Biman Bagchi


Biman Bagchi is an Indian biophysical chemist, theoretical chemist and an Amrut Mody Professor at the Solid State and Structural Chemistry Unit of the Indian Institute of Science. He is known for his studies on statistical mechanics; particularly in the study of phase transition and nucleation, solvation dynamics, mode-coupling theory of electrolyte transport, dynamics of biological macromolecules, protein folding, enzyme kinetics, supercooled liquids and protein hydration layer.
He is an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, the Indian Academy of Sciences and The World Academy of Sciences. Besides several scientific articles, he has authored two books, Molecular Relaxation in Liquids and Water in Biological and Chemical Processes: From Structure and Dynamics to Function The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 1991, for his contributions to chemical sciences.

Biography

Biman Bagchi was born on the New Year's Day of 1954 to Binay K. Bagchi, a school principal and his homemaker/part-time teacher wife, Abha, in Kolkata in the Indian state of West Bengal. He graduated in chemistry from Presidency College, Kolkata in 1974 and obtained a master's degree from Rajabazar Science College, Calcutta University in 1976. Moving to the US, he did his doctoral studies at Brown University, an Ivy League institution from where he secured a PhD in 1980 working with Prof. Julian Gibbs and did his post-doctoral studies at James Franck Institute of the University of Chicago as a research associate. Here, he had the opportunity to work with renowned chemists such as David W. Oxtoby, Graham Fleming and Stuart Rice till 1983 when he shifted to the laboratory of Robert Zwanzig of the University of Maryland for a one-year stint. Bagchi returned to India in 1984 and joined Indian Institute of Science at their Solid State and Structural Chemistry Unit as a lecturer where he has established Bagchi research group and serves as an Amrut Mody Professor.

Research

Focusing his researches of theoretical physical chemistry primarily on relaxation phenomena in liquids, he is known to have developed a number of techniques, some of which have already been proven experimentally. Part of his research work is detailed in two books, Molecular Relaxation in Liquids and Water in Biological and Chemical Processes: From Structure and Dynamics to Function, several chapters in those books proofread by scientists across the world, and more than 400 peer-reviewed articles; He has supervised many doctoral and other scholars in their studies. Bagchi has conducted lectures at national and international levels. His writings have drawn several citations and he is also associated with a number of science journals as a member of their editorial boards.

Awards and honors

The Indian National Science Academy awarded Bagchi the INSA Medal for Young Scientists in 1986; the Academy would honor him again in 1990 with A. K. Bose Memorial Medal and with an elected fellowship in 1995. He received the Homi Bhabha fellowship in 1989 before the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 1991. The same year, the Indian Academy of Sciences elected him as their fellow and he became an elected fellow of The World Academy of Sciences in 2004. In between, he received the G. D. Birla Award in 1997, TWAS Prize in 1998, the Alumni Excellence Award in Research of the Indian Institute of Science in 2002 and Goyal Prize in Chemistry in 2003. He was selected as J. C. Bose National Fellow in 2006 and the several award orations he has delivered include B. C. Laha Memorial Lecture of 2001, conducted by Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science and Mizushima-Raman Lecture of 2006, jointly organized by the Department of Science and Technology and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. The Journal of Physical Chemistry published a festschrift on Bagchi by way of their August 2015 issue.

Selected bibliography

Books

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