Srikumar Banerjee

About Srikumar Banerjee

Dr. Srikumar Banerjee is an Indian nuclear scientist and a metallurgical engineer. He is a world-renowned physical metallurgist who made seminal contributions to the study of phase transformations in zirconium and titanium based alloys.

He retired as the Chairman Atomic Energy Commission of India -(AECI) and the Secretary of Department of Atomic Energy ('DAE') on April 30, 2012. Prior to his stint as DAE Chairman, he was the Director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) from April 30, 2004 to May 19, 2010. He is currently a DAE Homi Bhabha Chair Professor at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai.

Education

In 1967, Banerjee obtained a B.Tech degree with honours in Metallurgical Engineering from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) in Kharagpur. Thereafter, he underwent training at the Training School of BARC. He joined the erstwhile Metallurgy Division of BARC in 1968 and spent his entire scientific career in this establishment. On the basis of the work carried out by him in the first few years of his career in BARC, he was awarded the Ph.D. degree in Metallurgical Engineering by IIT, Kharagpur, in 1974.

Banerjee has held visiting positions overseas which include the University of Sussex, Brighton, England, Max-Planck-Institut für Metallforschung, University of Cincinnati and the Ohio State University, USA (as Visiting Faculty).

Honors and Recognition

He was awarded the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology in Engineering Science (1989) and Government of India’s prestigious civilian award, Padma Shri, in 2005.

In 2010, the University of Calcutta awarded him an honorary Doctor of Science degree.

Banerjee is a Fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences, Banglaore, National Academy of Sciences, India, Allahabad, and the Indian National Academy of Engineering

Dr. Srikumar Banerjee, presently DAE Homi Bhabha Chair Professor, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, has been appointed as the Chairman, Board of Governors of IIT Kharagpur with effect from, 21st March, 2014, for a period of three years.