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BIOGRAPHY OF ARUN KUMAR BASAK
Bangladeshi Scientist and Physicist
(17 October 1941 – Present)
Professor Arun Kumar Basak was born on 17 October, 1941 in Radhanagor of Pabna, Bangladesh. His father, Haripada Basak, was a private job holder and mother, Usha Rani Basak, was a housewife. Dr. Arun Kumar was the eldest child of the family. His childhood was passed at Pabna district.
In 1957, he passed his matriculation examinations from R. M. Academy, Pabna. Later, in 1959, he completed the Intermediate Science examination from Edward College, under Rajshahi University. He was ranked second in the merit list. In 1961, he graduated with a B.Sc (Hons) degree from Rajshahi College. He obtained a First Class with the first position there.In 1963, Professor Arun Kumar had done his M.Sc from University of Rajshahi. Once again, he secured the first position in first class. Due to his outstanding achievement, he was awarded with “RU Gold Medal” from the University of Rajshahi.In 1972, he received a Commonwealth PostGraduate Scholarship from University of Birmingham, UK. In 1975, he achieved his Ph.D. degree from that university.
He started off his career in December 1963, as a lecturer in the Department of Physics, at University of Rajshahi. Later, in 1978, he was appointed as an Associate Professor in Dhaka University. In late 1978, he started working at University of Rajshahi again as an Associate Professor.
He also worked as a research fellow at the University of Birmingham, UK. Also, from 1980 to 1982, he worked as a Postdoctoral fellow at Ohio State University, in the USA. Later, in 1997, he served as a Visiting Professor at Kent State University, the USA, and as a Visiting Research Professor at Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC), the USA. He worked with a collaborative research project, funded by the US National Science Foundation (NSF).
From 1999 to 2009, Professor Arun Kumar served as the Founder President of Rajshahi University Alumni Association. Moreover, during the years 1990-1994, he managed various responsibilities at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST). He played a key role there in the formation of the Department of Physics. He was its founding head as well as later became the first Dean of the Faculty of Physical Sciences. He was also the first Director of the Computer Center at SUST. He was also the founder of the Computer Center at University of Rajshahi.
From 1999 till 2007, Dr. Arun Kumar acted as a Principal Investigator in a collaborative project funded by the US NSF.
Professor Arun Kumar is renowned worldwide for giving a new theory on Nuclear interactions. He used polarized 3He beams, the only ones of their kind in the world, as well as tensor polarized deuteron beams.
Though he was awarded a merit scholarship for securing the highest marks in the Faculty of Science and got admitted at Imperial College, London, UK, unfortunately, he could not avail this golden opportunity due to the 1965 Indo-Pak war.
In marital life, he got married to Debika Basak, in December, 1969.
Professor Arun Kumar was awarded the “Bangladesh Academy of Sciences Gold Medal” in 2003, and the “Dhaka University Razzak-Shamsun Lifetime Achievement Award” and the “Daily Star Silver Jubilee Award”, both in 2016. In 2020, he was given the “Noble Teacher Award” by the Ethics Club Bangladesh.
In 2009, the University of Rajshahi honored him as the only Emeritus Professor. Since 2007, “Prof. Basak Award” and “Prof. Basak Stipend”, funded by Peninsula Welfare Trust has been introduced in the University of Rajshahi.
He was a Senior Fellow from 2000 to 2005, at the Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy, a member of the American Physical Society, Fellow and Lifetime Member of the Bangladesh Physical Society, and a Fellow at the Institute of Physics, in London, England.
Dr. Arun Kumar wrote books titled “ব্যবহারিক পদার্থবিদ্যা” (Practical Physics) for undergraduate (Honors level) students, and “বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় শিক্ষা মানবতা”. He has also written 3 book chapters about Advances in Quantum Chemistry (Elsevier) in the field of atomic and nuclear physics.
He has14 publications in the Refereed Home journals, 30 articles published in international conferences, over 100 research papers published in international journals, About 139 scientific articles among which 86 were published in international journals. He has also written research columns in national daily newspapers.
Life of “Arun Kumar Basak” at a glance
Real name: Arun Kumar Basak
Date of Birth: 17 October 1941
Place of Birth: Radhanagor, Pabna, Bengal Presidency, British India
Father’s Name: Haripada Basak
Mother’s Name: Usha Rani Basak
Siblings: 3
Educations:
➢ Matriculation, R. M. Academy, Pabna in 1957
➢ Intermediate Science examination, Edward College, under Rajshahi University, in 1959
➢ BSc (Hons.) examination, Rajshahi College, in 1961
➢ M.Sc. Examination, University of Rajshahi, in 1963
➢ PhD., University of Birmingham, England, in 1975
Professions:
➢ Lecturer, Department of Physics, University of Rajshahi, in 1963
➢ Associate Professor, University of Dhaka, in 1978
➢ Associate Professor, University of Rajshahi, in the end of 1978
➢ Research Fellow, University of Birmingham, England, in 1975
➢ Post-Doctoral Fellow, Ohio State University, USA, in 1980-82
➢ Visiting Professor, Kent State University, USA, in 1997
➢ Visiting Research Professor, Southern Illinois University, USA
➢ Founder President, University of Rajshahi Alumni Association, from 1999 to 2009
➢ Founding Head, Department of Physics, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology
➢ Dean, Faculty of Physical Science, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology
➢ Director, Computer Center, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology
➢ Founder, Computer Center, University of Rajshahi
➢ Principal Investigator, a project by US NSF, from 1999 to 2007
➢ Associate, Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Italy, from 1987 to 1996
➢ Senior Associate, Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Italy, from 2000 to 2005
Famous for: given a new theory on Nuclear interactions
Married to: Debika Basak
Awards and Achievements:
➢ Emeritus Professor, University of Rajshahi, 2009
➢ Prof. Basak Award and Prof. Basak Stipend, Peninsula Welfare Trust, University of Rajshahi, 2007
➢ Razzaq-Shamsun Lifetime Achievement Award, University of Dhaka, 2016
➢ Daily Star Silver Jubilee Award, 2016
➢ Fellow membership, Bangladesh Academy of Sciences in 2001
➢ Member, American Physical Society, from 2000 to 2003
➢ Lifetime Member, American Physical Society, from 2013
➢ Fellow and Lifetime Member, Bangladesh Physical Society from 1987
➢ Fellow, Institute of Physics, London, England in 2001
➢ Bangladesh Academy of Sciences Gold Medal in Physical Sciences, in 2003
➢ Noble Teacher Award, Ethics Club Bangladesh, in 2020
Publications:
➢ 14 publications in Refereed Home journals
➢ 40 articles
➢ 100 research papers
➢ 3 book chapters
Books by him:
➢ ব্যবহারিক পদার্থবিদ্যা (Practical Physics), 1981.
➢ বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় শিক্ষা মানবতা in 2021
Early Life
Professor Arun Kumar Basak was born on 17 October, 1941 in the village named Radhanagor of Pabna district of Bengal Presidency, the then British India, currently in Bangladesh. His father’s name was Haripada Basak and mother’s name was Usha Rani Basak. His father was a job holder in a private company. His mother was a housewife. Dr. Arun Kumar was the eldest child among his parents’ 4 children.
Dr. Arun Kumar spent his childhood in the Pabna district.
Education
In 1957, Professor Arun Kumar passed his matriculation examinations from R. M. Academy, situated in Pabna. He secured the First Division at that time.
After that, in 1959, he completed the Intermediate Science examination from Edward College which was held under Rajshahi University. In that examination, he was ranked second in the merit list.
In 1961, he graduated with a B.Sc (Hons) degree from Rajshahi College. He obtained First Class with the first position in the final B.Sc examination.
In 1963, Professor Arun Kumar had done his M.Sc from University of Rajshahi. Once again, he secured the first position in first class. Due to his outstanding achievement, he was awarded with “RU Gold Medal” from the University of Rajshahi.
In 1972, he received a Commonwealth PostGraduate Scholarship from University of Birmingham, UK. With this, he moved to England for higher studies. After 3 years, in 1975, he achieved his Ph.D. degree from that university.
Career
During his entire life, Professor Arun Kumar has been always admirably performing various responsibilities in many organizations.
He started off his career in December 1963, as a lecturer in the Department of Physics, at University of Rajshahi. Later, in 1978, he was appointed as an Associate Professor in Dhaka University. However, he did not like staying there. So, in late 1978, he moved to University of Rajshahi again and started working there as an Associate Professor.
Dr. Arun Kumar worked as a research fellow at the University of Birmingham. Also, from 1980 to 1982, he worked as a Postdoctoral fellow at Ohio State University, in the USA.
Later, in 1997, he was a Visiting Professor at Kent State University, the USA. Additionally, he was a Visiting Research Professor at Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC), the USA. He worked there several times because of a collaborative research project, which was funded by the US National Science Foundation (NSF).
From 1999 to 2009, Professor Arun Kumar served as the Founder President of Rajshahi University Alumni Association. Moreover, during the years 1990-1994, Dr. Arun Kumar managed various responsibilities at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST). He played a key role there in the formation of the Department of Physics. He was its founding head as well as later became the first Dean of the Faculty of Physical Sciences. He also played a special role as the first Director of the Computer Center at SUST.
He was also the founder of the Computer Center at University of Rajshahi.
From 1999 till 2007, in a collaborative project funded by the US NSF, Dr. Arun Kumar acted as a Principal Investigator in Bangladesh.
Contribution
Professor Arun Kumar is renowned worldwide for giving a new theory on Nuclear interactions. He used polarized 3He beams, the only ones of their kind in the world, as well as tensor polarized deuteron beams.
In the mid-1980s, he actively played a significant role in creating computer awareness in the North-Western region of Bangladesh.
Personal Life
He is renowned for being an incredibly dedicated and diligent teacher-researcher.
His hobby is Gardening.
Arun Kumar’s progressive thinking was hampered when his passport was confiscated by the then Pakistani government at the airport due to the 1965 Indo-Pak war. For this reason, though he was awarded a merit scholarship for securing the highest marks in the Faculty of Science and got admitted at Imperial College, London, UK, unfortunately, he could not avail this golden opportunity. Later, after the independence of Bangladesh, in 1972, his passport was re-issued.
In marital life, he got married to Debika Basak, in December, 1969.
Awards and Achievements
In 2003, Professor Arun Kumar was awarded the “Bangladesh Academy of Sciences Gold Medal” due to his contribution in Physical Sciences.
In 2009, as the only Emeritus Professor, Dr Arun Kumar was honored by the University of Rajshahi.
In 2016, he received the “Dhaka University Razzak-Shamsun Lifetime Achievement Award”. In the same year, for his lifetime contribution to nation building, he was honored with Daily Star Silver Jubilee Award.
In 2020, he was given the “Noble Teacher Award” by the Ethics Club Bangladesh.
Since 2007, in honor of Dr Arun Kumar, “Prof. Basak Award” and “Prof. Basak Stipend” have been introduced in the University of Rajshahi. Every year, financial aid is awarded to four meritorious students and two meritorious students as scholarships. These are given by Peninsula Welfare Trust.
From 1987 to 1996 Professor Basak was a Fellow at the Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy, later serving as Senior Fellow from 2000 to 2005. He is also a member of the American Physical Society. In addition, from 1987, he is a Fellow and Lifetime Member of the Bangladesh Physical Society. In 2001, he was awarded as a Fellow at the Institute of Physics, in London, England.
Publications and books
Arun Kumar, besides being a scientist, researcher and teacher, is an author of many articles, essays, research papers, book chapters and a book.
In 1981, a book written by him, titled “ব্যবহারিক পদার্থবিদ্যা” (Practical Physics) was published by Bangla Academy. This book is used for undergraduate (Honors level) students. Furthermore, he has written 3 book chapters about Advances in Quantum Chemistry (Elsevier) in the field of atomic and nuclear physics. Recently, in 2021, he has written a book named “বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় শিক্ষা মানবতা”, published by চিহ্ন.
Besides doing 14 publications in the Refereed Home journals, Arun Kumar wrote about 40 articles. Among them, 30 articles were presented in international conferences. Arun Kumas has authored over 100 research papers which were published in several renowned international journals such as Physical Review Letters, Europhysics Letters, Physics Letters A & B, Physical Reviews A & C, European Physical Journals A & D, International Mass Spectroscopy, International J. of Quantum Chemistry, Lettere al Nuovo. Cimento, Nuovo Cimento, J. Physics Communication (IOP), Vacuum (Elsevier), Molecular Physics (Taylor & Francis).
About 139 of his scientific articles have been published in journals of various parts of the country as well as internationally. Among these, 86 were published in different reputed international journals and 25 in national journals. Other articles were published in various scientific conferences. Arun Kumar has written and published several research columns on science and education in various national daily newspapers. These articles are useful in acquiring knowledge, especially for the students.
Conclusion
Professor Arun Kumar is the pride of Bangladesh. The science department of Bengal has improved a lot due to his contribution. Bangladesh gained a new level of fame and image in front of the world with the theory discovered by this renowned scientist. His contribution to the development of physical science is beyond comparison. Youths of the future generations will also be able to gain a lot of educational knowledge from his contribution.
