students and teachers with books like Gandhiji’s Autobiography, The Gita, Upnishads, Shri Aurbindo’s writings, etc. at one-third the price. The Vice-Chancellor liked the idea and added another Rs. 10,000/- from the University side. This encouraged many students and teachers to buy such books.
Similarly, he did not accept the honorarium of Rs. 5,000/- given to him for delivering Sri Aurobindo Memorial Lecture in 1982 at the University of Delhi and wanted the money to ‘be used by the University for the scheme of supplying selected books (not text/course books), at subsidized prices to students and teachers (and others in need and interested).’
He was elected President of the Physics Section of the Indian Science Congress Session in 1944 and the General President of the Indian Science Congress for the 1963 Session, held in Delhi.
He served as Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi from 1982-1992. Earlier to him only Prime Ministers of the country had served as Chancellor of the University. It was Smt. Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister, who invited Dr. Kothari to take up this appointment.
He also received the Award of National Federation of UNESCO Associations in India. He was awarded the first Anuvrat Award (carrying a cash award of Rs. 1 lac) which he politely declined. In 1991, he also received the Atmaram Award of Kendriya Hindi Sansthan, Agra for outstanding contributions to scientific and technical literature. He was a Foreign Member of the USSR Academy of Science and a Fellow of the Third World Academy, Trieste, Italy. He was also elected Fellow of National Academy of Science, Allahabad and of the Indian Academy of Science, Bangalore.
Honoursandawardscameinplentyto ProfessorKothari.In 1962 he was awardedPadmaBhushanandin1973,PadmaVibhushan.HewastheGeneralPresident ofthe Indian Science Congress in 1964.In1966 he was chosen for the Shanti Swarup BhatnagarAwardoftheIndianNationalScienceAcademy(INSA). In 1973 he was elected Foreign Member of theUSSRAcademy of Sciences.During 1973-74he wasthe Presidentofthe IndianNational ScienceAcademy.In 1978 he was awarded the MeghnadSaha Medal ofINSA.ProfessorKothariwasaFellowofthe ThirdWorldAcademyof Sciences, Trieste,Italy, amemberof the Pugwash Conference, and a recipient of the awardoftheNationalFederationofUNESCO AssociationsinIndia.