M. G. K. Menon

M.G.K.Menon was born into a Malayali Menon family to Justice Sankara Menon of Kizhakkepat and Narayanikutty Amma of Mamballikalathil. He was educated at Jaswant College, Jodhpur, and the Royal Institute of Science, Bombay (now called The Institute of Science, Mumbai), before he moved to the University of Bristol for his PhD in elementary particle physics under the guidance of Nobel Laureate Cecil F. Powell in 1953. ==Career==

Menon joined Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in 1955 "essentially because of Bhabha", and the association lasted nearly five decades. He became the director of the institute in 1966, at the age of 38, following Bhabha's untimely death. In fact, Menon began handling the affairs of the institute ever since he was 33, because of Bhabha's increasing involvement with the country's nascent atomic energy programme. == Awards and recognition ==

• He won the Abdus Salam Medal in 1996 • Special Awards: He won the Padma Shri in 1961, Padma Bhushan in 1968 and Padma Vibhushan in 1985. • The asteroid 7564 Gokumenon was named in his honour in late 2008. == Personal life ==

While working towards his PhD degree in particle physics at the University of Bristol under Professor Cecil F. Powell, Menon met and married Indumati Patel, who was working towards a degree in philosophy. They have two children, Anant K. Menon, Professor of Biochemistry at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, and Preeti Vaid, a practicing radiologist in New Delhi. Menon has one grandchild, Kartikeya M. Menon, a resident surgeon at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. ==References==