Colleagues, friends pay tribute to Rohini Godbole – passionate scientist, charismatic teacher & proponent of women in STEM

Despite being unwell for the past four-five months, poor health failed to keep science away from Godbole as she and physicist Sunil Mukhifinalised the theme for the next textbook just a few months ago.

Recalling an incident earlier this year, where Godbole had promised to submit an obituary on Peter Higgs (after whom Higgs Boson is named), Justin David from CHEP said , “Rohini’s falling health was preventing her from making a timely submission and every time we met, she would regret the delay.”

Just a fortnight ago, Godbole had shared a list of areas in particle physics she wanted her younger theoretical physics colleagues to take up. “On October 5, Rohini sent a message and asked a few of us to start considering certain topics to research. She was so full of life,” said Srubabi Goswami from the Physical Research Laboratory.

Last month, she had expressed a desire to attend a talk by a French student and her colleagues at CHEP specially arranged for an online viewing session for her.” Rohini later said she enjoyed the talk,” said long-time friend and IISc colleague, Chanda.

Subir Sarkar, a physicist from the Oxford University, said he had known Godbole for half a century and the news of Godbole’s passing shattered him. ” Rohini was my oldest friend in Physical Sciences. I have fond memories from our times at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) days in the late 1970s,” he said.

A powerful votary for gender parity for STEM in India, Godbole has used every platform, big or small, to bring the concerns that women academicians and scientists face to the mainstream. She constituted the panel – Indian Women in Science at the Indian Academy of Science (IASc). She was a committee member that published the report titled ‘INSA Report : Indian women and access to Science’, a first-of-its kind.

Her passion and drive to bring women’s issues to the forefront was lauded by scientists Vinita Bal, Subha Tole and Annapurni Subramaniam, all of whom said that Godbole’s work to uplift women scientists must continue.

Along with academic publications, Godbole co-authored Lilavati’s Daughters,  a collection of 100 biographical essays on Indian women scientists with her colleague Ram Ramaswamy.  Recalling his decades’-old friend, Ramaswamy said, ” Rohini made people sensitive to issues of women scientists, the disadvantages they faced and always advocated a gender party in STEM.”

She’d travel extensively for science and research and used these opportunities to stitch international ties with India. Her sustained efforts for bringing many of the international conferences, along with top-global scientists, to India was much appreciated by the mourners.

Eric Laenen of the University of Amsterdam appreciated her sustained efforts in getting India close to CERN, Geneva. As her long-time collaborator, the Dutch physicist said, “Rohini was my scientific sister as we were both pursuing PhD at Stony Brooks University. She inspired many women and made friends everywhere she travelled. India will benefit immensely by Rohini’s positive contribution to CERN.”

Everybody who knew Godbole and interacted with the Pune-born physicist agreed that she was charismatic, having an almost magnetic effect on young children and remained passionate about science till the end.

Another collaborator from France, Sabine Krami, in her tribute said, said Godbole had opened her to the idea of India.”She made me discover India and it was the beginning of collaboration of with a lot of Indian physicists thereafter. Until two weeks ago, we exchanged texts on work.”

Students recalled how, the teacher in her left indelible mark on their learning during the undergraduate years and inspite of being a well-established researcher herself, she left no stone unturned to engage undergraduate courses in interesting ways.