Palash Baran Pal (Bengali: পলাশ বরন পাল ''Palāś Baran Pāl'', born : 1955) is an Indian
theoretical physicist, an Emeritus Professor in the Physics Department of
Science College,
Calcutta University,
Kolkata,
a writer,
a linguist
and a poet. His main area of research is
Particle Physics. His works in the area of
neutrino physics and
relativistic treatment of particle properties in matter are well recognized in the particle physics community. Apart from his scientific contributions, he has authored well known text books in
physics as well as several popular science literature in
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
to popularize science.
Early life
Born to Amulya Bhushan Pal and Niva Pal on 4 September 1955, Palash Pal is the eldest of three siblings. He did his schooling from BE College Model School at
Howrah
Howrah (, , alternatively spelled as Haora) is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. Howrah is located on the western bank of the Hooghly River opposite its twin city of Kolkata. Administratively it lies within Howrah district, and is th ...
. He received his bachelor's degree in Physics from
Presidency College, Kolkata (affiliated to
Calcutta University,
Calcutta,
India) in 1975 and master's degree in Physics from the renowned
Science College campus of
Calcutta University,
Calcutta,
India in 1979. He then moved to United States for further studies. He received his Doctorate Degree from
Carnegie-Mellon University,
Pittsburgh, United States in the year 1983. After that, he was associated with
University of Maryland,
University of Massachusetts,
University of Oregon and
University of Texas respectively as post-doctoral fellow before he came back to
India in 1994.
Career
After he returned to India, Pal took up professorship at
Indian Institute of Astrophysics,
Bangalore,
India in 1994 where he stayed till 1997 before he moved to
Kolkata. He then joined the Theory Division of
Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics
The Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics (SINP) is an institution of basic research and training in physical and biophysical sciences located in Bidhannagar, Kolkata, India. The institute is named after the famous Indian physicist Meghnad Saha.
...
,
Kolkata where he remained in service till September 2017. He is now an Emeritus Professor in the Physics Department of
Calcutta University,
Kolkata.
Palash Pal has worked in various branches of
modern physics
Modern physics is a branch of physics that developed in the early 20th century and onward or branches greatly influenced by early 20th century physics. Notable branches of modern physics include quantum mechanics, special relativity and general ...
.
Primarily a
particle physicist
Particle physics or high energy physics is the study of Elementary particle, fundamental particles and fundamental interaction, forces that constitute matter and radiation. The fundamental particles in the universe are classified in the Standa ...
, his works encompass studies in the
standard model of particle physics
The Standard Model of particle physics is the theory describing three of the four known fundamental forces (electromagnetic, weak and strong interactions - excluding gravity) in the universe and classifying all known elementary particles. It wa ...
. Some of his pioneering works are particularly
focused on the topic of massive
neutrinos, whose theoretical basis
requires physics
beyond the standard model. His original contributions to the field of
neutrino physics include calculation of
Feynman diagrams for
Majorana fermions
A Majorana fermion (, uploaded 19 April 2013, retrieved 5 October 2014; and also based on the pronunciation of physicist's name.), also referred to as a Majorana particle, is a fermion that is its own antiparticle. They were hypothesised by E ...
.,
determination of properties of
fermions in
matters and
magnetic fields,
and a quantum field
theoretic reworking of
Lincoln Wolfenstein's formula predicting the properties of
neutrino oscillation in presence of matter.
His review on the
neutrino physics gives a lucid description of the
solar neutrino problem
The solar neutrino problem concerned a large discrepancy between the flux of solar neutrinos as predicted from the Sun's luminosity and as measured directly. The discrepancy was first observed in the mid-1960s and was resolved around 2002.
The fl ...
which appeals to a wider class of physicists.
Apart from his contributions to
neutrino physics, Pal has done important work related to
grand unification theory
A Grand Unified Theory (GUT) is a model in particle physics in which, at high energies, the three gauge interactions of the Standard Model comprising the electromagnetic, weak, and strong forces are merged into a single force. Although this ...
and
statistical field theory (popularly called
thermal field theory
In theoretical physics, thermal quantum field theory (thermal field theory for short) or finite temperature field theory is a set of methods to calculate expectation values of physical observables of a quantum field theory at finite temperature.
...
).
Some of his works deal with the
quantum field theoretic calculations of self-energies of
photon and
neutrino in a
background of
charged particles
In physics, a charged particle is a particle with an electric charge. It may be an ion, such as a molecule or atom with a surplus or deficit of electrons relative to protons. It can also be an electron or a proton, or another elementary particle, ...
(as
electrons,
positrons
The positron or antielectron is the antiparticle or the antimatter counterpart of the electron. It has an electric charge of +1 '' e'', a spin of 1/2 (the same as the electron), and the same mass as an electron. When a positron collides w ...
or
charged weak
gauge bosons) in thermal equilibrium.
Pal has also ventured
into calculations where the background for various
elementary particle
processes includes a thermal bath of
charged particles
In physics, a charged particle is a particle with an electric charge. It may be an ion, such as a molecule or atom with a surplus or deficit of electrons relative to protons. It can also be an electron or a proton, or another elementary particle, ...
in presence of
constant
magnetic field
A magnetic field is a vector field that describes the magnetic influence on moving electric charges, electric currents, and magnetic materials. A moving charge in a magnetic field experiences a force perpendicular to its own velocity and to ...
.
Palash Pal is also well known for his teaching and has taught various topics of modern physics in the teaching program of
Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics
The Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics (SINP) is an institution of basic research and training in physical and biophysical sciences located in Bidhannagar, Kolkata, India. The institute is named after the famous Indian physicist Meghnad Saha.
...
. Most of the material he has taught have been later turned into books which includes subjects like
particle physics,
statistical physics and
quantum field theory
In theoretical physics, quantum field theory (QFT) is a theoretical framework that combines classical field theory, special relativity, and quantum mechanics. QFT is used in particle physics to construct physical models of subatomic particles and ...
. Except these books Palash B. Pal and Rabindra N. Mohapatra have written the book titled "Massive neutrinos in physics and astrophysics",
which is a standard text for both newcomers and old practitioners working in the field of
neutrino physics or
astroparticle physics
Astroparticle physics, also called particle astrophysics, is a branch of particle physics that studies elementary particles of astronomical origin and their relation to astrophysics and cosmology. It is a relatively new field of research emergin ...
.
Pal started contributing to Bengali literature through popular science articles from as early as 1988. Eight such books and many other articles published in several magazines show his enthusiasm to reach out to an individual who has any scientific curiosity. His other writings in Bengali, which include several articles on Bengali phonetics, orthography and grammar, Bengali translations of poetries written in other foreign languages, such as the ones by Nobel Laureate
Pablo Neruda
Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto (12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973), better known by his pen name and, later, legal name Pablo Neruda (; ), was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Nerud ...
, and folktales for children carry the signature of his varied interests in literature and linguistics. He has received two awards in the field of literature,
Rabindra Smriti Puroshkar in 2004 and Ramendra Sundar Smriti Puroshkar in 2011, for his popular-level books Bigyān: byakti jukti somoy somāj (বিজ্ঞান: ব্যক্তি যুক্তি সময় সমাজ) and Einstein-er uttorādhikār (আইনস্টাইনের উত্তরাধিকার), respectively.
Books
Besides many scientific papers, Palash Pal has written Physics textbooks in English, and popular-level scientific books and pedagogical scientific articles in
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
. He has translated several poetries written in foreign languages, such as Spanish, French and Japanese, into Bengali. Among these, the Spanish and the French poetries are direct translations made from the original texts, whereas the collection of translation of Japanese
Haikus
is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that contain a '' kireji'', or "cutting word", 17 '' on'' (phonetic units similar to syllables) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, and a '' kigo'', or ...
was made from the English translations of these poetries. Pal's translation of the Spanish poetries written by
Pablo Neruda
Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto (12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973), better known by his pen name and, later, legal name Pablo Neruda (; ), was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Nerud ...
is one of the first translations of an entire Spanish book into Bengali. Apart from that, Palash Pal has also translated several Bengali popular literature by other Bengali literary laureates into English. He has authored books on
linguistics and
folktales in
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
. An exhaustive list of the books, authored by him so far, is as follows:
* Academic Books
*Popular-level Books
* Translations
* Books on linguistics
*Folktales
Software
Palash Pal has developed two latex based packages :
#bangtex : for typesetting documents in Bangla using the Tex/Latex system
ref name=ctan>
#pptalk : a Latex-based package for talk presentatio
Personal life
Palash Pal is married to Shukla Sanyal (শুক্লা সান্যাল), who was a professor of history at
Calcutta University and
Presidency University, Kolkata, Presidency University Kolkata, respectively, and has one daughter, Shoili Pal (ৈশলী পাল), and one son, Proyag Pal (প্রয়াগ পাল).
References
External links
*
Translated stories by Palash Baran PalA review of his book ''An introductory course of Statistical Mechanics'' published in ResonanceA review of his book ''Hok kothā, হক কথা'' published in Desh
Full list of scientific publications by Palash B. Pal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pal, Palash Baran
1955 births
Living people
Indian Institute of Astrophysics
Indian theoretical physicists
Presidency University, Kolkata alumni
University of Calcutta alumni
Carnegie Mellon University alumni