About Swapan ChattopadhyaySwapan Chattopadhyay (born December 26, 1951) is a particle accelerator physicist noted for his pioneering contributions of innovative concepts, techniques and developments in high energy particle colliders, coherent and incoherent light sources, ultrafast sciences in the femto- and atto- second regimes, superconducting linear accelerators and various applications of interaction of particle and light beams. He has directly contributed to the development of many accelerators around the world, e.g. the Super Proton-Antiproton Synchrotron and the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the Advanced Light Source at Berkeley, the asymmetric-energy electron-positron collider PEP-II at Stanford, the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator facility (CEBAF) at Jefferson Lab and the Free-Electron Lasers at Jefferson and Daresbury Laboratories.
Chattopadhyay currently holds a triple appointment as the Sir John Cockcroft Chair of Physics jointly at the Universities of Liverpool, Manchester and Lancaster - the First Chair of accelerator physics in UK, named after the British Nobel Laureate credited with creating the field. Concurrently, he is the Inaugural Director of the international centre of accelerator science and technology, the Cockcroft Institute (UK), opened officially by the UK Minister of Science Lord Sainsbury in 2006—a joint venture of the UK Research Council, STFC (Science and Technology Facilities Council), Universities of Liverpool, Manchester, Lancaster and the Sci-Tech Daresbury Innovation Campus. Appointed in April 2007 following an international search and preceded by a 35-year long career in CERN and USA spanning leadership positions in Berkeley and Jefferson Laboratories, Chattopadhyay is dedicating his efforts at establishing a unique and pioneering paradigm of close collaboration between academia, national laboratories and industry, to advance global accelerator initiatives in particle, nuclear, photon and neutron sciences; to educate and train the next generation; and to enhance knowledge-based economy. Prior to his move to UK, he had served as Associate Director of Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (2001-2007); Staff/ Senior Scientist and Founding Director of the Centre for Beam Physics at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (1984-2001); and Scientific Attaché at CERN (1982- 1984). Having spent his early childhood in Calcutta and Darjeeling in India, he completed his undergraduate studies as a National Scholar and National Science Talent Scholar before receiving his Ph.D. in Physics from University of California at Berkeley in 1982. He had held Visiting Professor appointments at University of California at Berkeley, Harvard University, University of Illinois at Urbana Champagne and University of Virginia at Charlottesville at various times. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Institute of Physics (UK) and Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce(UK) and a member of many international panels and committees, including the ‘’’International Committee for Future Accelerators’’’ and the DESY Science Council. He had served as the Vice-Chair, Chair-elect, Chair and Past-Chair of the American Physical Society’s Division of Physics of Beams (2007-2011). He has mentored many scientists and engineers across the globe including Asia, North America and Europe and has delivered endowed lectures throughout the world e.g. Saha Memorial Lecture, Homi Bhabha Lecture, Raja Ramanna Memorial Lecture, and Cavendish Lecture among many.
Career
Chattopadhyay returned to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in 1984, where he led and defined the accelerator physics of the Advanced Light Source (ALS) and contributed to the conceptual design of the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC), pioneered the accelerator physics which underpinned the Berkeley-Stanford asymmetric B-factory (PEP-II) for CP-violation studies, and initiated the Berkeley FEL/Femtosecond X-ray Source and Laser-Plasma Acceleration development. He was a Senior Scientist, a Guest Professor, and the Founder/Director of the Center for Beam Physics at Berkeley, until his move to Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in 2001 as the Associate Laboratory Director for Accelerators, after 25 years at the University of California and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. At Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, he made critical advancements in microwave superconducting linear accelerators leading the way to current and future grand instruments of science such as the high precision CEBAF and its 12 GeV upgrade for precision research in hadronic physics, Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA to advance neutron sciences and novel materials research, and the current superconducting version of the International Linear Collider, to name a few. His current research at the Cockcroft Institute in UK includes development of sources of “ultra-cold” relativistic free electron beams to advance coherent electron diffraction techniques; production of novel coherent and ultra-short pulses of photons novel acceleration methods; investigation of photonic crystals and metamaterial structures for charged particle acceleration; novel high energy colliders; cavity search for “dark matter” and laboratory investigation of “dark energy” via atom interferometer techniques. Having contributed to the conception, design, construction, commissioning and operation of numerous accelerators for particle and nuclear physics, photon and neutron sciences around the world, with significant research accomplishments in advanced particle and photon beam physics, and mentoring scientists around the world, in the developing nations in particular, in accelerator developments as a unifying global force among nations, Prof. Chattopadhyay is a frequently invited speaker and advisor at professional societies and government research agencies, serving on numerous editorial, advisory and review committees throughout the world.
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