The Times of India

He topped IIT-JEE with AIR 1, turned down Computer Science, chose Physics instead today his discoveries are taught around the world

Rajesh Gopakumar topped the 1987 IIT-JEE with AIR 1, a rank that guaranteed a seat in IIT Computer Science and a lucrative tech career abroad. He turned it down for Pure Physics instead. A PhD at Princeton under Nobel Laureate David Gross followed, along with the landmark Gopakumar-Vafa Duality discovered at Harvard. He later returned to India to lead ICTS-TIFR Bengaluru, building world-class research infrastructure so young Indian scientists no longer need to leave home to excel.