Eminent Odia Physicist Ajit Mohanty Appointed Chairman Of Atomic Energy Commission
Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s Dr. Ajit Kumar Mohanty, Director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) has been appointed as the Secretary of Department of Atomic Energy and Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission.
The renowned physicist, who is currently Director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), was entrusted with the key responsibility after approval by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.
As per the official notification, Mohanty will hold the post for a tenure up to the age of 66 years i.e. till 10.10.2025 or until further orders, whichever is earlier.
Dr. Ajit Kumar Mohanty was appointed as the 13th Director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre on March 12, 2019.
Mohanty, born in Odisha in 1959, was appointed as the 13th Director of BARC on March 12, 2019.
He did his graduation with Honours in Physics from MPC College, Baripada, in 1979 and post-graduation from the erstwhile Ravenshaw College, Cuttack, in 1981. In 1983, Mohanty joined the Nuclear Physics Division, BARC, after graduating from the 26th Batch of BARC Training School. He obtained his doctorate from Mumbai University.
Mohanty has worked in several areas of nuclear physics covering collision energy from the sub-Coulomb barrier to the relativistic regime using the Pelletron accelerator at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), PHENIX, and CMS experiments at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), USA, and CERN, Geneva.
Having held several honorary positions at various organisations, Mohanty has served as the General Secretary of the Indian Physics Association (IPA) and later as its President. He has twice been the CERN Scientific Associate, first during 2002-2004 and again during 2010-2011. He is a recipient of the Young Physicist Award from the Indian Physical Society in 1988, the Indian National Science Academy Young Scientist Award in 1991, and the Homi Bhaba Science and Technology Award of the Department of Atomic Energy in 2001. Recently, Mohanty was conferred Honorary Doctrin of Literature (D Litt) Honoris Causa by Utkal University.
