Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri


Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri was an Indian physicist, known for his research in general relativity and cosmology. His most significant contribution is the eponymous Raychaudhuri equation, which demonstrates that singularities arise inevitably in general relativity and is a key ingredient in the proofs of the Penrose–Hawking singularity theorems.
Raychaudhuri was also revered as a teacher during his tenure at Presidency College, Kolkata. Many of his students have gone on to become established scientists.

Career

Dr Raychaudhuri was born in a Baidya family coming from Barisal,, on 14 September 1923, to Surabala and Sureshchandra Raychaudhuri. He was just a child when the family migrated to Kolkata. He had his early education in Tirthapati Institution and later completed matriculation from Hindu School, Kolkata. In a documentary film made just before his death in 2005, AKR reveals that he was extremely passionate about mathematics right from his schooldays and solving problems would give him immense pleasure. May be the fact that his father was a mathematics teacher in a school also inspired him. At the same time, as his father was not so 'successful' so to say, he was discouraged to take up mathematics, his first choice, as honours subject in college.
He earned B.Sc. from the Presidency College in 1942 and M.Sc. in 1944 from Rajabazar Science College campus of Calcutta University and he joined Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science in 1945 as a research scholar. In 1952, he took a research job with the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, but to his frustration was required to work on the properties of metals rather than general relativity. Despite these adverse pressures, he was able to derive and publish the equation which is now named for him a few years later.
Some years later, having learned that his 1955 paper was highly regarded by notable physicists, such as Pascual Jordan, Raychaudhuri was sufficiently emboldened to submit a doctoral dissertation, and received his Doctor of Science degree at the University of Calcutta in 1959.
In 1961, Raychaudhuri joined the faculty of his alma mater, Presidency College then affiliated with the University of Calcutta, and remained there until his superannuation. He became a well-known scientific figure in the 1970s, and was the subject of a short documentary film completed shortly before his death.

Honours and recognition