B. Jayant Baliga
B. Jayant Baliga is an electrical engineer best known for inventing the Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT), one of the most widely used power semiconductor devices in the world. While working at General Electric and later at North Carolina State University, he developed and helped commercialize technologies that revolutionized power electronics. The IGBT enabled more efficient control of electrical power in applications ranging from industrial equipment to transportation and renewable energy systems. Baliga holds more than 100 patents and is widely regarded as a pioneer in modern power semiconductor technology.
Har Gobind Khorana
Har Gobind Khorana was a biochemist whose research helped establish the foundations of modern molecular biology and biotechnology. Working at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and later at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he helped decipher how genetic information encoded in nucleic acids directs the production of proteins. He pioneered techniques for the chemical synthesis of oligonucleotides and artificial genes, methods that became essential tools in genetics and biotechnology. Awarded the Nobel Prize in 1968, Khorana’s work continues to underpin genetic research, sequencing, diagnostics, and therapeutic development.
C. Kumar Patel
C. Kumar Patel is a physicist and engineer best known for inventing the carbon dioxide (CO₂) laser, one of the most important laser technologies ever developed. While at Bell Labs, he created a high-power laser that transformed industrial manufacturing, materials processing, and medical procedures. The technology became widely adopted around the world for cutting, welding, and precision applications. Patel later served as Vice Chancellor for Research at University of California, Los Angeles and held dozens of patents, leaving a lasting impact on both scientific research and technological innovation.
Narinder Singh Kapany
Narinder Singh Kapany was a physicist, entrepreneur, and pioneer of fiber optics whose research helped create the foundations of modern telecommunications. After demonstrating the transmission of light through glass fibers, he brought the technology from the laboratory to the marketplace, founding companies in Silicon Valley and helping establish fiber optics as a commercial industry. He authored the first book on the subject and held more than 100 patents. Often called the “Father of Fiber Optics,” Kapany’s work laid the groundwork for the high-speed communications networks that power the modern internet age.
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, a pioneering astrophysicist at University of Chicago, transformed modern theoretical astronomy through groundbreaking work on stellar structure, stellar evolution, and radiative transfer. His calculation of the Chandrasekhar Limit, the maximum mass of a stable white dwarf star, became a cornerstone of astrophysics. Over a career spanning decades in the United States, he helped shape the field through both research and mentorship, while also serving as editor of the Astrophysical Journal for nearly twenty years. His contributions established him as one of the most influential scientists of the twentieth century.
Yellapragada SubbaRow
Yellapragada SubbaRow immigrated from India to Boston in 1923 and worked as a Harvard dormitory attendant to pay for his studies. During a 25-year career in American science, he identified ATP as the fundamental energy molecule of cells and synthesized folic acid to enable widespread prenatal care. His laboratory also created the first broad-spectrum antibiotic and the first drug to put childhood leukemia into remission. Despite his achievements, racial barriers in academia blocked his promotion, and he died at his desk in 1948 without receiving a tenured position.
Balu Natarajan
Balu Natarajan grew up in Chicago as the son of Tamil immigrants. In 1985, at the age of thirteen, he won the Scripps National Spelling Bee, making him the first person of Indian origin to achieve this feat. He later established a career as a sports medicine physician in Chicago. Throughout his life, he has remained actively involved in his local Indian American community.
Raja Chari
Raja Chari grew up in Iowa, the son of an Indian immigrant father. He graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy, earned a master’s degree from MIT, and flew sixty combat missions before NASA selected him as an astronaut in 2017. In November 2021, he commanded the multinational SpaceX Crew-3 mission to the International Space Station. He became the first Indian American to command an ISS mission, spending 176 days in orbit before returning in May 2022.
Dalip Singh Saund
Dalip Singh Saund arrived in the United States in 1920 to study at the University of California, Berkeley, where he successfully earned a mathematics doctorate. For two decades, he worked as a farmer in California’s Imperial Valley because discriminatory American laws prevented South Asians from becoming naturalized citizens. Once the laws changed in 1946, he entered local politics. In 1952, he was elected Justice of the Peace, becoming the first Indian American to hold an elected office. He later won a seat in Congress in 1956. A stroke ended his third term, and he died in 1973.