M.P. Parameswaran, renowned nuclear scientist and CPI(M) theorist, dies at 92

M.P. Parameswaran, former nuclear scientist who later became prominent as a CPI(M) theorist, people’s science movement activist and writer, passed away in Thrissur, Kerala, on Tuesday (August 11, 2026). He was 92.

Mr. Parameswaran was one of the earliest and foremost members of Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad (KSSP). His ideas on the ‘fourth world’ had triggered wide debate and eventually led to his expulsion from the CPI(M) in February 2004.

Born on January 18, 1935 in Thrissur district, Mr. Parameswaran secured his Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering from the College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram, in 1956 and his PhD in Nuclear Engineering from the Moscow Power Institute in 1965. He was a scientist with the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai, from 1957 to 1975.

After leaving BARC in 1975, he became a full-time activist and one of the best-known faces of KSSP.

Wide areas of interest

His areas of interest included environment, energy, education and rural development. He has numerous books to his name, many of which have won accolades.

Mr. Parameswaran was instrumental in the formation of the All India People’s Science Network (AIPSN), a network of people’s science organisations spread all over the country. He was its secretary and later, president. He also helped build the Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti, an organisation responsible for massive literacy campaigns across India.

Book triggers debate

Mr. Parameswaran’s book Fourth World triggered a massive debate within the CPI(M), of which he had been an active member. In it, he envisioned a world founded on decentralised democracy and economic production and detached from consumerism.

In February 2004, the CPI(M) expelled Mr. Parameswaran on serious charges of indiscipline, finding that he had deviated from the party line.

Mr. Parameswaran has written several popular science books in Malayalam and English on topics as wide-ranging as atomic energy, radioactivity, astronomy, mathematics, political science and ecology.