Dr Raghavan Gopalan is one of India's pre-eminent materials scientists, with over 35 years spanning rare-earth permanent magnets, Li-ion batteries for EV applications, thermoelectric materials, and fuel cell technology. He obtained his B.Sc and M.Sc (Physics) from Madurai Kamaraj University, ranked First in M.Tech (Materials Technology) at Banaras Hindu University (1983), and was awarded the Best PhD Thesis Prize (Prof. AL Laskar Memorial Prize) from IIT Madras for his work on High-Tc Superconductors (1996).

He joined DRDO's Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory, Hyderabad in 1985, where he led national mission programmes for DRDO and ISRO for over 22 years — including development of Sm₂Co₁₇ magnets for missile guidance and space applications. From 2003–2010, he conducted research at Japan's National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Tsukuba — cited as one of the '21 Achievements in the 21st Century' by NIMS for his work on SmCo/Fe nanocomposite thin films achieving an energy product of 32 MGOe, surpassing the theoretical limit of SmCo₅.

As Regional Director at ARCI Chennai (Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, 2019–2023), he led programmes worth over ₹200 crore — establishing the Centre for Automotive Energy Materials at IIT Madras Research Park, India's National Facility for Atom Probe Tomography, and a pilot plant for Li-ion battery cell manufacturing. He developed a novel Fe-P soft magnetic alloy with core loss of 162W/kg, outperforming conventional Si-steel — demonstrated as a cost-effective import substitute for EV motor applications, with technology transfer to Lucas TVS and AQUASUB. He is currently INAE Chair Professor (2023–2026) and Adjunct Professor at IISc Bangalore.