Dr R Gopalan retired as Head of the Department of Chemistry, Madras Christian College, Chennai. He obtained his Ph. D. from the University of Madras and went on to do his postdoctoral research at Baylor University, USA. He has 35 years of experience in teaching and research. He was awarded a UGC Emeritus Fellowship on his retirement. He has published 45 research papers, many articles on popular science and education, and 30 books for M.Sc., B.Sc. and school courses.