Coordinator: Dr. Reema Mani
15Mon
Coordinator: Prof. G. Nagarjuna
17Wed
Coordinator: Ms. Sumana Amin
22Mon
Coordinator: Dr. Aniket Sule
25Thu
Coordinator: Prof. Jyotsna Vijapurkar
Prof. Atri Mukhopadhyay
While it is vaguely known that Saha came of a poor family and rose to a great height both in scientific and social spheres, not much is realised what a great opposition he had to transcend, right from his childhood to the end of his life, in way of attaining this wide recognition. In the absence of any research school or a guide, his science, like many of his peers in the-then India, was hundred per cent a solitary exploit. In this lecture, I shall try to bring to your notice the details of some of these, pointing out both the merits and demerits of the system in which he had to work. Also, a great believer in the immense social potential of science, Saha moved quickly to harness that in various directions, and even there, it was not roses all the way. Saha's life, in effect, was full of hurdles.
Atri Mukhopadhyay got his Ph D in Physics from the University of Calcutta. His work in the field of electron structure theory of atoms and molecules has resulted in about 40 research papers in international journals. He has held several visiting positions in UK, Denmark, Sweden and Poland. He retired as a professor Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics in 2006.
Mukhopadhyay is deeply interested in history of science. He is responsible for restructuring and enriching the Meghnad Saha Archives of the Saha Institute. His book entitled Abinash Meghnad Saha (Meghnad Saha the Invincible, Anushtup, 2012) in Bengali is an in-depth analysis of the life and work of Meghnad Saha vis-a-vis the contemporary scientists in colonial India. He is also the coauthor (with Purabi Mukherji) of the book History of the Calcutta School of Physical Sciences (Springer, 2018).
He was the General Secretary of the Indian Physical Society for several consecutive terms and the Editor of its quarterly organ Physics Teacher for several years.
His extra-curricular interests include Indian and European literature, and music, especially the songs of Tagore. He has written a number of articles in English and Bengali on science and society and a few on the Indian classic Mahabharata. He has translated T S Eliot’s The Waste Land into Bengali.