Om Prakash Bhutani obtained his BSc from Sagar University, MSc from Jabalpur University and studied mathematics at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, eventually joining the faculty of the Applied Mathematics Department. He obtained his PhD at IIT Kharagpur, and in 1967, moved to IIT, Delhi from where he retired in 1995. He was Head of the Mathematics Department, and Dean Post-graduate Studies and Research during his tenure at the IIT, Delhi. He was awarded the NRC-AFSC Washington Senior Resident Research Associateship in 1970.

Academic and Research Achievements: Professor Bhutani has made significant contributions in the area of irreversible thermodynamics, with special reference to fluid flow analysis. He has also worked on the existence and formulation of variational principles, and exact solutions of non-linear partial differential equations of physical and engineering systems via group theoretic methods. His studies on linear and non-linear wave propagation and stability analysis have resulted in qualitative and quantitative estimates of the coupling mechanism in such varied areas as magneto-gas dynamics, radiation gas dynamics, non-equilibrium gas dynamics, multi phase flows, and ocean dynamics. His has made significant contributions towards the existence and formulation of variational principles for various irreversible systems, and studied exact solutions of several of the nonlinear partial differential equations that arise in mathematical physics.

Other Contributions: In 1980, Professor Bhutani was deputed by Government of India to start post-graduate courses at the University of Science and Technology at Alger, Algeria. In 2002, he accepted Directorship of the Greater Noida Institute of Technology, Greater Noida. He has been associated with CSIR, DRDO, UGC, UPSC, and IGNOU and has been on the governing bodies of several institutes of higher learning. He also served as Member of International Mathematical Union and was Editor of Indian Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics (IJPAM). He served on the INSA Council (1994-96).

Awards and Honours: Professor Bhutani was conferred the Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Centenary Visiting Fellowship in1998 to deliver a series of lectures in universities in Japan.