Charusita Chakravarty faced gender discrimination and bias in her academic career, but she did not let that deter her from pursuing her passion and emerged as one of the leading Indian women scientists.
Her work on the development and application of quantum and classical computer simulation methods to understand properties of liquids, and their atom-level reorganizations, has won her accolades across the globe.
Charusita Chakravarty was known for speaking out against the dearth of women in science and openly discussed the double burden females faced. While men in their thirties only had to worry about their career, women had the additional task of balancing family life and their work commitments.
Charusita Chakravarty was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, on May 5, 1964 and was the only child of two prominent economists. While she leaned towards science, especially chemistry, she also delved into literature and art, showcasing a deep appreciation for both worlds.
Her academic excellence was evident from a young age, as she secured the top position in the Delhi Higher Secondary Board.
She then pursued a B.Sc in Chemistry from St. Stephens College, Delhi University, where she graduated as a gold medalist in 1985.
Continuing her academic journey, she completed her Natural Science Tripos from Cambridge in 1987 and proceeded to work on her Ph.D. on quantum scattering and spectroscopy under the guidance of David Clary at Cambridge.
Afterward, she worked as a Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of California, Santa Barbara, with Professor Horia Metiu. Following a brief visit to India, she returned to Cambridge as a Gulbenkian junior research fellow, holding an independent post-doctoral position.
She accepted a job from IIT Delhi in their Chemistry Department where she rose from an Assistant Professor to Professor in 2006, and continued to teach there till her death.
Charusita Chakravarty was passionate about academics and easily secured funding for her research at IIT Delhi with her well-written proposal. She focused on studying atomic and molecular clusters, using special simulations to understand their properties.
Her first recognition was the Medal for Young Scientists from the Indian National Science Academy (INSA) in 1996. She was also a member of the Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy, from 1996 to 2003.
Her notable achievements include the prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in 2009 and serving as an Associate Member of the Centre for Computational Material Science at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research in Bangalore.
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