Srikumar Banerjee

WHY IN NEWS?

• Nuclear Scientist and former chairman of Atomic Energy Commission, SriKumar Banerjee passed away at 75 on May 23, 2021 due to heart attack after he recovered from COVID-19.

Who was Srikumar Banerjee?

• He was a veteran nuclear scientist who led nuclear establishment when India and USA signed their nuclear deal and legislated Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill.

Background

• The leading global expert in nuclear processes joined Metallurgy department of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in 1968 after completing B. Tech in metallurgy from IIT, Kharagpur. In 1974, he was awarded his Ph. D for his work at BARC. He was the director of BARC from 2004 to 2010. He had wide knowledge of usage of specialized alloys in nuclear processes.

His contributions in Atomic energy

• Srikumar had headed establishment of atomic energy in India, when political and expert fraternity was in doubt that India will lose its nuclear autonomy if it signed 123 Pact or the US – India Civil Nuclear Agreement, with US. But he was convinced that India would gain.

Awards

• He was conferred “Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for science and technology” in 1989 and in 2005 he was conferred Padma Shri award.