ARTICLES BY ALUMNI

How many of you have visited Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, Tebessa in Algeria, Rio de Janeiro, or São Paulo in Brazil? It is really amazing to hear about those places in a pure mood of Bengali ‘adda’ from Prof. Sankar K. Pal, one of the most illustrious alumni of our department who received the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (1990) along with numerous national and international accolades and became the Director of the Indian Statistical Institute (2005-2010). His ‘Kichhu Kotha’ series is actually a precious outcome of the lockdown period which embodies an unparalleled style of portraying his travelogue. It is a novel punch of English text with Bangla vocabularies and natural descriptions with humorous stories- as a spontaneous flow…..! Academic leader cum globetrotter Padma Shri Prof. Pal can also spontaneously write his epilogues as "Rath dekha o kala becha dui-i holo", or “Khel khatom, poisa hajom”! Another treasure is numerous amazing pictures captured by him which indeed make his ‘goppo’ so lively!! Everyone should read and enjoy!

Do you know- who was the ‘man’ behind the original research on Corrugated Horn which is now being used in millions across the globe as feed for the reflector antennas? He is Prof. Pradip Kumar Saha, an illustrious alumnus of the Institute. He spent his whole professional career as a faculty member in Radio Physics and Electronics. This article is his memoir on his Ph. D days at Queen Mary College, University of London where he made this breakthrough during late 1960s. It is a piece of history in a very humble style from his pen, but will surely make you profusely proud and happy.

The two decades from 1940 to 1960 play a very crucial role in India’s history. World War II, the freedom movement, transition from colonial to independent India and development of new India: all make the history colourful. How was the atmosphere for education and research at that time? Smooth? Conducive? Certainly not. But there was immense dedication and passion for work. In these three interviews, Ms. Ishani Raychaudhuri, an alumnus of this Institute tries to reconstruct the period. Prof. Suhas C Dutta Roy narrates the teaching and research in RPE department. Prof. Mihir Chakrabarti recollects India’s first effort in building indigenous computer ISIJU at ISI. The final story gives glimpses of the struggle by pioneer woman scientist Prof. Rajeswari Chatterjee to find a place in education and research amidst male dominated environment.

Who is the first Indian radio astronomer? The answer is Professor Mrinal Kumar Dasgupta, our own ‘MKDG’, who and his associate Roger Jennison made the groundbreaking experimental discovery on double radio source in Cygnus A in the early 1950s as Ph. D. student at Jodrell Bank, Manchester University. His experimental setup was physically experienced by Homi J Bhaba, M. N. Saha, and Bikram Sarabhai during their visits to Manchester. MKDG started his career at IRPE as a research assistant to Prof. Sisir Kumar Mitra and was thoroughly mentored by him. MKDG is widely known for his mesmerizing polar talks on science and technology. Here you will cherish reading a couple of his popular articles published in the early 1990s.

The medium of instruction in B.Sc. and PG courses in most of the states including West Bengal is English. The same applies to a career in teaching and research profession in Universities. The article narrates the struggle by a Bengali speaking person, Prasanta Kumar Basu, the author, of using English in scientific writings and writing reports and books, in administrative and organizational works, as a reviewer and as a teacher and speaker in conferences. Prof. P. K. Basu is an illustrious alumnus and internationally acclaimed researcher cum educator. He has spent his long teaching career at IRPE (1971-2011). In addition to telling his own experience, the author also presents funny stories of the problems due to pronunciations, and accent of his own and shares his experience about English by non-Englishmen. The story ends with a mention of softwares for plagiarism and English checks.

It is a story of a pet, how passionately narrated by Prof. S. C. Dutta Roy, one of the most illustrious alumni of our department. His pen portrays a fact along with the feeling of a cat for her ‘mamma’! Surely you would enjoy it!