Man Mohan Sharma FREng (born May 1, 1937 in Jodhpur, Rajasthan) is an Indian chemical engineer. He was educated at Jodhpur, Mumbai and Cambridge. At the age of 27 years, he was appointed Professor of Chemical Engineering in the Institute of Chemical Technology (UDCT), Mumbai. He later went on to become the Director of Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT/ UDCT/ UICT), the first chemical engineering professor to do so from ICT. In 1990, he became the first Indian engineer to be elected as a Fellow of Royal Society, UK. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan (1987) and the Padma Vibhushan (2001) by the President of India. He has also been awarded the Leverhulme Medal of the Royal Society, the S.S. Bhatnagar Prize in Engineering Sciences (1973), FICCI Award (1981), theVishwakarma medal of the Indian National Science Academy (1985), G.M. Modi Award (1991), Meghnad Saha Medal (1994), and an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (2001). Man Mohan Sharma obtained Bachelor of Chemical Engineering (1958) from UDCT (ICT) and subsequently MSc (Tech.) in 1960. He obtained Ph.D. (Chemical Engineering) (1964) at Cambridge University with PV Danckwerts. In 1964, he returned to India as Professor at the University of Bombay, and later became Director of the University Department of Chemical Technology (UDCT), now ICT (Institute of Chemical Technology - A Deemed University). He served the institute for 33 years. He has been honored by several universities including IITs by honorary doctorates.
Academic Career
Professor Sharma made contributions to chemical engineering science and technology. His studies on Bronsted based catalysis in CO2 hydration (published in the Transactions of Faraday Society) and subsequently kinetics of COS absorption in aqueous amines and alkanol amines brought out linear free energy relationship between CO2 and COS absorption in solutions of amines and alkanol amines. He has contributed extensively on the role of micro phases in multiple reactions which he pioneered. He also became an independent Editor of Chemical Engineering Science at a young age. He taught different subjects in chemical engineering and encouraged his doctoral students, from the very beginning, to publish independently their work in renowned journals. Under his stewardship, UICT got autonomy of UGC. He brought about all-around improvement in all the departments of the Institute leading to exceptionally high number of Ph.D.s each year based on the number of faculty members. He served in Petroleum and Natural Gas as Chairman of the SAC and in the SAC to Cabinet and PM. He was INSA Council Member (1980-82) and Vice President (1987-88).