Electrochemical Engineering

Supramaniam Srinivasan was born on August 12, 1932, in Sri Lanka. After receiving his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry with Honors from the University of Ceylon in 1955, he went to the University of Pennsylvania to study electrochemistry with John O'Mara Bockris, an innovator in physical electrochemistry (also the mentor for Brian Conway, Chapter 11). His thesis was entitled “Mechanism of Electrolyte Hydrogen Evolution: An Isotope Effect Study.” “Srini”, as he was called by his friends and colleagues, continued to work in Bockris' laboratory as a postdoc for a few years after completing his Ph.D. in 1963. He and Bockris coauthored Fuel Cells: Their Electrochemistry, which was published in 1969.

Srini next went to the Downstate Medical Center, State University of New York, Brooklyn, where he applied electrochemical techniques to medical problems. He subsequently took a position at Brookhaven National Laboratory. There, he led a hydrogen energy technology group and resumed his studies of fuel cells. His research covered a wide range of fuel-cell types: alkaline, phosphoric acid, and solid oxide, as well as electrolysis and electrochemical energy storage. Srini was instrumental in the formation of the Energy Technology Division of the Electrochemical Society, which emerged in response to the Energy Crisis of the 1970s. Srini continued to nurture and support the Energy Technology ...