Amitava Datta obtained his BSc (Hons) (1969) from the University of Calcutta and MSc (1971) and PhD (1977) from Visva-Bharati University. He received Alexander von Humboldt Fellowships (1986-87, 1994, 2002) and Associateships of ICTP, Trieste, Italy (1991-95) and of the Institute of Theoretical Physics Beijing (1997-99). He held Visiting Positions at High Energy Physics Centres in India, Fermilab, CERN and at Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY). Currently, he is Professor of Physics in the Department of Physics, Jadavpur University, Kolkata.

Academic and Research Achievements: Amitava Datta has made significant contributions to high-energy physics (HEP). His main research interest is to asses the prospect of discovering new physics through direct (production of particles) and indirect means (loop effects). He made first complete calculation of the amplitude of Do - D-o mixing and the analyses of the consequence of Bo - B-o mixing immediately after its discovery. He observed that the Bs meson mass eigenstates may have an observable difference in life times. He made calculation of quantum chromodyamic correction to Ko - K-o mixing, including the effect of the heavy top quark, and suggested that aspects of quantum mechanics and local realism can be tested by mixing and CP violation in pseudoscalar meson systems. He derived new bounds on masses and couplings of gauge bosons, exotic fermions and supersymmetric particles using the data from the Large Electron Positron (LEP) collider at CERN and the Tevatron collider at Fermlab. He worked on search strategies and potential new signals for heavy neutrinos and supersymmetric particles using Monte Carlo simulations. He made new calculations of complicated cross-section, which may provide crucial tests of supersymmetry, and derived a new lower bound on the selpton mass using the anomaly-mediated supersymmetry-breaking model. He has published over 70 papers in international peer reviewed journals.

Other Contributions: Datta has played a major role in the development of HEP in the country and organized several conferences. He has co-edited several books and proceedings such as Particle Phenomenology in the 90's, Highlights of Particle Phenomenology and CP Violation.