Anadi Sankar Gupta earned his BSc (Hons) in Mathematics and MSc in Applied Mathematics from Calcutta University. In 1957 he joined the Department of Mathematics of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur as Assistant Lecturer and became Professor (1968) and continued in this capacity till 1993. He received PhD (1958) as well as DSc (1966) degree in Mathematics both from IIT, Kharagpur. As a Colombo Plan Scholar, he was a Senior Visitor (1961-62) at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, England and worked with LN Howard on problems of hydrodynamic and hydro magnetic stability. He was a Visiting Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA (1979-81) and worked with CS Yih on the theory of laminar and turbulent buoyant plumes. Gupta is currently INSA Honorary Scientist in the Mathematics Department of IIT, Kharagpur. He became a Life Fellow of IIT, Kharagpur in 2003 for outstanding contributions and services to the Institute.

Academic and Research Achievements: At IIT, Kharagpur, Gupta taught Mathematics and Mechanics to engineering students at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He also taught several advanced topics in mathematics, mechanics and fluid dynamics at MSc and post-MSc levels. He initiated research programme in fluid dynamics, hydrodynamic and hydro magnetic stability, heat and mass transfer in fluid flows and made significant contributions in all these areas. His analysis on steady and transient free convection in an electrically conducting fluid past a hot surface permeated by a transverse magnetic field reveals that the field causes a reduction in surface heat flux. This result has important bearing on cooling of nuclear reactors. His studies on flow over a stretching surface have applications to polymer and metal working process. Gupta showed that homogeneous and heterogeneous chemical reaction result in a reduction of the longitudinal (Taylor) diffusion coefficient of a solute dispersed in laminar flow in a channel. While studying the stability of the free surface of a layer of a viscoelastic fluid, he found that the viscoelasticity has a destabilizing effect on the flow. He has published about 150 research articles and a book entitled Calculus of Variations with Applications (Prentice Hall, 1997). He has mentored about twelve PhD students.

Other Contributions: Gupta’s research results have been cited in a large number of books and research monographs. He was President of the Annual Congress of Indian Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (1985) and Annual Congress of Indian Mathematical Society (1999), and has become its Council Member (2007-09). He was on the Editorial Board of the journal Stability and Applied Analysis of Continuous Media (Italy) and Indian Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics. Dr Gupta served as an INSA Council Member (2000-02).

Awards and Honours: Dr Gupta won SS Bhatnagar Prize (1972) and FICCI Award (1978). He received PL Bhatnagar Memorial Lecture Award of Indian Mathematical Society (1995) and Professor Vishnu Vasudeva Narlikar Memorial Lecture Award (2003) of INSA. He was elected a Fellow of National Academy of Sciences (India), Allahabad (1990).