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Two IIT-Bombay faculty members—Suryendu Dutta of the department of earth sciences and UK Anandavardhanan of the department of math—and Kinshuk Dasgupta from the materials group at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre are among those from the city who were awarded the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize 2020 for Science and Technology.
Dasgupta, who has been working extensively on the technology required for large-scale synthesis of carbon nanomaterials, was recognised with the award under the engineering sciences category for developing a lightweight bulletproof jacket called Bhabha Kavach. “The idea was to bring down the weight of the jacket, improve its efficacy and reduce the trauma caused due to a bullet. It is more affordable than the imported versions that are in use,” he said.
Anandavardhanan, who moved to IIT-B in 2005, said: “I am happy to receive the SSB Prize. I work in an area where one investigates certain algebraic structures called ‘groups’ with a view towards ‘number theory’, called the Langlands programme. I did my PhD at the University of Hyderabad and postdoctoral research at TIFR, Mumbai. This is a good time to remember my teachers and mentors at these places.”
Dutta, also from IIT-B, has made invaluable contributions in the fields of organic geochemistry and molecular palaeobiology. He works on the evolution of plant-derived terpenoids. His innovative research demonstrates how plant-derived organic matters are a major source of liquid hydrocarbons in many petroliferous basins of India. He is also engaged in research related to plant metabolites that play an active role in plant-animal interactions and facilitate plant-plant communications.
“Over the years, IIT-B has invested heavily in hiring highly-promising faculty members and empowering them with some of the excellent experimental and computational facilities. We are delighted that our researchers are being recognised for their research,” said Subhasis Chaudhuri, IIT-B director.
The 10 awardees also include Subhadeep Chatterjee of the Centre for DNA fingerprinting and diagnostics, Jyotirmayee Dash from the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Abhijit Mukherjee from IIT-Kharagpur, Amol Arvindrao Kulkarni from CSIR National Chemical Laboratory and Rajat Hazra from Indian Statistical Institute in Kolkata.
