Nagendra Singh

Nagendra Singh passed away due to complications of cancer at the age of 71 at his family home in Huntsville, AL. He was serving as Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Alabama in Huntsville and still actively working on publications.

Graduating in 1966 from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kampur, India, Nagendra went onto obtain his M.S. and Ph. D in Electrical Engineering in 1967 and l970 from the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. As a classmate with Reiner Stenzel and others in Roy Gould’s Plasma Physics class, he was considered to be one of great character with honesty and modesty. He then went onto the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Iowa, Iowa City as a Research Associate. After one year he returned to the Indian Institute of Technology India serving as an Assistant Professor from 1973 to 1976. From 1976 through 1979 he followed his research serving as a Visiting Scientist at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, La Source, Orleans, France and the Institut fur Physikalische Weltraumforschung, Freiburg, West Germany.

From 1979 to 1986 he was at Utah State University becoming Research Professor in 1982. Shortly after Nagendra arrived in Utah, he and Robert Schunk quickly became friends while having long and fun scientific discussions and collaborating on numerous scientific papers. Robert recalls him as an excellent and productive scientist. Early during this time frame at Utah he spent a year at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL working on the ionospheric plasma effects on the International Space Station. In 1983 he also served as Guest Scientist and Humboldt Fellow at the Physikalische-Technische, Studien G.M.B.H., in Freiburg, West Germany.

In 1986 Nagendra then came to the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) as an Associate Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. His vast and in-depth knowledge was extensive, as demonstrated through his lectures to undergraduate and graduates on subjects such as Electromagnetic Theory, Nonlinear Magnetic Circuits, Communication Systems, both Linear and Non-Linear System Analysis, Antennas, Microwaves, Plasma Physics and Engineering, Space Plasma, Non- Linear Phenomena in Plasma, Electrical circuits, and many more. He was also developing a graduate textbook on Space Applications of Electromagnetics. He guided many graduate students, exciting them in different areas of linear and nonlinear plasma physics as they joined him in his trend-setting research; publishing on current layers, double layers, plasma turbulence, ion and electron heating mechanisms, effects of Alfven waves, many more, and his most recent research love for reconnection in the solar corona. In 1999 he continued his research as a Visiting Scientist at French CNRS in St. Maur, France, July 1999. Nagendra’s summer tours throughout the world became typical and continued to this year.

In 2009 he became Distinguished Professor and Distinguished Professor Emeritus in 2013 continuing his ongoing research activities for papers and review articles. He spoke excitedly about the physics published in his most recent paper in Physics of Plasmas, “Physical processes in an electron current layer causing intense plasma heating and formation of x-lines”, co-authored with Igor Khazanov and B. E. Wells. He and his colleagues were also working on another paper soon to be published in Astrophysical Journal Letters, “Reconnection Driven Double Layers in the Stratified Plasma of the Solar Transition Region: Supply of Hot Plasma into the Corona”.

In addition to his outstanding research contributions, Nagendra was quick to offer his time and abilities to mentor new faculty and students, many of which were working in areas that were outside of his main research focus. One such faculty member, Dr. Earl Wells, whose research is in the area of Computer Engineering, recalled how Nagendra reached out to him as an inexperienced junior faculty member at UAH and included him as part of his research team to help him formulate high performance Particle-in-Cell simulations of various complex plasma phenomena. Dr. Wells said, “The collaboration I had with Nagendra (which lasted more than 20 years) was one of the most significant and fruitful events in my career. To observe first hand Dr. Singh’s work ethic, dedication, scholarship, versatility, energy and his never ending quest for knowledge is something that has and will impact me all of my life. Dr. Singh’s influence greatly affected the students that he mentored, many of which are now active contributors to his areas of expertise.” Dr. Wells also related “One of my favorite experiences was to observe Nagendra introduce a new student to the basic concepts of space weather and space plasmas. The clarity, elegance, and passion that he exhibited during these one-on-one sessions would captivate even those students who were from technical disciplines which were far removed from electromagnetics, space weather and plasma physics. I too would always learn something new.”

Although always busy with his goal of advancing space-weather ideas from near-earth space to the solar atmosphere, Nagendra was generous with his time for consultations, reviewing proposals for NSF and NASA, and reviewing journal articles. His physics insight and numerical computation skills were superb and many continued to seek his advice throughout the years including supporting studies of the ionosphere’s interaction with the International Space Shuttle and plasma effects on the Polar mission. He also allowed his colleagues the use of his computer codes that he had developed with great effort and provided consultation for them when needed.

Nagendra was always a pleasure to work with, a positive and gentle person to be around, and generous of his time in addition to being a strong and successful researcher. As a mentor, he provided a reference or guiding source for us, designed to encourage our success. As an advisor, he was experienced and trusted, whose passion for learning kept us excited for many years and contributed greatly to who we are today. Dr. Singh will always be on a short list of people whom we admire and wish to emulate. We will miss his passion for learning, his wisdom, and his gentle way of helping others who were in need. He was the ideal scholar, our mentor, and friend and we have lost a great talent.

Photo provided by daughter, Gitanjali Singh.