Dibyendu Nandi

Dibyendu Nandi is an Indian space scientist known for his studies related to Solar Magnetic Cycle. He is associated with MSU, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and IISER Kolkata where he carried most of his research work. He currently is the Head and Coordinator of the Center of Excellence in Space Sciences India (www.cessi.in) which was established by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India at IISER Kolkata.

Dibyendu Nandi was the 2012 recipient of the Karen Harvey Prize of the American Astronomical Society.^[1] This is the first time that a space scientist working in the Asia-Pacific region has received this honour.

Education[]

Dibyendu did his early schooling at the Cossipore English School and St. James School, both in Kolkata. He then graduated in Physics from St. Xavier's College, Kolkata in 1995 and joined IISc from where he received his M.S. and PhD degrees in 1997 and 2003, respectively.^[2]

Employment and positions[]

• Postdoctoral research fellow, Montana State University, 2002–2004
• Research scientist, Montana State University, 2005–2007
• Assistant research professor, Montana State University, 2007–2008
• Visiting faculty, Institute of Mathematics and Statistics, St Andrews University, 2007
• Visiting astrophysicist, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 2009, 2010
• Assistant professor, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research-Kolkata, 2008–continuing

He is the project leader in setting up India's first space weather reading centre in Kolkata, which shall be a centre of excellence specialising in reading space weather conditions.

Awards and recognition[]

• National scholarship of the Government of India based on the B.S. exams in 1995.
• "Brueckner Studentship" by the Solar Physics Division of the American Astronomical Society in 2000.
• Research work regarding the role of meridional flows in the Sun's interior in setting the period of the sunspot cycle.^[3]
• "Martin Forster Gold Medal" for the best thesis of 2002–2003, by the Division of Physical and Mathematical Sciences of the IISc, Bangalore in 2004
• United Kingdom British Council's "Researcher Exchange Programme Award" in 2007.
• American Astronomical Society Solar Physics Division's "Parker Lectureship" at the AAS-SPD Annual Meeting in 2008.
• "Ramanujan Fellowship" by Department of Science and Technology, Government of India in 2009.
• Solar cycle (dynamo) simulation selected as an exhibit for EPO purposes at NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio and featured in SDO pre-launch outreach videos in 2010
• News-articles and interviews related to research on the unusual lull in solar activity published in multiple media outlets, including Reuters, ABC, CBC, Sydney Morning Herald, Dawn, Times of India, Telegraph, Hindu, Deccan Herald, Hindustan Times, Indian Express etc. Also covered in the following magazines: Scientific American, Sky and Telescope and Discovery. Interviews were aired in: CNN-IBN, Lok Sabha TV, All India Radio (Kolkata) in 2011.^[4][5][6][7]
• "Karen Harvey Prize" of the American Astronomical Society's Solar Physics Division in 2012.^[1]

After winning his latest award, he said:

It feels wonderful and at the same time humbling. I know that there are other outstanding solar physicists around the world to whom this award could also have gone. Given that I am now far from the American shores and in India for the last three years, I also feel grateful to the American Astronomical Society's Solar Physics Division for their magnanimity in opening up this award to the world.

References[]