Professor Binayak Dutta-Roy was born on 9th December, 1936 in the then sleepy hamlet of Barlowgunj, 5 kms from Mussoorie. He was a legendary teacher and researcher. He did his schooling at St. Georges College, and it was here that his work ethics, honesty and humbleness were developed and firmly lodged within his psyche. Here, Brother Masterson played a key role in giving special attention to him. After securing First Class in both Senior Cambridge and Inter Science, he moved on to Allahabad University. There he completed his B.Sc. and M.Sc., securing First Class in both. At Allahabad University, his mentors, impressed by his ability, advised him to move on to Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics. He did his post-M.Sc. from SINP. Subsequently, he went to Princeton University, New Jersey, U.S.A. and did his Ph.D. under the guidance of renowned Professor Sam B. Treiman. Professors Sam B. Treiman and Eugene P. Wigner taught him the many aspects of Quantum Mechanics as also other fields. Prof. Dutta-Roy interacted with Nobel Laureates like Steven Weinberg, amongst others. He came back to India in 1963, and re- joined Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics. In 1968, he again left for Stevens Institute of Technology, New Jersey, U.S.A. for two one-year stints. His research was in diverse fields- Nuclear Physics, Elementary Particle Theory, General Physics, Theoretical Biophysics, Quantum Mechanics, Medical Physics, Chemical Physics, amongst others. Some of his co-researchers and collaborators were Professors I. R. (Rick) Lapidus, M. K. Banerjee, Wen Kwei-Cheng, George H. Renninger, Dave Bateman, Kamales Bhaumik, D. Bhaumik, Gautam Ghosh, Bikash Sinha, Anirban Kundu, Bichitra Ganguly, Debrupa Chakraverty, Ralph Baierlein, H.S. Mani, Girijesh Mehta amongst so many others. He was Faculty at SINP for 33 years, as well as teaching at Calcutta University. His students were mesmerized by his ability to explain difficult concepts, and affectionately he was known as “BDR”. From 1989-91 he was Visiting Professor at McGill University, Canada and University of Central Florida, Orlando. Coming back, he re-joined SINP, and post-retirement he taught at S.N. Bose National Centre, West Bengal State University, and Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science. He published more than 100 research papers in renowned international journals and was a legendary teacher. He was the author of 3 books -
- Elements of Quantum Mechanics
- Basic Physics (for Engineering Students)
- Basics of Atomic Physics and Quantum Mechanics