Dhirendra Nath Majumdar received PhD degree from University of Cambridge in 1935. He specialized in anthropology and served as Lecturer (1928-33), Reader (1946), Professor of Anthropology (1950), Professor and Head, Anthropology Department, Dean, Faculty of Arts (1960) all at University of Lucknow. He was also the Visiting Professor, Cornell University, USA (1952) and Visiting Lecturer, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

Academic and Research Achievements: Majumdar carried out field investigations among tribals of Bihar, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh. He did anthropometrics surveys, including blood group investigations of tribes and castes of Uttar Pradesh. He was widely honoured by anthropologists.

Other Contributions: Majumdar was instrumental in starting the Lucknow-Cornell Research Centre; founded the Ethnographic and Folk-Culture Society of Uttar Pradesh; created the Department of Anthropology in the University of Lucknow. He was the Member, International Union for the Study of Population (UNO); standing Committee of Research Programme Committee of the Planning Commission. He Published A Tribe in Transition (Longmans Green & Co.) and the well-known Races and Cultures in India (4 edns); started a quarterly journal The Eastern Anthropologist (1947).

Awards and Honours: Majumdar received Mouat Gold of University of Calcutta (1929) and Annandale Gold Medal of Asiatic Society (1958). He delivered the Mahadeo Hari Walhodkar Memorial Lectures of Nagpur University (1946). He was the Foreign Fellow, American Association of Physical Anthropologists; President, Anthropology and Archaeology Section, Indian Science Congress (1939); Gujarat Research Society Medal (1946); and President, Indian Sociological Conference (1956).