Richard Fernandes
Areas of Interest & Expertise
- Infrared and Raman Spectroscopy
- Liquid and Plastic Crystals
- Phase Transitions
- Optical and Electronic Instrumentation
- Science Education
Biography
I have bachelors and masters degrees in Physics from IIT, Kharagpur and did doctoral research at the Raman Research Institute, Bangalore. I followed that with post doctoral work the University of Louisville and subsequently worked at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore till 1990.
In 1990, I teamed up with a group of interested educators and co-founded Centre For Learning, an“alternative” school in Bangalore where I designed, developed and implemented laboratory based curricula for learning Physics.
I have also designed and executed a wide range of automation projects for industries and research laboratories primarily in the area of supervisory control, data acquisition and robotic positioning systems over a period of 25 years.
I believe that physics is best learnt by doing and I enjoy building experimental apparatus from material found in scrap yards or cannibalized from discarded instruments. I reject the“black box” approach to laboratory experiments and encourage students to assemble their experimental apparatus.
I enjoy wood working and machining. I am an avid do-it-yourselfer and I have many unfinished projects in my home.
Courses
Electronics II
All about microcontrollers, now ubiquitous in the modern world.
Publications
Venugopalan, S., Fernandes, J.R., & Vani, G. V. (1975) Far-Infrared and Raman Spectra of the Solid Phases of CBOOA, Mol. Cryst. Liq. Cryst., 31, 29 – 46. https://doi.org/10.1080/15421407508082856
Fernandes, J.R., & Venugopalan, S. (1976). Infrared Spectroscopic Study of Orientational Order and Phase Transformations in Liquid Crystalline CBOOA, Mol. Cryst. Liq. Cryst., 35, 113 – 134. https://doi.org/10.1080/15421407608084315
Venugopalan, S., Fernandes, J.R., & Surendranath, V. (1977). Far-Infrared Absorption in the Highly Ordered Smectic Phases of TBBA, Mol. Cryst. Liq. Cryst., 40, 149 – 161. https://doi.org/10.1080/15421407708084478
Fernandes, J.R., & Venugopalan, S. (1978). Differential Dichroic Spectroscopy in Liquid Crystals Using Unpolarized Radiation, Chem. Phys. Lett., 53, 407 – 412. https://doi.org/10.1016/0009 – 2614(78)85429 – 3
Fernandes, J.R., & Venugopalan, S. (1979). Orientational Order and Tricritical Behavior in the n‑OMCPC Series of Liquid Crystals, J. Chem. Phys., 70, 519 – 22. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.437164
Fernandes, J.R., Ganguly, S., & Rao, C. N. R. (1979). Infrared Spectroscopic Study of the Phase Transitions in CsNO3, RbNO3 and NH4NO3. Spectroc. Acta., 35A, 1013 – 20. https://doi.org/10.1016/0584 – 8539(79)80001‑X
Rao, C. N. R., Agarwal, U. P., Rao, C. P., & Fernandes, J.R. (1979). Study of Methanol, 2‑Methyl-2-Propanol and Formamide and their electrolyte solutions by Infrared Spectroscopy, J. Phys. Chem. 83: 722 – 728. https://doi.org/10.1021/j100469a017
Ganguly, S., Fernandes, J.R., Bahadur, D., & Rao, C. N. R. (1979). Infrared and Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance Studies of the Phase Transitions of para-dichlorobenzene. J. Chem. Soc., Faraday Trans. 2, 1979, 75, 923 – 928 https://doi.org/10.1039/F29797500923
Ganguly, S., Fernandes, J.R., Desiraju, G. R., & Rao, C. N. R. (1980) Phase Transition in Malonic Acid; An Infrared Study, Chem. Phys. Lett., 69, 227 – 229. https://doi.org/10.1016/0009 – 2614(80)85052 – 4
Ganguly, S., Fernandes, J.R., & Rao, C. N. R. (1980). Calorimetric, Infrared and Electron-Spin-Resonance Studies of the Plastically Crystalline State of Organic-Compounds, Adv Mol Relaxation Inter Process., 20: 149, 1981.
Fernandes, J.R., & DuPre, D. B. (1981). Determination of the Bend and Splay Elastic Constants of Polymeric Liquid Crystals, Mol. Cryst. & Liq. Cryst. 72, 67 – 71. https://doi.org/10.1080/01406568108084039
Fernandes, J.R., & DuPre, D. B. (1984); A Novel Method for the Measurement of Small Birefringence, Liquid Crystals and Ordered Fluids, Proc. of Am. Chem. Soc. Symp. 1984 (Plenum, New York, 1984) 415 – 422. https://doi.org/10.1007/978 – 1‑4899 – 2299-1_27
Ganguly, P., Fernandes, J. R., & Rao, C. N. R. (1987). Infrared-Spectra of Superconducting La2- x SRxCuO4 and YBa2Cu3O7‑δ, Phase Transit. 10: 77 – 86. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080÷01411598708220083
Fernandes, J.R.; Varma, V., Ganguly, P. & Rao, C. N. R. (1988). FTIR Spectra of YBa2Cu3O7‑δ and Related Oxides, Modern Physics Letters B, 2, 517 – 521. https://doi.org/10.1142/S0217984988000102
Varma, V., Fernandes, J.R., & Rao, C. N. R. (1989); Raman and Infrared Spectroscopic Studies of the Low- and High-Temperature Forms of Octahalo Cyclic Phosphazene Tetramers, P4N4Cl8 and P4N4F8, Journal of Molecular Structure 198, 403 – 412. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022 – 2860(89)80052 – 3
Varma, V., & Fernandes, J.R. (1990). An Infrared Spectroscopic Study of the Low-Spin-High-Spin transition in FexMn1‑x(Phen)2(NCS)2: A Composition-Induced Change in the Order of the Spin-State Transition, Chemical Physics Letters, 167, p.367 – 370. https://doi.org/10.1016/0009 – 2614(90)87184‑S
Varma, V., Bhattacharjee, R., Fernandes, J.R., & Rao, C. N. R. (1990). Phase Transitions in KLiSO4 and RbLiSO4+ : An Infrared Spectroscopic Investigation, Solid State Commun. 76, 627 – 630. https://doi.org/10.1016/0038 – 1098(90)90103‑I
Bhattacharjee, R., Varma, V., Fernandes, J.R., Rao, & C. N. R. (1990). A Raman and Infrared Spectroscopic Study of the Ferroelectric Phase-Transition of (CH3NH3)5Bi2Br11. Ferroelectr. Lett. Sect. 12, 79 – 84. https://doi.org/10.1080/07315179008201131