Prof Basudeb Dasgupta is a physicist who works on neutrinos and dark matter. In 2022, he received India’s top science honour in Science and Technology—the prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize in the Physical Sciences. He is also a recipient of the ICTP Prize for 2019, awarded by the International Centre for Theoretical Physics.
Prof Dasgupta acquired his PhD in 2009 from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. Following that, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, the Max Planck Institute for Physics, and Ohio State University. In September 2015, he started working as an Associate Professor at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai.
Astroparticle physics is Prof Dasgupta’s area of expertise. This branch of study is based on a straightforward principle: The behaviours of atoms, nuclei, and other elementary particles, which make up the Universe, stars, and galaxies, are closely linked to the characteristics of these astronomically vast objects. Gaining a deeper understanding of one opens doors to learning about the other.
The nonlinear difficulty of comprehending neutrinos inside supernovae has been the focus of Prof Dasgupta’s research. He has also studied the effects of neutrinos in cosmology and high-energy neutrinos from AGNs, GRBs, and other sources.
As fundamental particles with special characteristics, neutrinos are helpful for research in particle physics, astrophysics, and cosmology. From the depths of these remote and dense regions of the Universe, they come to us with valuable information that is crucial for understanding the evolution of stars and galaxies. Scientists studying these particles the world over have made important discoveries and won Nobel prize too.
In addition, Prof Dasgupta is researching a variety of facets of dark matter physics, including its effects on galaxies, potential causes for its formation, and different methods for characterising it. His most recent research has examined the hypothesis that dark matter could be the source of the black holes that originated just after the Big Bang or that dark matter drives the formation of miniature black holes inside neutron stars.
The magazine Asian Scientist named him one of the region’s top 100 scientists. The Government of India released a book honouring Prof Dasgupta as one of the 75 scientists under 50 who are ‘shaping today’s India’ in honour of the country’s 75th anniversary of Independence.
Prof Dasgupta has a variety of interests outside of his work as an academic researcher and teacher. In addition to being an avid reader, he also enjoys cooking, travelling, taking pictures, and dabbling in art. He enjoys painting with acrylic, and he frequently posts pictures and works on his website.
His work aims to comprehend how the principles of subatomic physics shape the entire Universe by investigating the intersection of particle physics, cosmology, and astrophysics. Professor Dasgupta, who specialises in dark matter and neutrino physics, has written extensively on this topic. One of his main interests is distilling complicated scientific concepts into simple, non-technical language. He frequently speaks at significant international conferences.
Prof Dasgupta’s work has earned him recognition both domestically and internationally. He is also a member of the European Physical Journal editorial board.
