Bhubaneswar: Former Vice-Chancellor of Utkal University and Padma Bhushan awardee Dr. Trilochan Pradhan born on January 3, 1929 passed away on Saturday. He was 93.
Spending the early childhood at Ghanashalia village of Nayagarh district, Pradhan joined Revenshaw college in 1945 and did B.Sc. with Physics Honours. He then moved to BHU in 1949 from where he did his M.Sc. AIn 1951, he joined Revenshaw college as a faculty. In 1953, he went to University of Chicago, USA for his Ph.D.
He joined Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata as Associate Professor in Theo- retical Nuclear Physics Division in 1962. He later became the Professor and Head of the Theory Division and remained in that position till 1974 when he joined the newly formed Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar as founder Director.
During his tenure, in 1985, the Institute was taken over by Dept. of Atomic Energy as an aided institute (similar to TIFR and SINP). He superannuated from the institute in January 1989. Subsequently, from 1989 till 1991 he was the Vice-Chancellor, Utkal University.
Prof. Pradhan has authored two books. The first one entitled ”The Photon” is published by Nova Science Publishers, New York while the second book entitled ”Quantum Mechanics” has been published by University Press, Hyderabad. He has also edited a book based on the proceedings of the symposium on Current Trends in Physics held in the institute in 1986 and has been published by World Scientific Singapore. Prof. Pradhan has chaired many committees tasked with academic evaluation of a number of academic institutions and has suggested road map for their excellence.
Prof. Pradhan’s contribution to scientific research and institute building has been well recognized in the country. He became fellow of Indian Academy of Science, Bangalore in 1974. He got the Meghnad Saha Award for Theo- retical Sciences hosted by Hari Om Ashram (UGC) in 1980. In 1990 Govt. of India conferred him with Padma Bhushan. He also received Kalinga Samman award in 2014 and Kalinga Ratna award in 2018.
