Anil Kumar Das

{{Infobox scientist

| honorific_prefix =

| name = Anil Kumar Das

| native_name =

| image = Anil Kumar Das.jpg

| caption = Prof. Anil Kumar Das

| honorific_suffix =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1902|2|1}}

| birth_place = Chinsura, Hooghly, West Bengal, India

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1961|2|18|1902|2|1}}

| death_place = Hyderabad, India

| alma_mater = {{Plainlist|

Chuadanga High School
Berhampore College
Presidency College
University of Calcutta
University of Paris
Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, Paris, (1925-26)

}}

| fields = * Physics

| workplaces = {{Plainlist|

Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, Paris
Institut für theoretische physik, Göttingen
Geophysikalisches Institut, Göttingen
Solar Physics Observatory, Cambridge, 1934
Indian Meteorological Service, (1930 - 1937)
Upper Air Observatory, Agra
Assistant director of Kodaikanal Solar Observatory, (1937 - 1946)
Director of Kodaikanal Solar Observatory, (1946 - 1960)
Professor of astronomy in Osmania University, 1961
Director of the Nizamia Observatory, Hyderabad, 1961

}}

| doctoral_advisor =

| academic_advisors = {{Plainlist|

}}

| known_for = * helioseismology investigations

| awards = {{Plainlist|

Fellow of Royal Astronomical Society, 1935
Fellow of the National Institute of Science, now known as Indian National Science Academy, 1943
Padma Shri, (1960)
Das (crater) by IAU

}}

| signature = Sign of AKD.svg

}}

Anil Kumar Das FRAS, FNI (1 February 1902 - 18 February 1961) was an Indian scientist, astronomer. During the International Geophysical Year, observatories in Madrid, India, and Manila were responsible for monitoring solar effects. The Kodaikanal Solar Observatory in South India performed this monitoring using their recently built solar tunnel telescope. Das was the director of the Kodaikanal observatory at this time. In 1960 he was responsible for installing a tower/tunnel telescope at the facility that would be used to perform some of the first helioseismology investigations.{{cite journal|last=Bappu|first=M.K.V.|date=June 2000|title=The Kodaikanal Observatory - A Historical Account |journal= Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy|publisher=Indian Academy of Sciences|location=Bangalore|volume=21|issue=3–4|pages=105|url=http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu//full/seri/JApA./0021//0000105.000.html|doi=10.1007/bf02702374|bibcode=2000JApA...21..103.|s2cid=189916860}} The crater Das on the far side of the Moon is named after him.

Biography

Image:Kodaikanal Solar Observatory-b.jpg

After graduating (Master of Science) from the University of Calcutta, he studied spectroscopy with Charles Fabry at the Sorbonne in Paris. After obtaining his doctorate he was in Göttingen where he worked with Max Born at the Institut für Theoretische Physik and subsequently with Gustav Augenheister at the Geophysikalisches Institut and for a short period at the Solar Physics Observatory in Cambridge. He later worked at the Indian Meteorological Department in 1930 and then moved to the Kodaikanal observatory in 1937 as assistant director and director since 1946 and where he remained until his retirement in 1960.{{Cite journal|last=Mitra|first=S.N.|date=July 1961|title=Obituary: Dr. A.K. Das (1902-1961)|url=https://prints.iiap.res.in/bitstream/2248/1704/1/akd3.pdf|journal=Journal of the IETE|volume=7|issue=4|pages=1–6|hdl=2248/1704}}{{Cite journal|last=Bappu|first=M.K.V|date=March 1961|title=Obituary notices: Anil Kumar Das|url=https://prints.iiap.res.in/bitstream/2248/1701/3/akd4.pdf|journal=The Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society|volume=2|issue=4|pages=278–279|hdl=2248/1701}}

Scientific contributions

Most of his scientific contributions were in the field of solar physics mainly as an experimenter in the spectrophotometric study of sunspots and the chromosphere. He contributed significantly to the development of the equipment present at the Kodaikanal Observatory and to the growth of numerous young researchers.