Dr. Dinesh Kumar Srivastava (b. 1952) obtained his Bachelors’ Degree from Allahabad University in 1970 and joined the 14th batch of Training School (Physics) of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai. He joined the Variable Energy Cyclotron Project of the Department of Atomic Energy in 1971, then taking shape at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre Mumbai and moved to Kolkata in 1979. He obtained his Ph. D. in Nuclear Physics from University of Bombay in 1979.
Dr. Srivastava is a leading nuclear physicist of the country. He is Director of the Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre at Kolkata (1.7.2012-), a R&D unit of the Department of Atomic Energy, with the rank of a Distinguished Scientist. The Centre is engaged in development and construction of state-of-the-art accelerators and accelerator-based basic and applied research in the fields of nuclear physics, material science, radio-chemistry, analytical chemistry, biophysics, and isotope production etc. A large room temperature cyclotron has been operating at this Centre for more than three decades. A large superconducting cyclotron has been constructed here and trials for extraction of external beam are under way. The Centre is setting up a medical cyclotron for large scale production of SPECT and PET radioisotopes for medical diagnostics applications and related research. A radio-active ion beam facility producing and accelerating short-lived nuclei using indigenously designed and built RFQs and LINACs is another unique facility under development at this Centre. The Centre has a vibrant theoretical nuclear physics group.
Dr. Srivastava is an international authority in the study of electromagnetic signatures of quark gluon plasma formed during collisions of nuclei at ultra relativistic speeds and he has made pioneering contributions to this field. His prediction of radiation of thermal photons, production of photons due to passage of jets through quark gluon plasma, and elliptic flow of thermal photons and dileptons have been experimentally verified from such studies. His work on parton cascade model provides a sophisticated treatment to study the formation and evaluation of quark-gluon plasma in terms of colliding, radiating and fusing partons, based on perturbative Quantum Chromo-Dynamics. He has discovered the interference of thermal photons (from quark gluon plasma) and hadrons, which can provide invaluable information about the dynamics of these collisions and made valuable contributions to the study of energy loss of heavy quarks in quark gluon plasma.
Earlier, Dr. Srivastava made outstanding contributions to the study of saturating properties of nuclear forces and break up of light nuclei. As a part of these studies he obtained evidence for a dynamic density dependence of nuclear interactions and a dynamic polarization potential due to Coulomb break-up of loosely bound nuclei. Dr. Srivastava has a long list of publications to his credit and has delivered extensive lectures on various aspects of his work.
He is a recipient of Outstanding Referee Award of American Physical Society and has served as a member of the Editorial Board of Physical Review C. At the moment he is on the Editorial Board of Pramana and Scientific Reports, the later published by Nature Group of Publishers. He has received Life Time Achievement Award in Nuclear Physics from Chitkara University, Himachal Pradesh and is a recipient of Sir C. V. Raman Memorial Lecture Award of Indian Physics Association. He has received Outstanding Service Award for Nuclear Science Education from Indian Nuclear Society and delivered among others, Prof. Abdus Salam Memorial Award of Jamia Millia University. He has held visiting positions of various durations at Kerforschungscentrum Karlsruhe (now Karlsruhe Institute of Technology), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, University of Minnesota, McGill University, University of Cape Town and GSI Darmstadt.
Dr. Srivastava is widely known for his lectures on importance of basic research, methods of basic research, nuclear physics, and relativistic heavy ion collisions.
He is a Fellow of National Academy of Sciences, India and President of Indian Physical Society.
