Satya Sawroop obtained PhD (1947) from Panjab University, Lahore. He worked as Assistant Professor of Vital Statistics and Epidemiology (1937-39) and Professor of Statistics (1949-50), All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health, Kolkata; Statistician to Public Health Commissioner, Government of India (1939-43); Statistical Officer, Punjab Public Health Department (1943-47); Chief, Statistical Studies Section and Chief Statistician, Health Statistical Methodology, World Health Organization (1950-59); and Visiting Lecturer in Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins University, USA (1958).

Academic and Research Achievements: Satya Swaroop’s research encompassed three phases: supportive, health-oriented and promotional. Initially, he collaborated in studies on the endemicity and epidemicity of cholera in Bengal. Then, he applied the procedures developed by Alfred Lotka for forecasting the size and structure of India’s population and studied the effect of a decrease in infant mortality on the future population of India. He worked out the numerical significance limit of a test to evaluate the difference between proportions based on a pair of small samples and provided the estimates of the number of organisms and their standard errors for observed configurations when routine `dilution tests’ were used to study the quality of water samples. He studied the death rates in specific age groups and developed further his previous concepts on indices of epidemicity. He popularized the application of statistical methods in health work. He also authored a standard reference book Introduction to Health Statistics (E&S Livingstone, London, 1960).

Other Contributions: Professor Satya Swaroop served as Member of the International Statistical Institute.