20 Minutes With Bharat Bhushan

By Rachel Fowler, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief | TLT 20 Minutes November 2022

This academy professor at The Ohio State University discusses his career and the tremendous privilege he had to initiate tribology research in new and novel areas, which has expanded the scope of tribology.
 
Bharat Bhushan - The Quick File
STLE Life Member Dr. Bharat Bhushan is an academy professor (San Jose, Calif.) and has served as an Ohio Eminent Scholar and The Howard D. Winbigler Professor in the College of Engineering, the director of the Nanoprobe Laboratory for Bio/Nanotechnology and Biomimetics (NLB2) and affiliated faculty in the John Glenn College of Public Affairs at the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. From 2013 to 2014, he served as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)/American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science & Technology Policy Fellow, House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, U.S. Congress, Washington, D.C. He has served as expert investigator on intellectual property-related issues in the U.S. and International Courts.

Bhushan holds a bachelor of science, two master of science, a doctorate in mechanical engineering/mechanics, a master of business administration and five honorary doctorate degrees. His research interests include fundamental studies in the interdisciplinary areas of bio/nanotribology/nanomechanics, nanomaterials characterization, scanning probe techniques, magnetic storage, bio/nanotechnology, nanomanufacturing, bioinspired liquid repellency, self-cleaning, anti-icing, anti-fouling and water harvesting—and Science and Technology Policy. He is an internationally recognized expert of bio/nanotribology and bio/nanomechanics using scanning probe microscopy and biomimetics. He is considered by some one of the pioneers of tribology and mechanics of magnetic storage devices, nanotribology, green tribology and biomimetics.

Bhushan introduced the word nanotribology in a paper in the journal Nature in 1995 and in a book on green tribology in 2010. He has authored 10 scientific books, more than 100 handbook chapters and more than 900 scientific papers. His research was listed as the Top 10 Science Stories of 2015. He holds more than 25 U.S. and foreign patents. He has given more than 400 invited presentations, including more than 300 keynote/plenary addresses at major international conferences on six continents. He delivered a TEDx lecture in 2019.

Bhushan is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards and international fellowships, including the Alexander von Humboldt Research Prize for Senior Scientists, Max Planck Foundation Research Award for Outstanding Foreign Scientists, Fulbright Senior Scholar Award, International Tribology Gold Medal, Institution of Chemical Engineers (UK) Global Award and NASA’s Certificate of Appreciation to recognize the critical tasks performed in support of U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s Commission investigating the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. He has organized various international conferences and workshops. He organized two international North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Advanced Study Institutes in Portugal and Hungary.

Bhushan has previously worked for various industrial research laboratories, including Mechanical Technology Inc., SKF Industries Inc. and IBM Almaden Research Center. He has held visiting professorships at University of California at Berkeley, University of Cambridge, Vienna University of Technology, University of Paris, ETH Zurich, EPFL Lausanne, University of Southampton, University of Kragujevac, Tsinghua University, Harbin Institute of Technology and King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals.
 

Bharat Bhushan at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.
TLT: How long have you worked in a lubrication-related field, and how did you decide to pursue a career in the lubricants industry?
Bhushan: To retrace my professional career, I took my first tribology course back in fall 1970 offered by the first American tribologist, professor Ernest Rabinowicz at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Mass. I carried out research on sliding surface interface temperatures under professor Nathan H. Cook at MIT. I became very excited about the multidisciplinary science and technology of interfaces, and I figured that was my calling. I have been involved in the field ever since. For me it has been a lifetime dedication.

After completing my doctoral work in 1976, I worked in conventional industrial tribology at Mechanical Technology Inc. and SKF Industries Inc. Then at IBM Tucson lab and IBM Almaden lab, I started research in tribology and mechanics of magnetic storage devices. Later at The Ohio State University, I established a major research lab on magnetic storage devices, heavily funded by government funding agencies as well as a consortium of computer companies. I also helped initiate research in new fields, including the field of nanotribology and nanomechanics using scanning probe microscopy and applications to the magnetic storage industry and later bio/nanotechnology devices, cosmetic nanotribology for hair, hair conditioner, skin and skin cream, as well as development of bioinspired structures and surfaces in the field of green nanotribology. One of the most exciting research areas in the past three years has been bioinspired water harvesting from fog. In a nutshell, it has been a tremendous privilege to initiate tribology research in new and novel areas, which has expanded the scope of tribology.

TLT: What has been your most rewarding accomplishment throughout your career in the lubricants industry?
Bhushan: My most rewarding accomplishment, as mentioned previously, has been to initiate tribology research in new and novel areas, which has expanded the scope of tribology. Significant novel contributions and my books in new fields launched new areas, and tribologists around the world started to work on them. It has been wonderful to see during my travels that researchers are following the new paths I helped pave. My labs have been copied around the world. That is the best legacy I can leave behind.

In addition to basic research, I have worked on industrial research and development. That has led to more than 25 U.S. and foreign patents and new products and expanded our understanding of associated mechanisms. It has been gratifying to see my signatures on many products.

I have received some two dozen major national and international awards in different fields by several professional societies. Awards coming from peers are most gratifying. Over a span of more than 50 years, I am grateful to have worked with a large number of fellow scientists, engineers, postdoctoral researchers and students. There are too many to name.

I am not done with my work yet, although people associate age with productivity going down. They are wrong! The best is yet to come.


Bharat Bhushan (left), with the Honorable John Boehner (R-Ohio), former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

TLT: What is the No. 1 piece of advice you would give to a person who might be interested in starting a career in the lubricants industry?
Bhushan: I will start with a cliché: Think outside the box. Some engineers like to push the envelope, and others try to pave new paths. Often new paths lead to innovation. However, it requires creativity and deep knowledge of multidisciplinary fields. Find out what interests you and follow that avenue. While solving engineering problems, always focus on mechanisms and fundamental understanding. That will lead to best solutions and will allow you to anticipate problems, and you will be able to tackle them later.

Technological problems are interdisciplinary. Most problems require researchers and engineers from different disciplines working together. This often leads to major advancements. Continue to expand your horizon. I always say, “I am a student for life,” and do not stop learning. I believe that my doctoral work has given me a license to pursue any synergetic discipline on my own. If I need to know about a new field, I am not afraid to find an undergraduate textbook in that field and study it. As an example, I was researching biomedical issues in nanotechnology. To provide fundamental knowledge in the field, I got undergraduate books on biology and molecular biology and read them. As another example, in 2007, I was invited by University of Bonn, department of botany, to deliver their departmental seminar, although my doctorate is in mechanical engineering. In my introduction, my host stated that I am the first non-botanist giving a botany seminar. I considered that to be feathers in my cap! It has been the essence of my professional career.

TLT: Throughout the different segments within your career, which one has been the most interesting, challenging and/or rewarding?
Bhushan: After having worked for five years in automotive, aerospace and other heavy industries, I joined IBM Corp. to address fundamental tribology problems in the magnetic storage industry in 1981. Until that time, no trained tribologist had worked on these problems. Tribology was considered a critical technology to future growth of the $50 billion magnetic storage industry. At age 31, I took a big gamble leaving an established tribology-related industry with a bright future.

On the first day at work at IBM Tucson, my lab director, Bob Mazza, invited me to his office. On his board, he had the word “stiction” written on the top left corner. That was his biggest problem at that time, which was holding up magnetic tape product development. He mentioned that he hired me so that I can help erase the word stiction on his board. I took the challenge. In a mere two years in 1983, I presented three comprehensive papers on friction of magnetic media and a paper on development of a noncontact digital optical profiler for surface roughness measurements at the STLE Annual Meeting in Houston, Texas. These papers were the first ever on the tribology of magnetic storage and were published in Tribology Transactions in 1984. In October 1984, in collaboration with professors David Bogy, Frank Talke and Norman Eiss Jr., we launched the first ever Symposium on Tribology and Mechanics of Magnetic Storage Systems at the International Joint Tribology Conference (IJTC) in San Diego, Calif. This symposium tripled the conference attendance from around 150 in 1983 to about 450 in 1984. There was no standing room in the largest conference room at the hotel. Some of the audience stood in hallways to listen. All attendees were curious to know what this brand new field was all about. This became an annual event with large attendance. Such symposia began to be organized at other conferences as well. In 1989, I wrote the book “Tribology and Mechanics of Magnetic Storage Devices,” and in 1992 “Mechanics and Reliability of Flexible Magnetic Media,” which became the bible in the field. Given their popularity, second editions and reprinting by a professional society, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), took place. These books were translated in foreign languages as well. These are still widely referenced today, and have been used in intellectual property-related court cases as a standard reference. As some say, the rest is history!

TLT: What are some of the most technical lubrication-based concepts or topics you have encountered throughout your career?
Bhushan: I have worked in various fields. Very early on in my professional career, I mastered the fundamental understanding of friction, wear and lubrication mechanisms. I developed a working knowledge of materials, coatings and surface treatments and liquid lubricants. I also mastered physical and chemical property measurements on scales ranging from macroscale to nanoscale. This knowledge prepared me to solve the problems I have dealt with in my professional career.

TLT: What is the one thing you wish you would have learned earlier in your career?
Bhushan: I have been very driven and excited about my work and believed that research has no boundaries. I lost balance between my professional career and personal life. I do not regret given the satisfaction I derived from my contributions and the impact they made. But I lost some precious time with my family. I have tried to make up by planning my professional travels in the summer with my family, often a month-long trip to new and exciting locations around the world. A fun fact: My daughter, Noopur, and my son, Ankur, had already traveled to about 40 countries when they graduated from high school. That is an unparallel learning experience and creates humility, which one cannot get from school.

I would like to thank my family, particularly my wife, Sudha, for her support during my entire professional career.

You can reach Dr. Bharat Bhushan at bhushan100@outlook.com.