Our Namesake
ChK Group, Inc., was named after Dr. Chivakula Krishnamoorthy—the “Ch” comes from Chivakula, and the “K” comes from Krishnamoorthy—Dr. Rajan Vempati’s, mentor. Dr. Krishnamoorthy was like a father to Dr. Vempati, having encouraged our founder to pursue a career in research.
Dr. Krishnamoorthy was born on 15 March 1921 in Dondapadu, Andhra Pradesh, India, and died on 29 August 1981 in Bangkok, Thailand. He was a brilliant student and researcher; earned his PhD from the University of California at Berkeley, in 1949, specializing in soil colloids; and was a straight-A student. He did basic research in kinetic ion exchange—his dissertation was titled “Ion Exchange Equilibrium”—in nutritional disorders in rice, and in phosphorus deficiency in micronutrients. Dr. Krishnamoorthy’s accomplishments include authoring over forty articles published in numerous scientific magazines, including Science.
Dr. Krishnamoorthy had immense work experience as a soil scientist, working for several civil organizations. When he was employed at the Central Research Ind Dry Institute Agriculture (CRIDA), Dr. Chivakula had developed methods by which to fabricate practices suitable for the various agro climatic dry land regions in India. Whilst working in Hyderabad, India, in 1943, Dr. Krishnamoorthy conducted research as an assistant agricultural chemist; in addition, Dr. Krishnamoorthy worked as a soil conservation officer at the Ministry of Agriculture for the government of India. Other work he conducted included that for the Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University as a director of research and for the All India Coordinate Research Project as a project director.
Dr. Krishnamoorthy was a profoundly influential agricultural scientist, and he has many contributions and accomplishments in his credit. For example, because of his research in agro-climatic regional research for India, he was conferred the Borlaug Award in 1979, by Coromandel Internation, Ltd.
Dr. Krishnamoorthy had even travelled around the world for the government of India. He visited the United Kingdom, Canada, the U.S.A., Thailand, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka, among other countries, serving as the Indian government’s director and reference.
Click here to view Dr. Krishnamoorthy’s résumé
The following are copies of some of Dr. Krishnamoorthy’s publications in Science.