Basanti Dulal Nagchaudhuri

Basanti Dulal Nagchaudhuri (6 September 1917 – 25 June 2006) was an Indian physicist and academic, and a scientific advisor to the Government of India.

He is known as one of the pioneers of nuclear physics in India and for building the nation's first cyclotron at the University of Calcutta.

Nagchaudhuri was born on 6 September 1917 in Barodi village of Dhaka district.

His father U. C. Nag was a Professor of English at Dhaka University.

He was the eldest of seven sons, one of whom died quite young.

He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the Banaras Hindu University.

He obtained a Master's degree from Allahabad University.

In Allahabad, he met influential lawyer Parmeshwar Narayan Haksar as well as renowned Indian physicist, Meghnad Saha.

He became close to Saha and joined his research group.

In July 1938, when Saha moved to the Rajabazar Science College campus of University of Calcutta, Nagchaudhuri moved with him.

Through Saha, he came in contact with Ernest Lawrence and with the latter's support he moved to the University of California, Berkeley 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 completing his doctorate in 1941, Nagchaudhuri returned to the Rajabazar Science College, University of Calcutta to join Saha's research group.

Before returning to India in 1941, with support from Saha and funding from the Tatas, 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 Japanese.

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.

After the partition of India 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 née Talukdar, daughter of a professor at St. John's College, Agra.

Dipali Nag was a well-known classical vocalist.

They had one son.

In 1949, when the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics (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 nuclear isomers, induced radioactivity, Cherenkov radiation and nonthermal plasma.

During his doctorate at Berkeley, he had worked with the pioneers of the cyclotron.

In 1953, he succeeded Meghnad Saha as the Palit Professor of Physics at Calcutta University, a post which he held until 1959.

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.

He was a visiting professor at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1961-62 and nominated as a Lincoln Lecturer.

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 Ministry of Defence (MoD).

In the early 1970s, as the Scientific Advisor to the Ministry of Defence and chair of the Cabinet Committee on Science and Technology, Nagchaudhuri played an influential role in Smiling Buddha, India's first nuclear test.

He also initiated the first feasibility studies on India's ballistic missile program.

Later, he also served as a member of the Planning Commission and as Vice Chancellor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University.

He became a Member of the Planning Commission in 1970.

From 1970 to 1974, he served as the Scientific Advisor to the DRDO.

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 nuclear test.