For over four decades, Dr. Arunachalam has made significant contributions to science and engineering of materials, as well as building institutions and industries for harnessing technology. His research in pressure sintering, analytical modelling of mechanical behaviour of two-phase materials and physical metallurgy of titanium alloys were all pioneering and continue to be relevant. Equally, his work in applied fields is also of high calibre. Working with his colleagues at Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory he developed aircraft brakes for jet fighters and armour for battle tanks and military vehicles. Both these are under large scale production.
He has over 100 publications to his credit and co-edited major volumes on Alloy Design, Progress in Materials Science, Advances in Powder Metallurgy and on Titanium. He is a Distinguished Service Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh where he initiated and led a number of research projects supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, the Sloan Foundation and the United Nations Foundation. He is also on the Editorial Board of many journals including MRS Bulletin and on the International Board of Advisors of universities and foundations. He continues be an Honorary Professor of Engineering at University of Warwick in Great Britain. He has lectured at a number of universities, research institutes and conferences.
As the first metallurgist to be appointed as Scientific Advisor Defence Minister of India, Dr. Arunachalam restructured the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to address major hardware development programmes. From 1982, for over a decade, he served five Prime ministers and ten defense ministers of India, including Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Mr. Narasimha Rao, as their Defence Scientific Advisor and Secretary, Department of Defence Research and Development. It was during his tenure, major programs on guided missiles like Agni and Prithvi, aircraft programs like Tejas (LCA) and radars like Rajendra were initiated.
Dr. Arunachalam advised the Indian government on the definition, assessment and review of a number of major technological and societal programs such as optical fiber communications for India, development of indigenous iron and steel technologies, scientific and technological missions for the country to eradicate illiteracy, infant mortality and other deprivations, and graduate education in Engineering. He was a member of the University Grants Commission, Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet and Core Group of the Secretaries of the Government of India. For a number of years, he was also a chairman of two large public sector corporations, Bharat Dynamics. Ltd. and Mishra Dhatu Nigam Ltd,, India’s only advanced metals and alloys manufacturer, and the Aeronautical Research and Development Board (ARDB), the highest body for overseeing aeronautical research in India.
He is a Past President and a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering, the Indian Institute of Metals and the Aeronautical Society of India. He is a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, National Academy of Sciences and the Indian Academy of Science. He is also the first Indian to be elected as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, U.K.
Included among his numerous awards and honors are Padma Vibhushan (high civilian honor given by the President of India) in 1990, Padma Bhushan in 1985, The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Engineering Sciences, The Vasvik Award for Materials Science and Engineering, The Om Prakash Bhasin Award, The FICCI Gold Medal for Technology, The Platinum Medal of the Indian Institute of Metals, The Tata Gold Medal and the first Kothari Gold Medal from the Indian Science Congress. He was the recipient of Lifetime Achievement Award from the Ministry of Steel and Indian Institute of Metals and also the Brahm Prakash Medal of The Indian National Science Academy. He has received honorary doctorates from various Indian universities including a more recent one from Visvesvaraya Technological University.
He is the founder and Chairman of Centre for Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP), a technology and policy-study oriented R&D centre in the country. Recently he worked with Editor of Materials Research Society in editing a major special volume on Energy issues.