Rohini Godbole (1952-2024): The physicist who refused to choose between science and justice

She died as she lived—pursuing both particle physics and gender justice with equal passion at the Indian Institute of Science.

Physicist Rohini Godbole. She predicted the Drees-Godbole Effect for particle colliders while compelling male scientists to count the missing women in their midst. | Photo Credit: N ASHWINI/THE HINDU

It is not easy for a scientist, especially a woman scientist, in India to be vocal about causes such as caste and gender without the label of “activist” shadowing her “scientist” identity. Rohini Godbole was one of the few who managed to walk the tightrope between these two identities with grit and grace.

Born in 1952, Rohini was raised in a family of empowered women. “We were used to seeing women doing housework as well as following their dreams—dreams of learning, not necessarily jobs,” she once recalled. Her path to fame in particle physics was rather unconventional. It was only after 12 years of lecturing at the University of Mumbai that she got the opportunity to pursue research full-time. She joined the Indian Institute of Science in 1995 and this is where she lived and worked since then.

Over the next two decades, she made a name for herself in her chosen field. Her prediction of an important phenomenon (referred to as the “Drees-Godbole Effect”) aided the design of a new generation of particle colliders. She was an elected fellow of India’s three national science academies. Apart from the Padma Shri and a host of other awards, she also won the Ordre National du Mérite from the French government in 2021.

Meanwhile, a series of circumstances and realisations led her to take the reins of the then-barely-existent gender equality movement in Indian science. These days, it has become common for scientific conferences to include sessions on gender, but that wasn’t the case in the early 2000s. When Rohini suggested that the Indian Academy of Sciences (IASc) allot some time for a discussion on women in science, she was met with many raised eyebrows. “People were looking around and saying ‘Do we really need to discuss this?’ I remember sitting there with the academy book in my hand, turning the pages and counting. When among 900 fellows, you see so few [women], that’s when it hits home,” she said.

Not one to back off, Rohini took full advantage of her status as a top scientist to advance the discourse, co-authoring multiple reports and surveys that revealed the way gender operated in science labs and institutes in the country. One of the most ambitious of these reports was one she co-authored with Anitha Kurup, Maithreyi R., and Kantharaju B. This was borne out of a survey of over 2,000 women with science PhDs. The report shed light on several reasons women leave science, and, importantly, exposed certain misconceptions and misperceptions that most people harbour.

For example, it refuted the idea that family responsibility was the singular factor behind the attrition of women from science, critiqued existing policies, and offered a list of actionable items such as transparency in selection, mandatory disclosure of gender breakdowns, and compulsory composition of one-third of women members on committees.

To date, this report remains one of the most enlightening and comprehensive studies on women in science in India. It shaped future policies and altered the discourse on gender in science. It should have been a game-changer towards equality for women in science, but 14 years on, not much has changed. “I don’t think people even read the survey,” Rohini admitted, in a rare moment of frustration. “We need more support from the men in the community and more commitment. They have to realise that this is not just for women, it’s for the benefit of science.”

Somehow, in all the conversations I had with her over the past years, Rohini never showed lasting signs of disillusionment. There was always something that brought a spring to her step, and this optimism was often infectious. She was in one such mood after the launch of the draft Science Technology and Innovation Policy (STIP) 2020 document, which included a surprisingly progressive chapter on “Equity and Inclusion”. Rohini had led the team that framed this chapter. “This is the first time any Indian policy has a chapter on equity and inclusion!” she told me, with great excitement. She was keenly waiting for the policy to be notified. Sadly, she did not live to see this happen.

Rohini Godbole (left) with Vaidehi Ganeshan of IGCAR, Kalpakkam, as she receives the C.V. Raman Vijnana Puraskara at the 4th National Women’s Science Congress in Bangalore, on November 7, 2011. | Photo Credit: GOPINATHAN K

A generous and dynamic spirit

If I had to choose my favourite memory of Rohini Godbole, it has to be the time she was speaking to a male-dominated audience at a science leadership programme at Kolkata. She had been invited to speak on gender issues, and she did so very effectively. After her session, a mid-career male scientist in the audience asked, “Won’t affirmative action dilute excellence?” She immediately challenged him: “Are you saying that women are less excellent?” Sheepish, the scientist sat back down. I looked around and shared smiles with the few other women scientists present in the room. A surge of energy shot through us all.

Rohini did not set out to become an advocate or role model for women in science, but she gracefully accepted and consistently fulfilled this responsibility. It broke my heart a little when I found out that even a scientist like Godbole was paying a price for this. “I’m not sure I like it too much,” she once said, reflecting on this part of her life. “I campaign for women in science, but that is secondary to my being a scientist. Somehow, the roles are reversing. I have achieved something in the realm of physics that is not insubstantial. Hence, it hurts when this aspect is downplayed…”

On January 1 this year, it was heartwarming to receive a New Year message from Rohini. In it, she wrote with disarming candidness about the ups and downs of the year that had passed. She wrote about realising “what one always knew but chose to forget, that the line is finite”. She expressed gratitude to her friends and shared a few photographs of her travels to the Netherlands, of flowers in her garden, and of the verdant IISc campus, “which I have come to appreciate even more during the years after the pandemic”.

I will remember Rohini as a generous and dynamic spirit who was always willing to engage with critique, but also for her stubborn optimism in the face of systemic apathy. The best way for us to honour her memory will be to stay hopeful and keep up the momentum.

Nandita Jayaraj is a science writer and co-founder of the feminist science media platform TheLifeofScience.com. She is the co-author of Lab Hopping: A Journey to Find India’s Women in Science.