Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri

Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri
Born 14 September 1924
Barisal, East Bengal, British India (Now Bangladesh)
Died 18 June 2005 (2005-06-19) (aged 80)
Residence Kolkata, India
Nationality Indian
Other names AKR [1]
Alma mater Presidency College and University of Calcutta
Known for Raychaudhuri equation
Spouse(s) Nomita Sen[1]
Children Amlanava, Asimava, Madhukshara and Parongama [2]
Scientific career
Fields Physics
Institutions Asutosh College[3]
Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science
Presidency College, Kolkata
Notable students Narayan Chandra Rana
Signature

Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri (Bengali: অমল কুমার রায়চৌধুরী; 14 September 1923 – 18 June 2005) was a leading Indian physicist, renowned for his research in general relativity and cosmology. His most significant contribution is the eponymous Raychaudhuri equation, which demonstrates that singularities arise inevitably in general relativity and is a key ingredient in the proofs of the Penrose–Hawking singularity theorems.[4]
Raychaudhuri was also revered as a teacher during his tenure at Presidency College, Kolkata. Many of his students have gone on to become established scientists.

Career

Dr Raychaudhuri was born in a Baidya family coming from Barisal, (now in Bangladesh), on September 14, 1923 to Surabala and Sureshchandra Raychaudhuri. He was just a child when the family migrated to Kolkata. He had his early education in Tirthapati Institution and later completed matriculation from Hindu School, Kolkata. In a documentary film made just before his death in 2005, AKR reveals that he was extremely passionate about mathematics right from his schooldays and solving problems would give him immense pleasure. May be the fact that his father was a mathematics teacher in a school also inspired him. At the same time, as his father was not so ‘successful’ so to say, he was discouraged to take up mathematics, his first choice, as honours subject in college.[5]

He earned B.Sc. from the Presidency College in 1942 and M.Sc in 1944 from Calcutta University and he joined Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS) in 1945 as a research scholar. In 1952, he took a research job with the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS), but to his frustration was required to work on the properties of metals rather than general relativity. Despite these adverse pressures, he was able to derive and publish the equation which is now named for him a few years later.

Some years later, having learned that his 1955 paper was highly regarded by notable physicists, such as Pascual Jordan, Raychaudhuri was sufficiently emboldened to submit a doctoral dissertation, and received his Doctor of Science degree at the University of Calcutta (with one of the examiners, Prof John Archibald Wheeler recording special appreciation of the work done) in 1959.

In 1961, Raychaudhuri joined the faculty of his alma mater, Presidency College then affiliated with the University of Calcutta, and remained there until his superannuation. He became a well-known scientific figure in the 1970s, and was the subject of a short documentary film completed shortly before his death.[6]

Honours and recognition

Notes

  1. 1 2 Sen, Parongama (1 April 2008). "The legacy of Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri". Resonance. 13: 308–309. doi:10.1007/s12045-008-0011-3. Archived from the original on 2 January 2018. Retrieved 2 January 2018 – via ResearchGate.
  2. ↑ "Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri" (PDF). www.insaindia.res.in. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 July 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  3. ↑ "The Telegraph - Calcutta : KnowHOW". www.telegraphindia.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  4. ↑ Desikan, Shubashree (5 March 2015). "No Big Bang, the universe was there all along: studies". Archived from the original on 21 June 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2018 – via www.thehindu.com.
  5. ↑ Sen, Parongama (1 April 2008). "The legacy of Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri". Resonance. 13: 308–309. doi:10.1007/s12045-008-0011-3. Archived from the original on 2 January 2018.
  6. ↑ "Documentary on Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri, the renowned theoretical physicist from Kolkata" Archived 7 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine.
  7. 1 2 "Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri" (PDF). www.insaindia.res.in/BM/BM30_0608.pdf. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 July 2017.
  8. ↑ "Fellowship | Indian Academy of Sciences". www.ias.ac.in. Archived from the original on 18 August 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  9. 1 2 3 "INSA :: Deceased Fellow Detail". www.insaindia.res.in. Archived from the original on 2 January 2018. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  10. ↑ "Fellow of the INSA (FNA)". iacs.res.in. Archived from the original on 28 June 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  11. ↑ "The National Academy of Sciences, India - Awardee". www.nasi.org.in. Archived from the original on 13 April 2015. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  12. ↑ "INSA :: Awards Recipients". www.insaindia.res.in. Archived from the original on 10 September 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.

References

  • Dadhich, Naresh (2005), "Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri (1923–2005)" (PDF), Current Science, 89: 569–570
  • Narlikar, J. V. (January 2006), "Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri" (PDF), Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy: 169, retrieved 4 July 2013
  • Sen, Parongama (April 2008), "The Legacy of Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri", Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy: 309–309
  • Interview with Professor Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri (2003), Part 1 & Part 2
  • http://www.insaindia.res.in/BM/BM30_0608.pdf
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