Background
Sudhir Kumar Bhattacharyya was born on March 1, 1909 in Mulpara in the district of Dacca (now in Bangladesh). His father Shri Basanta Kumar Bhattacharyya was a zamindar.
Sudhir Kumar Bhattacharyya was born on March 1, 1909 in Mulpara in the district of Dacca (now in Bangladesh). His father Shri Basanta Kumar Bhattacharyya was a zamindar.
Sudhir Kumar Bhattacharyya passed the Matriculation Examination of the Calcutta University in 1926 and the Intermediate in Science Examination from the Dacca Board in 1928 securing 9th position in order of merit. At that time all the Intermediate Colleges were under the Dacca Board. He then joined the Dacca University from where he passed the Bachelor of Science (Honours) Examination in Chemistry in 1931 ranking first among the students securing 1st class. In 1932, he passed the Master of Science Examination in Physical Chemistry, first in the 1st Class. He was awarded the University Gold Medal.
Sudhir Kumar Bhattacharyya worked in the Calcutta University as a Research Scholar under the guidance of the Late Professor Jnan Chandra Ghosh. During the period he served in the Dacca University as an Assistant Lecturer for two years, 1937-1939. He joined the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, in 1939, where he worked in different capacities and later as an Assistant Professor and Head of the Department of Physical and Inorganic Chemistry. He left Bangdore in 1952 and joined the newly created Department of Chemistry of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.
Sudhir Kumar Bhattacharyya was the Senior Professor and Head of the Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology (1952-1970) and also the Deputy Director (Academic) of the Institute (1968-1970). After retirement from the IIT, he was Emeritus Professor of Chemistry in Banaras Hindu University (1971-1978).
Since then be spent sometime with his sons in the UK and then a fully retired life in Salt Lake, Calcutta where he had a house built for himself.
Professor Bhattacharyya organised a 'Symposium on Contact Catalysis' under the auspices of the National Institute of Sciences of India at Calcutta in 1956 and inaugurated a Symposium on Contact Catalysis held at Allahabad in 1964 at the Annual Convention of Chemists organised by the Indian Chemical Society. He has along with his collaborators published more than 150 original research papers in Indian, foreign & international journals. More than 50 students earned their PhD degree under his guidence and supervision.
He has written a book entitled "Some Catalytic Gas reactions of Industrial Importance" with Dr J. C. Ghosh & M. V. C. Sastri as co-authors.
Sudhir Kumar Bhattacharyya was married to Hemanalini. They had two sons: Susanta Kumar Bhattacharyya and Asoke Kumar Bhattacharyya.
