Basanti Dulal Nagchaudhuri
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B. D. Nag Chaudhuri
B. D. Nag Chaudhuri (second from left,
front row) with
and others.
3rd Director General of
In office
1970–1974
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Personal details
Born
6 September 1917
,
,
,
Died
25 June 2006
(aged 88)
,
,
India
Education
Known for
Building
's first
One of the pioneers of
in India
Awards
Scientific career
Organization(s)
International Foundation
for Science, Sweden
Fields
Institutions
Basanti Dulal Nag Chaudhuri
(6 September 1917 – 25 June 2006) was an Indian
and academic, and Scientific Advisor to the
,
. He is known as one of the pioneers of
in India. While serving as the Director General (chairman) to the
(DRDO), he played influential
role in
(Smiling Buddha)
,
's first successful
test
on 18 May 1974. This historic achievement made India the sixth nation in the
world to become a nuclear superpower, after the
,
(now
),
,
, and
. He also initiated the
first feasibility studies on India's
program.
In the early 1970s, as the Scientific Advisor to the Ministry of Defence and
chair of the Cabinet Committee on Science and Technology, Basanti Dulal
Nagchaudhuri played an influential role in Smiling Buddha, India's first
. He also initiated the first feasibility studies on India's
ballistic missile program. Later, he also served as a member of the
and as Vice Chancellor of the
.
Early life
[
]
Basanti Dulal Nag Chaudhuri hailed from a
family of
,
,
,
(present-day
).
During
the
in 1947 and the ensuing communal violence in
(now Bangladesh) of
, his family moved to
,
.
His father became a professor of English at the
, now
(IIT-BHU).
He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the Banaras Hindu
University.
He obtained a Master's degree from
. In
, he met influential lawyer
as well as
renowned Indian physicist,
. He became close to Saha and joined
his research group. In July 1938, when Saha moved to the
campus of
, Nagchaudhuri moved with him.
Through Saha, he came in contact with
and with the latter's
support he moved to the
at the end of 1938
to work on his doctorate in Nuclear Physics.
His thesis advisor was Ernest
Lawrence. Nagchaudhuri completed his doctorate in 1941 and returned to India.
After the
in 1947 and the ensuing violence against Hindus
in Dhaka, his family moved to India. His father took a position as a professor
in the Department of English at the Banaras Hindu University.
Nagchaudhuri was married to Dipali Nag
Talukdar, daughter of a professor
at
. Dipali Nag was a well-known
vocalist.
They had one son.
Professional work
[
]
Academics and research
[
]
After completing his doctorate in 1941, Nagchaudhuri returned to the
, University of Calcutta
to join Saha's research group. In 1949, when the
(SINP) was established, Nagchaudhuri
was affiliated with research at the institute, while continuing to teach at Science College, Calcutta University.
After Saha's retirement in 1952, he was named Director of the SINP.
Nagchaudhuri's research focused on
,
,
and
.
During his doctorate at Berkeley, he had worked with the pioneers of the
. Before returning to
India in 1941, with support from Saha and funding from the
, Nagchaudhuri had arranged for shipment of parts for
a cyclotron magnet to the Calcutta University. However, ship carrying the second consignment of parts for the
cyclotron was sunk by the
. The team under the leadership of Saha and later under Nagchaudhuri took on the
task of building the remaining parts themselves. Problems with the vacuum pumps continued to afflict the project. The
demountable oscillators also proved difficult to build. It was only in 1954, after a visit from Emilio Segre to the
laboratory, that the cyclotron started to function. Nagchaudhuri is thus credited with building the first cyclotron in
India.
In 1953, he succeeded
as the
at Calcutta University, a post which he held
until 1959.
He was a visiting professor at
in 1961-62 and nominated as a
Lincoln Lecturer.
Government
[
]
Being well-connected to the political elite of West Bengal through his relationship with B.C. Roy and with P.N.
Haksar, Nagchaudhuri was nominated to serve as the Chairman of the Cabinet Committee of Science & Technology from
1969 to 1972.
During this period, he also served as the Scientific Advisor to the
(MoD). He
became a Member of the Planning Commission in 1970. From 1970 to 1974, he served as the Scientific Advisor to the
.
Given his background in nuclear physics, and in his roles as the chair of the cabinet committee and as scientific
advisor to the DRDO, he was closely involved in the policy discussion about India's
. In October 1972, then
gave the go-ahead for the
test. Nagchaudhuri was a member of the steering
committee for the test preparations.
It was in the scientific laboratories of the DRDO, headed by Nagchaudhuri, that
the explosive lenses for the test were fabricated. The test was successfully conducted in May 1974.
In 1970, he was also tasked by Indira Gandhi to prepare a classified feasibility study for building long-range
.
Based on Nagchaudhuri's recommendation,
was initiated in 1972 to build a liquid-
fuelled intermediate range ballistic missile.
Another initiative,
, was initiated at the
(DRDL) to produce short-range
.
While both projects were
terminated in 1974 due to conflicts within DRDL and resulting lack of progress, they laid the foundation for the
successful
in the early 1980s.
In 1970-71, Nagchaudhuri also chaired a committee that examined India's maritime security issues. The committee made
several key recommendations about the requirement to patrol India's vast coastline, set up a registry of offshore
fishing vessels in order to identify illegal activity, and establish a capable and well-equipped force to intercept
vessels engaged in illegal activities. The recommendations of the committee formed the foundation of the subsequent
in 1974, that led to the establishment of the
.
Later work
[
]
From 1 July 1974 to 1 January 1979, he served as the Vice Chancellor of the
(JNU).
From 1975 to 1977, he served as the Chairman of the National Committee on Environmental Planning and Coordination.
He also served on the Board of Governors of the
.
Affiliations
[
]
Nagchaudhuri served on numerous Indian and international scientific councils. From 1976 to 1984, he served a Member of
the Scientific Council of the
. From 1980 to 1982, he also served on the
Research Advisory Council of the
. He also served as a member and vice-chair of the Board
of Governors of the
.
He also served on the boards of various Indian public sector companies. These included
,
and
.
Nag Chaudhuri maintained an active interest in
and
literature and culture.
Awards
[
]
Nagchaudhuri was elected a Fellow of the
in 1964.
He was awarded the
in 1975.
He also received honorary doctorates from
and the
.
Death
[
]
Nagchaudhuri died of a
on 25 June 2006.
He was survived by his wife, Dipali Nag, his son and his
family.
References
[
]
^
. Biological Dictionary of Indian Scientists. Archived from
on 6 October 2015
. Retrieved
16 May
2012
.
^
. ITC Sangeet Research Academy. Archived from
on 22 October
2014
. Retrieved
16 May
2012
.
^
Robert S. Anderson (2010).
. The
University of Chicago Press. p. 585.
. Retrieved
16 May
2012
.
^
(PDF)
(185). Indian National Science Academy. July–September 2006. Archived from
(PDF)
on 28
April 2016
. Retrieved
6 May
2012
.
{{
}}
:
Cite journal requires
|journal=
(
)
Robert S. Anderson (2010).
. The University of
Chicago Press. p. 139.
. Retrieved
16 May
2012
.
^
(PDF)
. Indian National Science Academy. Archived from
(PDF)
on 18 August 2011
. Retrieved
16 May
2012
.
Robert S. Anderson (2010).
. The University of
Chicago Press. p. 479.
. Retrieved
16 May
2012
.
Robert S. Anderson (2010).
. The University of
Chicago Press. p. 469.
. Retrieved
16 May
2012
.
Robert S. Anderson (2010).
. The University of
Chicago Press. p. 468.
. Retrieved
16 May
2012
.
. Indian Coast Guard. Archived from
on 2 May 2012
. Retrieved
3 May
2012
.
. Jawaharlal Nehru University. Archived from
on 13 May 2012
. Retrieved
2012-05-16
.
. Indian National Science Academy. Archived from
on 15 April 2014
. Retrieved
6 May
2012
.
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