Climate scientist Krishna AchutaRao dies at 62

Professor, Centre for Atmospheric Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, Krishna AchutaRao. Krishna AchutaRao, a leading voice in climate and atmospheric sciences and professor at the Centre for Atmospheric Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, died on September 4, 2026.

He was 62. Among his key contributions were determining the degree to which observed climatic change could be attributed to human activity. Over the years, his collaborative work with several scientists demonstrated detectable human influence on temperature changes across Indian sub-regions.

This played a key role in connecting global climate science with the regional risks confronting India. “Krishna was a long-time friend and colleague, and over the years, we had many conversations and arguments about climate science.

He was also a clear and principled critic whenever scientific temper was compromised, something that has become increasingly important in the present political climate, “ Roxy Mathew Koll, climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, told The Hindu, adding, “His passing is a major loss to Indian climate science, but for many of us it is also the loss of a warm, thoughtful friend with a wonderful sense of humour.

I will miss him deeply.” In his two decades at IIT Delhi, he served as Head of the Centre for Atmospheric Sciences and Dean (Faculty), helping establish the institute’s Centre of Excellence for Climate Change Adaptation.

An engineering graduate, he worked at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison in the U.S., before returning to India in 2007. “Krishna was a wonderful person and, of late, worked on the attribution of climate events like heat waves.

He also applied AI tools in climate change and monsoon research. We will miss him,” Madhavan Rajeevan, Vice Chancellor, ATRIA University, and former Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, told The Hindu. He was also a member of the World Climate Research Programme’s Joint Scientific Committee from 2025.

“I completed my Ph.D. under his supervision and it is extremely difficult for me to accept this loss,” Dileepkumar R., Assistant Professor, Kumbalathu Sankupillai Memorial Devaswom Board College, Kerala, said in an email, adding, “He was much more than a Ph.D.

supervisor to me…a man of great integrity, a genuinely kind soul, an exceptional scientist, and a person with a deep commitment to society.”