Dr. Anil Bhardwaj is the recipient of this year’s Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar award for excellence in science. He did his doctorate in Applied Physics (Space and Planetary Science) from IT-BHU in 1992. Currently he is working with ISRO and posted at Space Physics Laboratory of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Center, Trivandrum. Chronicle editor Yogesh K. Upadhyaya talks to Dr. Anil Bhardwaj.
For bio-data of Dr. Anil Bhardwaj, click here.
 | Q-1 Sir, congratulation for receiving the Bhatnagar award for the year 2007, the highest award for young scientists in India. Please tell us more about the award.
Thank you for your warm wishes. I am really delighted and honored on being awarded the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize. It’s a great recognition for my work, a grand tribute to Planetary Science community in India, and a rich compliment to the Space Physics Laboratory (SPL), the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). I owe this award to my family (my wife and daughters), and to my colleagues and collaborators, and thank my peers, friends, and well-wishers. Finally, I dedicate this award to my Parents – mom Asha Sharma and dad Prof. S. S. Sharma. |
This award is named after the founder Director of the Indian Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), the late Dr. (Sir) Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar and is known as the ‘Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar (SSB) Prize for Science and Technology’. The Prize is given each year for notable and outstanding research, applied or fundamental, in the following disciplines: (1) Biological, (2) Chemical, (3) Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean and Planetary, (4) Engineering, (5) Mathematical, (6) Medical, and (7) Physical Sciences. Those who are not more than 45 years of age, as reckoned on 31st December of the year preceding the year of the Prize, are eligible.
I have been awarded Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for the year 2007 in the discipline “Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean and Planetary”, for pioneering contributions in the field of Planetary Sciences, in particular in the area of Planetary X-ray astronomy and international collaborative research programs. Specifically the CSIR has cited me “for my fundamental contributions and creative ideas to elucidate X-ray emissions from planetary bodies, including aurorae, and advancing its subsequent enrichment, and futuristic potential by attracting international collaboration.”
Q-2: Please describe your discovery two years ago about the use of reflected X-rays?
Actually there were two independent studies on the two largest planets of our solar system, Jupiter and Saturn, using the two most sophisticated X-ray Observatories in the world currently operating, viz. Chandra of NASA and XMM-Newton of ESA (European Space Agency). These studies showed for the first time that the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn scatter back a part of the solar X-ray radiation incident onto their atmospheres. In fact, we discovered “X-Ray Flares” from the low-latitude (non-auroral atmospheric region) disk of Jupiter and Saturn, and found that they occur in tandem with the occurrence of the X-ray flare on the Sun (after taking into account the light travel time delays). In other word, you can say that these outer planets are natural mirrors in space that reflect back solar X-ray radiation. However, Jupiter and Saturn atmospheres are not a perfect mirror of sunlight in X-rays – only one in few thousands of solar soft X-ray photons (energy regime - ~100 eV to few keV) are backscattered. Thus, we can say that these planets are “cloudy” or “hazy” mirrors for solar X-rays.
These crucial findings imply that we could use giant planets like Jupiter and Saturn as remote-sensing tools. The result has important implication – in studying the Sun, i.e., X-rays from Jupiter and Saturn can be used to study flaring from solar hemisphere that is otherwise invisible to Earth-orbiting satellites. Also such observations can be used as well to derive solar soft (0.2-2 keV) X-ray fluxes: the energy regime in which there is a dearth of measurements.
NASA and ESA have come out with press releases on these breakthrough researches.
In addition to the above, my other landmark research in the area of planetary X-ray astronomy are: (i) Discovery of X-rays from the Rings of Saturn, (ii) The first and the only observation so far of soft (<2 keV) X-rays from Earth’s aurora, (iii) Unambiguous detection of X-rays from Mars halo (exosphere), (iv) Discovery of X-rays from Jupiter’s satellites Io and Europa, and from the Io plasma torus, and (v) The discovery-observation of the pulsating auroral X-ray hot-spot on Jupiter that has revolutionized our understanding of the Jovian auroral X-ray phenomena. There have been press releases by NASA on some of the above new findings. Moreover, our 1992 model predicted spectrum of bremsstrahlung auroral >2 keV X-rays on Jupiter is confirmed by observations recently made by the XMM-Newton X-ray observatory.
(For press releases and other stuff, search Google by key word [“Anil Bhardwaj + X-rays”]).
Q-3: We would like to know more about your professional career.
Born on June 01, 1967, in a town near Dist. Aligarh in state Uttar Pradesh of India, I had most of my schooling in Lucknow, except for a brief spell of ~2 years of early schooling in Delhi. I did my High School (10th Class) from the Mahanagar Boys High School, Lucknow, and Intermediate (12th Class) from the Christian College, Lucknow.
I did my B.Sc. in Physics, Mathematics, and Statistics from Lucknow University in 1985; B.Sc. Honours in Physics (1986) and M.Sc. Special in Physics, with specialization in Electronics and X-rays, also from Lucknow University in 1987.
For my Ph. D., I joined the Dept. of Applied Physics, Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, and worked under the able guidance of Prof. R. P. Singhal in the area of Planetary and Space Sciences. I was awarded Ph.D. in Applied Physics by BHU in 1992 on my thesis “Aurora and Airglow Processes on Outer Planets and Comets”.
I also did an Under Graduate Diploma in German language from Banaras Hindu University in 1989.
During my Ph.D. days, I was a Research Fellow in ISRO project and subsequently a Senior Research Fellow of CSIR. I joined ISRO in August 1993 as Scientist SD at Space Physics Laboratory (SPL) of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Trivandrum. I was promoted to the post of Scientist SE in January 1998, Scientist SF in July 2002, and Scientist SG in July 2007. I am currently heading the Planetary Sciences Branch (PSB) at SPL, VSSC.
During January 2004-October 2005, I worked at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, USA, as National Research Council-National Academy of Sciences Senior Research Associate.
I have published over 60 research papers. I have attended more than 40 conferences in India and aboard and presented Invited and contributed papers numbering over 100. I have organized several special sessions at international conferences related to Planetary Sciences.
In addition to planetary X-ray work (mentioned above), I have done theoretical modeling studies related to cometary coma chemistry and emissions, Io-Jupiter Interactions, charged particle degradation in gases with application to planetary aurora and airglow emissions. Further, I have used GMRT (Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope of India near Pune) for the first time to observe synchrotron radio emissions from the radiation belts of Jupiter. In the role of an experimenter, I am the Indian PI of the SARA experiment onboard Chandrayaan-1 lunar mission, a core team member of Small Satellite program of ISRO SENSE, and Member of ASTROSAT mission of ISRO (a multi-wavelength Astronomy satellite observatory) and upcoming planetary missions of ISRO.
Q-4: Please tell us about your BHU days.
My BHU days span ~August 1987 to July 1993. I joined Dept of Applied Physics, IT in August 1987 as a research scholar under the supervision of Prof. R.P. Singhal. That time the department had Profs. (Late) R.N. Singh, K.D. Misra, O.N. Singh, S.P. Ojha, Late Prof. Khastagir, and Drs. B.N. Dwivedi (who has been my colleague and close friend since those days), S.P. Misra, B.B. Srivastava, S.C. Chakravarty, and B. Prasad, O.N. Singh Jr., and few others.
I have very pleasant memories of my days in BHU and in the Dept of Applied Physics. My research fellows and friends in the dept. – Ashish Gupta, UN Singh, Preeta, Sangita, Pandey, Tigistu Hale, as well as my senior Dr. S. A. Haider, who is my very close friend and a great collaborator (we jointly have published 8 research papers so far). Haider and me are always in touch with each other since the BHU days and work together in the field of Planetary Sciences.
I still remember how hard it was for us working with computers during my Ph.D. days – going to computer center to give or collect results (printouts) of programs early morning or late evening – those days we use to have programs punched on cards that were then feed to (I think Cyber system) machine. Any single typing mistake on card or a card miss-fed/torn would result in losing a day work.
Shopping in Lanka area, eating longlata and rasogulla (the famous sweets of Banaras), etc is still fresh in my memories. I remember BHU VC – Prof. Rastogi (if I am not mistaken).
Q-5: Please tell us about your family
My wife Preeti is from Gwalior, M.P. We are married for last 12 years, and have 2 lovely daughters, Misha and Anusha.
We are now settled in Trivandrum. I have been in Trivandrum for last 14 years, except for ~2 years of my stay in USA when I worked at NASA MSFC.
My motto is the Lord Krishna’s preaching to Arjuna in Mahabharata - Keep working hard and do good work without worrying for results – the fruits are bound to come!!
Moreover, I say that one should keep changing with time and realize the importance of events, activities, and circumstances.
Q-6: It was nice talking to you. Thank you, Sir, for providing us with info about you and university.
Thank you so much. It was pleasure talking to you and remembering my ‘good old’ days, and recapitulating and narrating my past: it was quite a revealing experience.
Dr. Anil Bhardwaj can be contacted at:
Dr. Anil Bhardwaj
Head, Planetary Sciences Branch
Space Physics Laboratory
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre
Trivandrum 695022
INDIA
Anil_Bhardwaj[AT]vssc.gov.in
tel: +91-471-2562330 (work)
fax: +91-471-2706535 (work)
tel: +91-471-2555168 (home)_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Press releases for Dr. Anil Bhardwaj:
Saturn reflects X-rays from Sun…..Ringed Protector of Earth
http://bbsnews.net/article.php/20050525105244793
 | Attached is a reference list of 46 press releases in leading scientific magazines and news media about the scientific discoveries made by Dr. Anil Bhardwaj.
For the complete list of press releases, click here. |
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Additional links:
- Curriculum Vitae of DR. ANIL BHARDWAJ http://www.asiaoceania.org/aogs2007/docs/cv_bhardwaj.pdf
- IT-BHU Applied Physics Department
http://www.itbhu.ac.in/app/default.shtml - Vikram Sarabhai Space center, Trivandrum
http://www.isro.org/centers/cen_vssc.htm - SS Bhatnagar award for the tear 2007- Government Press Release
http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=31504