Dr Ajit Kumar Mohanty is a distinguished scientist from Odisha who has worked in several areas of nuclear physics covering collision energy from sub-Coulomb barrier to relativistic regime since the past 36 years.
Hailing from a small town, he is the first Odia to become the Union secretary of the Department of Atomic Energy.
The Department of Atomic Energy is quite important as it falls directly under the Prime Minister’s Office. It was established in 1954 and is responsible for things like nuclear power technology, using radiation in various fields like agriculture and medicine, and conducting basic research.
These activities are essential in helping India stay on the forefront of scientific and technological innovation, particularly in nuclear power.
Meet the Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Atomic Energy, who also served the Indian Physics Association (IPA) as General Secretary and later as its President.
As Dr. Ajit Kumar Mohanty starts this new role, he will play a big part in India’s journey with nuclear energy and science.
Dr. Ajit Kumar Mohanty was born in Odisha in 1959. He finished his bachelor’s degree in 1979 with Honors in Physics from MPC College, Baripada, and his master’s degree in 1981 from Ravenshaw College, Cuttack.
In 1983, he started working in the Nuclear Physics Division at BARC after completing his training at BARC Training School. He earned his Ph.D. from Mumbai University.
Ajit Kumar Mohanty focused on various aspects of nuclear physics, studying collision energy ranging from the sub-Coulomb barrier to the relativistic regime.
Dr. Ajit Kumar Mohanty conducted research using the Pelletron accelerator at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) and participated in the PHENIX and CMS experiments at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), USA, and CERN, Geneva.
He had been the Spokesperson for India-CMS collaboration, Director, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, and Director BARC. He has twice been the CERN Scientific Associate, first during 2002-2004 and again during 2010-2011.
Dr. Ajit Kumar Mohanty has received several prestigious awards, including the Young Physicist Award from the Indian Physical Society in 1988, the Indian National Science Academy Young Scientist Award in 1991, and the Homi Bhabha Science and Technology Award from the Department of Atomic Energy in 2001.
In 2021, he was honored with an Honorary Doctorate of Literature (D.Litt.) by Utkal University.
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