Germany: Prashanth Menezes Defends Doctoral Thesis from Max-Planck
Media Release

Gaermany, Nov 21: Prashanth Wilfred Menezes, hailing from Puttur successfully defended his doctoral thesis entitled “New Developments in the Crystal Chemistry of Selected Borophosphates and Phosphates” at Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids in Germany in October. The Max Planck Society has a world-leading reputation as a science & technology research organization. It was founded in 1948 and has 32 Nobel Prize winners among its ranks.

Prashanth is the second son of Fredrick and Cecilia Menezes who reside in Kallimar, Puttur. He is an alumnus of Mai De Deus higher primary school, St Philomena’s Boys high school, St Philomena’s college and Mangalore University. He conducted research on “Lewis acid doped Polyaniline” in the group of Prof. D.D. Sarma at the reputed Indian Institute for Science, Bangalore, before moving to Germany to pursue his doctoral studies.

Prashanth has carried out extensive research in the field of Solid State and Structural Chemistry under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Kniep, the director of Max Planck Institute. He worked on the synthesis, structural characterization and study of the properties of borophosphates and phosphates. He has applied new routes in hydrothermal, solvothermal and in high-temperature solid state synthesis. His work led to the discovery of several novel borophosphates and phosphates with interesting structural motifs. This work has numerous industrial applications such as ion-exchanges, in catalysis, carrions protectors, molecular sieves, and in identifying the handedness of crystals. To find out more details about his work visit www.cpfs.mpg.de/~menezes

He has already published more than 50 research articles in international journals and conferences. He has delivered several invited talks. He has contributed significantly in the field of solid state chemistry by visiting over 20 countries in Europe, Asia and America. He is a recipient of several international awards including the prestigious award from the European Solid State Chemical Society. 

Further, Prashanth has guided several bachelor, master and Ph.D. students in their projects. On account of his impressive scientific achievements, he has been offered several positions from reputed institutions to carry out further research in the field of solid state chemistry. 

Not only, is he an active researcher but also an active cricketer and plays for the Dresden State Cricket team in Germany. He was awarded Best Bowler and Fairest Player of 2009. He believes in the motto, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy and rightly lives by it.