Meet B. Vijayalakshmi, one of the most brilliant minds to have existed in the Indian Physics community.
Despite her life being cut short by cancer, her unrelenting interest in science drove her to write 11 academic papers before her untimely demise.
When she found out she had cancer, her first thought was to make a meaningful contribution to research and be known as a physicist. Her immediate aim was to complete her research degree before anything happened to her.
Vijayalakshmi, also known as Viji, was born in 1952 in a conservative family. She overcame gender restrictions and pursued excellence in education and her field of Physics all her life.
After completing her Masters from @Seethalakshmi Ramaswami College, Tiruchirapalli, she joined the Department of Theoretical Physics to obtain her PhD from @Madras University in 1974.
During her PhD studies, Vijayalakshmi found out she had stomach cancer. But she didn’t let this serious illness stop her from pursuing her academic dreams.
Viji’s life changed when she met and married T. Jayaram. He supported her in her studies and introduced her to politics. Her parents-in-law also became a big part of her life and helped her a lot when her health got worse.
She focused on studying particles and equations in physics, even though she was dealing with health issues and needed a wheelchair. In 1980, she gave a well-received talk at a physics symposium in Kochi.
Even though she had cancer, she wrote eleven scientific papers on complex physics theories. She worked with Govindarajan to create new ways of understanding higher spin theories. She also did important work in electromagnetic and gravitational fields.
One of her big discoveries was a connection between massless particles and electromagnetic monopoles.
Vijayalakshmi also worked to improve the facilities at @Madras University. She was part of a group that tackled problems like not enough equipment in labs and not having enough money for research.
She was very vocal about her views, and not everyone agreed with her, but that didn’t stop her. She kept doing her research and going through chemotherapy for a few more years. Sadly, the cancer spread to her legs and hips, and she had to use a wheelchair for longer distances.
Despite all the challenges, she kept writing papers and finished her PhD in 1982. But in the end, cancer took her life on May 12, 1985.
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