Renowned nuclear physicist and retired Dhaka University professor Hiranmay Sen Gupta has died in hospital care at the age of 87.
He passed away in the early hours of Saturday while receiving treatment at BIRDEM General Hospital in Dhaka for various complications related to old age, said Prof ABM Obaidul Islam, the chairman of the Dhaka University Department of Physics. Sen Gupta leaves behind his wife and two sons, reports bdnews24.com.
“He was an internationally renowned nuclear physicist, but was also an honest, patriotic, man who lived a life of secular and humanitarian values,” DU Vice-Chancellor Prof Md Akhtaruzzaman said in a condolence message.
“This gifted professor of an easygoing nature was very dear to everyone, including the teachers and students in his department. He will be remembered for his outstanding contributions to developments in physics research, particularly in nuclear physics.”
Over the course of his career, Sen Gupta served as the chairman of the Department of Physics.
The body will be taken to his former places of employment before his last rites will be performed at the Postagola Crematorium, said Prof Obaidul Islam.
Sen Gupta taught at Dhaka University for several decades before retiring in 2000.
In 1963, Sen Gupta completed his PhD from the University of London under the supervision of Nobel Prize-winning nuclear physicist Joseph Rotblat. He conducted postdoctoral research at the Nuclear Physics Laboratory at the University of Oxford, during 1973 - 1976 and at the Department of Physics at the University of Birmingham from 1981-1982.
He was a senior associate at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste during 1982-1992.
He has published nearly 200 papers in academic journals and has been a member of the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences since 1977. He has received numerous awards over the course of his career.