Piara Singh Gill

Piara Singh Gill (28October 1911 – 23March 2002) was an Indian nuclear physicist and a pioneer in cosmic ray nuclear physics. He was the first Director of Central Scientific Instruments Organisation (CSIO) of India. He was research fellow of University of Chicago (1940). He was research Professorship fellow of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) (1947), Officer-on-Special Duty (OSD) with the Atomic Energy Commission in New Delhi. Professor and head of the Department of Physics at Aligarh University (1949), Director of Central Scientific Instruments Organization (CSIO) (1959) and Professor Emeritus at Punjab Agricultural University (1971).
Education.
He was born on 28October 1911 in a Sikh Gill Jatt family in a village in Hoshiarpur district of Punjab. He attended Khalsa High School in Mahilpur and left for the America in 1929. He graduated with bachelor's and master's degrees from University of Southern California. He worked for his PhD in Physics at University of Chicago under the supervision and guidance of Arthur Compton, the Nobel laureate. He was awarded his PhD in March 1940. He was a good friend and close colleague of Homi J. Bhabha, who offered him the research fellow professorship at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in 1947.
Professional life.
He was a close friend of Nehru, who was impressed by his scientific knowledge. Nehru offered him the post of Officer-on-Special Duty (OSD) with the Atomic Energy Commission in New Delhi and asked him to become the first Director of Central Scientific Instruments Organization (CSIO) of India. As its Director he established CSIO as a leader in advanced scientific instrument design in Asia. Gill was a key advisor to Nehru on India's nuclear weapons strategy in the 1950-60s.
Robert Oppenheimer was a close colleague and friend. Oppenheimer asked Gill to present a paper at the California Institute of Technology at a conference arranged to celebrate the 80th birthday of Professor Robert Millikan, winner of the 1928 Physics Nobel Prize.