Anil Bhardwaj (born 1 June 1967) is an Indian astrophysicist. He is the director of the Physical Research Laboratory, which is a unit of the Department of Space of Government of India in Ahmedabad, India.

Early life

Bhardwaj graduated in maths, statistics and physics with honours. He earned his Master of Science degree in physics from

Lucknow University The University of Lucknow (informally known as Lucknow University, and LU) is a public state university based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Founded in 1920, the University of Lucknow is one of the oldest government owned institutions of higher edu ...

. He received his Doctorate in applied physics (planetary and space science) in 1992 from the Indian Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University in

Varanasi Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world. * * * * The city has a syncretic t ...

Career

Bhardwaj is the recipient of the

Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology (SSB) is a science award in India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-la ...

in 2007, and was awarded NRC Senior Research Associateship by

US National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Natio ...

in 2003. He worked at Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama, from January 2004 to October 2005. He was awarded a fellowship by the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs, Vienna, Austria, in 1996. He is a Fellow of the

Indian Academy of Sciences The Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore was founded by Indian Physicist and Nobel Laureate C. V. Raman, and was registered as a society on 24 April 1934. Inaugurated on 31 July 1934, it began with 65 founding fellows. The first general meet ...

, Bangalore;

Indian National Science Academy The Indian National Science Academy (INSA) is a national academy in New Delhi for Indian scientists in all branches of science and technology. In August 2019, Dr. Chandrima Shaha was appointed as the president of Indian National Science Acade ...

;

National Academy of Sciences, India The National Academy of Sciences, India, established in 1930, is the oldest science academy in India. It is located in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. Prof. Meghnad Saha was the founder president. Fellows *Suddhasatwa Basu * Sudha Bhattacharya * Ch ...

;

Indian Geophysical Union The Indian Geophysical Union is the Government of India's scientific body responsible for all activities related with Earth Science System such as seismology, magnetism, meteorology, geodesy, volcanology, oceanography, hydrology and tectonophysic ...

; and Kerala Academy of Sciences. He was awarded ISRO Team Excellence Award for Chandrayaan-1 Science and Mission in 2008 and ISRO Merit award in 2012. He is a member of

International Academy of Astronautics The International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) is an independent non-governmental organization established in Stockholm (Sweden) on August 16, 1960, by Dr. Theodore von Kármán, and recognized by the United Nations in 1996. The IAA has electe ...

and

International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreac ...

. He is awarded Nehru Centenary Lecture of Kerala Academy of Sciences (2007), Planetary Science Distinguished Lecture of AOGS, Japan (2014), and the P. R. Pisharoty Memorial Lecture of the Kerala Science Congress (2015) He received the Distinguished Alumnus Award of Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) in 2015 and the international INSA-Vainu Bappu Memorial award in 2016. He won the

Infosys Prize The Infosys Prize is an annual award given to scientists, researchers, engineers and social scientists of Indian origin (not necessarily born in India) by the Infosys Science Foundation and ranks among the highest monetary awards in India to r ...

2016 in the Physical Sciences category for his contributions in the field of Planetary Science and Exploration. Bhardwaj is the Chairman of INSA- ICSU Committee for

COSPAR The Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) was established on October 3, 1958 by the International Council for Scientific Unions (ICSU). Among COSPAR's objectives are the promotion of scientific research in space on an international level, wi ...

, SCOSTEP and

URSI The International Union of Radio Science (abbreviation, abbreviated ''URSI'', after its French name, french: link=no, Union radio-scientifique internationale) is one of 26 international scientific unions affiliated to the International Council f ...

and vice-chair of

Commission B. He is a member of ISRO and national level committees on planetary and space sciences research in India and future planetary missions. Bhardwaj wrote a chapter for ''Encyclopedia of the Solar System'' (2007; revised in 2014), edited 6 books, wrote invited reviews for international journals, including ''

Reviews of Geophysics ''Reviews of Geophysics'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Geophysical Union. The current editor-in-chief is Fabio Florindo ( National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology� ...

'' and has been guest editor of special issues of international journals. He served as the president of Asia Oceania Geosciences Society (AOGS) Planetary Science Section from 2006 to 2010. He was the editor-in-chief of ''Advances in Geosciences'' from 2005 to 2012, and a member of editorial board of the European journal ''

Planetary and Space Science ''Planetary and Space Science'' (P&SS), published 15 times per year, is a peer-reviewed scientific journal established in 1959. It publishes original research articles along with short communications (letters). The main topic is Solar System proc ...

'' from 2007 to 2009, ''Bulletin of Astronomical Society of India'', and ''

Current Science ''Current Science'' is an English-language peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journal. It was established in 1932 and is published by the Current Science Association along with the Indian Academy of Sciences. According to the ''Journal C ...

''. He serves as the associate editor of

Advances in Space Research ''Advances in Space Research'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that is published 24 times per year by Elsevier. It was established in 1981 and is the official journal of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR). The editor-in-chief is Pas ...

, and as a member of editorial board of the European journal '' Space Science Reviews'' and ''Molecular Astrophysics''.

Research

Bhardwaj's research interests include theoretical and observational studies of planetary surfaces, atmospheres, ionospheres and their coupling with magnetospheric plasma and solar wind.

Principal Investigator

Bhardwaj was the principal investigator on various experiments on multiple space missions. These missions include the

Chandrayaan The Chandrayaan programme (), also known as the Indian Lunar Exploration Programme is an ongoing series of outer space missions by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The programme incorporates lunar orbiter, impactor, soft lander an ...

-mission – the first Indian Lunar Mission, the first Indian

Mars Orbiter Mission The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), also called ''Mangalyaan'', was a space probe orbiting Mars since 24 September 2014. It was launched on 5 November 2013 by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It was India's first interplanetary missi ...

(MOM) and the

Chandrayaan-2 Chandrayaan-2 (, ; ) is the second lunar exploration mission developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), after Chandrayaan-1. It consists of a lunar orbiter, and also included the ''Vikram'' lander, and the ''Pragyan'' lunar ...

mission. Experiments include the Sub-keV Atom Reflecting Analyzer (SARA) experiment, the MENCA experiment and the CHACE-2 experiment. He was principal investigator and co-investigator on many observation programs with

Chandra X-ray Observatory The Chandra X-ray Observatory (CXO), previously known as the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF), is a Flagship-class space telescope launched aboard the during STS-93 by NASA on July 23, 1999. Chandra is sensitive to X-ray sources 1 ...

and

Hubble Space Telescope The Hubble Space Telescope (often referred to as HST or Hubble) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the first space telescope, but it is one of the largest and most vers ...

of NASA;

XMM-Newton ''XMM-Newton'', also known as the High Throughput X-ray Spectroscopy Mission and the X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission, is an X-ray space observatory launched by the European Space Agency in December 1999 on an Ariane 5 rocket. It is the second cornerst ...

X-ray Observatory of ESA; and Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope (GMRT) of India).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhardwaj, Anil Indian space scientists Indian astrophysicists Indian physicists 20th-century Indian physicists Space programme of India Indian Space Research Organisation people Indian lunar exploration programme University of Lucknow alumni Scientists from Lucknow Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy People from Aligarh district 1967 births Living people Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences Fellows of The National Academy of Sciences, India Fellows of the Indian Geophysical Union Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean & Planetary Sciences Planetary scientists