Doctor Bhattacharyya completed B.Sc (Honours) and M.Sc in Physics from the University of Delhi in 1967 and 1969, respectively. She also held a National Science Talent Scholarship (1964-1969). She received Doctor of Philosophy degree in Physics from Northwestern University (1975), working in the area of theoretical condensed matter Physics.
She specializes in the field of ionospheric physics, geomagnetism, and space weather and is Director of the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism, Navi Mumbai. Doctor Bhattacharyya joined the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism (IIG), Mumbai in 1978. She worked with the group of KC Yeh at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign during 1986-1987 and during 1998–2000 she was a Senior National Research Council Resident Research Associate at the Air Force Research Laboratory in Massachusetts, United States of America. She was the Director of IIG during 2005–2010.
Currently, she is an Emeritus Scientist at IIG. Doctor Doctor Plasma instabilities in the equatorial ionosphere Probing the ionosphere with radio waves Effects of space weather on the ionosphere Spatio-temporal variations of the geomagnetic field
Doctor Bhattacharyya has been well known in her field and has been recognized for her work. Some of her accomplishments include: the Professor KR Ramanathan Memorial Lecture and Medal by the Indian Geophysical Union in 2008 Doctor Kansas Krishnan Gold Medal by the University of Delhi in 1969 Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Sciences, India.
