Academic and professional career 235px|Alagappa Chettiar College of Engineering and Technology. 235px|National Chemical Laboratory, Pune Laxmangudi Doraiswamy, born in Karnataka, did his schooling at Methodist Boys High School, Hyderabad before graduating in chemistry (BSc) from Nizam College, then under the University of Madras.  Choosing chemical engineering for his further education, he secured the degree of BS, in 1946, from Alagappa Chettiar College of Engineering and Technology (Accet), one of the only two Indian institutions offering chemical engineering for advanced studies at that time. His performance in the engineering examinations earned him a scholarship from the Government of Andhra Pradesh which helped him to pursue further studies at the University of Wisconsin and the twenty one-year old reached Wisconsin when the winter of 1948 was its peak in December. It was during his stay at the University of Wisconsin, he had the opportunity to meet Olaf Andreas Hougen, a known academic in chemistry and a later-day Professor Emeritus of Wisconsin University, After completing his master's degree in 1950, he continued at the university to secure his doctoral degree in chemical engineering in 1952 for which Hougen reportedly assisted him in getting permission from the Nizam government of Hyderabad, who wanted Doraiswamy to return to India to start serving the government. His doctoral thesis was on semichemical pulping, prepared under the supervision of Hougen and John McGovern of the Forest Products Laboratory, US Department of Agriculture.  Doraiswamy's career started at R. L. Carlisle Chemical and Manufacturing Company of Brooklyn for a short stint of two years and he left US for India in 1954 to take up the position of a scientist at the National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), Pune where he continued his researches in chemical engineering. His tenure at NCL lasted a quarter of a century, rising in ranks as a senior scientist, assistant director (1961), deputy director (1966) and superannuating in 1989, as the first non-chemist to head the organization, after holding the post of the director since 1978. In between, he was reportedly offered the post of the director general of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the largest research and development (R&D) organisation in India, controlling 38 national laboratories, 39 outreach centres, 3 Innovation Complexes and 5 units, but he declined the offer to stay with NCL. It was at this time, NCL entered into a bilateral co-operation agreement with the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering of the Iowa State University and this led to his visit to Iowa where he met Peter Reilly, the then Anson Marston Distinguished Professor of the university. It is reported that Reilly persuaded Doraiswamy to join the university as the Glenn Murphy Visiting Professor of Engineering which he agreed to and, later, joined the institution as a permanent faculty in 1992 as the Herbert Stiles Professor. During his stay in Iowa, he was involved in various visiting lectures and symposia and became the Anson Marston Distinguished Professor, the highest academic honour for engineering academics at the university. He continued his association with the university even after his retirement in 2001 till his death 2012. Personal life Doraiswamy was born in a Brahmin family as the only brother of three sisters born to Laxmangudi Krishnamurthy and Kamala in Bengaluru on 13 May 1927. Krishnamurthy was the head of Geological Survey of India at their Hyderabad branch and the young Doraiswamy was brought up in Lingasugur, a small hamlet near Hatti Gold Mines and home to many archaeological sites, in the south Indian state of Karnataka. He was married to Rajalakshmi, the marriage taking up place in 1952 after his return to India from Wisconsin, and the couple had a son, Deepak, a doctor in chemical engineering and a daughter, Sandhya, an MPhil and CPA holder. Both continue to live in Pennsylvania, Deepak at Landenberg and Sandhya at Danville. Doraiswamy, towards the later days of his life, suffered from heart ailments and underwent a bypass surgery. However, he could not survive for long and died on 2 June 2012, while recuperating from the surgical trauma, survived by his children; his wife had preceded him in death. Trivia Doraiswamy's English skills prompted his school principal to advise him to take up literature as a career. He also wrote poetry but none of his poems were published. Though the latter part of his life was spent mostly in US, he retained his Indian citizenship till the end . His friends and colleagues knew him as a compassionate person, a quality which landed him in trouble during his tenure at NCL when he allowed a family of poor means to stay in a settlement inside NCL campus. The incident later developed into a legal battle .
Early life Laxmangudi Doraiswamy, born in Karnataka, did his schooling at Methodist Boys High School, Hyderabad before graduating in chemistry (BSc) from Nizam College, then under the University of Madras. Doraiswamy's English skills had prompted his school principal to advise him to take up literature as a career. He also wrote poetry but none of his poems were published. Choosing chemical engineering for his further education, he secured the degree of BS, in 1946, from Alagappa Chettiar College of Engineering and Technology (Accet), one of the only two Indian institutions offering chemical engineering for advanced studies at that time. His performance in the engineering examinations earned him a scholarship from the Government of Andhra Pradesh which helped him to pursue further studies at the University of Wisconsin and the twenty one-year old reached Wisconsin when the winter of 1948 was its peak in December. It was during his stay at the University of Wisconsin, he had the opportunity to meet Olaf Andreas Hougen, a known academic in chemistry and a later-day Professor Emeritus of Wisconsin University, After completing his master's degree in 1950, he continued at the university to secure his doctoral degree in chemical engineering in 1952 for which Hougen reportedly assisted him in getting permission from the Nizam government of Hyderabad, who wanted Doraiswamy to return to India to start serving the government. His doctoral thesis was on semichemical pulping, prepared under the supervision of Hougen and John McGovern of the Forest Products Laboratory, US Department of Agriculture. Academic and professional career 235px|Alagappa Chettiar College of Engineering and Technology. 235px|National Chemical Laboratory, Pune Doraiswamy's career started at R. L. Carlisle Chemical and Manufacturing Company of Brooklyn for a short stint of two years and he left US for India in 1954 to take up the position of a scientist at the National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), Pune where he continued his researches in chemical engineering. His tenure at NCL lasted a quarter of a century, rising in ranks as a senior scientist, assistant director (1961), deputy director (1966) and superannuating in 1989, as the first non-chemist to head the organization, after holding the post of the director since 1978. In between, he was reportedly offered the post of the director general of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the largest research and development (R&D) organisation in India, controlling 38 national laboratories, 39 outreach centres, 3 Innovation Complexes and 5 units, but he declined the offer to stay with NCL. It was at this time, NCL entered into a bilateral co-operation agreement with the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering of the Iowa State University and this led to his visit to Iowa where he met Peter Reilly, the then Anson Marston Distinguished Professor of the university. It is reported that Reilly persuaded Doraiswamy to join the university as the Glenn Murphy Visiting Professor of Engineering which he agreed to and, later, joined the institution as a permanent faculty in 1992 as the Herbert Stiles Professor. During his stay in Iowa, he was involved in various visiting lectures and symposia and became the Anson Marston Distinguished Professor, the highest academic honour for engineering academics at the university. He continued his association with the university even after his retirement in 2001 till his death 2012. Personal life Doraiswamy was born in a Brahmin family as the only brother of three sisters born to Laxmangudi Krishnamurthy and Kamala in Bengaluru on 13 May 1927. Krishnamurthy was the head of Geological Survey of India at their Hyderabad branch and the young Doraiswamy was brought up in Lingasugur, a small hamlet near Hatti Gold Mines and home to many archaeological sites, in the south Indian state of Karnataka. He was married to Rajalakshmi, the marriage taking up place in 1952 after his return to India from Wisconsin, and the couple had a son, Deepak, a doctor in chemical engineering and a daughter, Sandhya, an MPhil and CPA holder. Both continue to live in Pennsylvania, Deepak at Landenberg and Sandhya at Danville. Doraiswamy, towards the later days of his life, suffered from heart ailments and underwent a bypass surgery. However, he could not survive for long and died on 2 June 2012, while recuperating from the surgical trauma, survived by his children; his wife had preceded him in death. Though the latter part of his life was spent mostly in US, he retained his Indian citizenship till the end .
R
Academic and professional career 235px|Alagappa Chettiar College of Engineering and Technology. 235px|National Chemical Laboratory, Pune
Early life
A
Doraiswamy's English skills had prompted his school principal to advise him to take up literature as a career. He also wrote poetry but none of his poems were published.
A
Academic and professional career 235px|Alagappa Chettiar College of Engineering and Technology. 235px|National Chemical Laboratory, Pune
D
Trivia Doraiswamy's English skills prompted his school principal to advise him to take up literature as a career. He also wrote poetry but none of his poems were published.
D
. His friends and colleagues knew him as a compassionate person, a quality which landed him in trouble during his tenure at NCL when he allowed a family of poor means to stay in a settlement inside NCL campus. The incident later developed into a legal battle