Sumit Ranjan Das (born 11 December 1955) is a US-based Indian high energy physicist and a professor at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

. Known for his research on

string theory In physics, string theory is a theoretical framework in which the point-like particles of particle physics are replaced by one-dimensional objects called strings. String theory describes how these strings propagate through space and interac ...

, Das is an elected 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 ...

. The

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (IAST: ''vaigyanik tathā audyogik anusandhāna pariṣada''), abbreviated as CSIR, was established by the Government of India in September 1942 as an autonomous body that has emerged as the l ...

, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the

Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology (SSB) is a science award in India given annually by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for notable and outstanding research, Applied science, applied or Fundamenta ...

, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to physical sciences in 1998.

Biography

The Calcutta University by Francis Frith

Born on 11 December 1955 at

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

in the Indian state of

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

, Sumit Ranjan Das did his early schooling at

South Point School South Point is a higher-secondary co-educational private school located in Kolkata, West Bengal and affiliated to Central Board of Secondary Education, consisting of three organisations – South Point School (Nursery to Class V), South Poi ...

and earned his graduate degree from Presidency College and master's degree from the

Science College Science Colleges were introduced in 2002 as part of the now defunct Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enabled secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, science and mathematics. Schools that suc ...

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate State university (India), state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered ...

. Moving to the US, he enrolled at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

for his doctoral studies and after securing a PhD in 1983, he did his post-doctoral studies at

Fermilab Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), located just outside Batavia, Illinois, near Chicago, is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory specializing in high-energy particle physics. Since 2007, Fermilab has been operat ...

(1983–85) and

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

(1985–87). On his return to India in 1987, he joined

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) is a public deemed research university located in Mumbai, India that is dedicated to basic research in mathematics and the sciences. It is a Deemed University and works under the umbrella of the D ...

where he served as a member of faculty till 2001. Subsequently, he went back to the US and joined the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences where he holds the position of Jack and Linda Gill Professor. He was a senior associate at Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe during 2009–10 and a Visiting Professor at Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kyoto University during 2014 and has held visiting positions at several universities in the US.

Legacy

The principal focus of Das' research is

and

quantum field theory In theoretical physics, quantum field theory (QFT) is a theoretical framework that combines classical field theory, special relativity, and quantum mechanics. QFT is used in particle physics to construct physical models of subatomic particles and ...

. His work on two dimensional strings is the earliest example of

holographic principle The holographic principle is an axiom in string theories and a supposed property of quantum gravity that states that the description of a volume of space can be thought of as encoded on a lower-dimensional boundary to the region — such as a ...

. His work on black holes in string theory assisted in resolving the information paradox with regard to

black hole A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravitation, gravity is so strong that nothing, including light or other Electromagnetic radiation, electromagnetic waves, has enough energy to escape it. The theory of general relativity predicts t ...

Awards and honors

Das was a gold medalist in both his graduate and master's examinations. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research awarded him the

Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology (SSB) is a science award in India given annually by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for notable and outstanding research, Applied science, applied or Fundamenta ...

, one of the highest Indian science awards in 1998. The

elected him as a fellow the same year.

Selected bibliography

* * * * *

Notes

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Das, Sumit Ranjan Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Physical Science Indian scientific authors 1955 births Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences University of Calcutta alumni University of Chicago alumni Fermilab California Institute of Technology alumni Tata Institute of Fundamental Research faculty University of Kentucky faculty 20th-century Indian physicists Stanford University faculty Princeton University faculty Harvard University faculty University of Chicago faculty Rutgers University faculty Living people Scientists from Kolkata