Samarendra Kumar Mitra (14 March 1916 – 26 September 1998) was an Indian scientist and mathematician. He designed, developed and constructed, in 1953-54, India's first computer (an electronic analog computer) at the
Indian Statistical Institute
Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) is a higher education and research institute which is recognized as an Institute of National Importance by the 1959 act of the Indian parliament. It grew out of the Statistical Laboratory set up by Prasanta C ...
(ISI),
Calcutta
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
(presently
Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
). He began his career as a research physicist at the Palit Laboratory of Physics,
Rajabazar Science College
The University College of Science, Technology and Agriculture (commonly or formerly known as Rashbehari Siksha Prangan & Taraknath Palit Siksha Prangan or Rajabazar Science College & Ballygunge Science College) are two of five main campuses of ...
(
University of Calcutta
The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate State university (India), state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered ...
). In 1950, he joined the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Calcutta, an Institute of National importance, where he worked in various capacities such as
professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...
,
research professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...
and director.
Mitra was the founder and first head of the Computing Machines and Electronics Division at the
Indian Statistical Institute
Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) is a higher education and research institute which is recognized as an Institute of National Importance by the 1959 act of the Indian parliament. It grew out of the Statistical Laboratory set up by Prasanta C ...
(ISI), Calcutta.
In 1953-54, India's first indigenous electronic analogue computer for solving linear equations with 10 variables and related problems was designed and developed by Samarendra Kumar Mitra and was built under his direct personal supervision and guidance by Ashish Kumar Maity in the Computing Machines and Electronics Laboratory at the (ISI), Calcutta. This computer was used in computation of numerical solutions of simultaneous linear equations using a modified version of Gauss–Seidel iteration.
![Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru & Samarendra Kumar Mitra - 1953-54](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Prime_Minister_Jawaharlal_Nehru_%26_Samarendra_Kumar_Mitra_-_1953-54.JPG)
Subsequently, in 1963, the ISI, Calcutta began design and development of the first second-generation indigenous digital computer of India in joint collaboration with
Jadavpur University
Jadavpur University is a public state university located in Jadavpur, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It was established in 1905 as ''Bengal Technical Institute'' and was converted into Jadavpur University in 1955. In 2022, it was ranked fourth am ...
(JU), Calcutta.
This collaboration was primarily led by Mitra, as he was the Head of the Computing Machines and Electronics Laboratory, ISI. He designed, developed, and constructed a general purpose High Speed Electronic Digital Computer, namely called the ISIJU computer (
Indian Statistical Institute
Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) is a higher education and research institute which is recognized as an Institute of National Importance by the 1959 act of the Indian parliament. It grew out of the Statistical Laboratory set up by Prasanta C ...
–
Jadavpur University
Jadavpur University is a public state university located in Jadavpur, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It was established in 1905 as ''Bengal Technical Institute'' and was converted into Jadavpur University in 1955. In 2022, it was ranked fourth am ...
Computer). Under the leadership of Mitra, the first second-generation indigenous digital computer of India was produced, namely the transistor-driven machine ISIJU-1, which became operational in 1964.
![Digital Computer ISIJU-I](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Digital_Computer_ISIJU-I.jpg)
The Computer and Communication Sciences Division of
Indian Statistical Institute
Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) is a higher education and research institute which is recognized as an Institute of National Importance by the 1959 act of the Indian parliament. It grew out of the Statistical Laboratory set up by Prasanta C ...
(ISI) was started under Samarendra Kumar Mitra and has produced many eminent scientists. The first annual convention of the
Computer Society of India
Computer Society of India is a body of computer professionals in India. It was started on 6 March 1965 by a few computer professionals and has now grown to be the national body representing computer professionals. It has 72 chapters across India ...
(CSI) was hosted by ISI in 1965. Mitra was a self-taught scholar with wide-ranging interests in varied fields such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, poultry science, Sanskrit language, philosophy, religion and literature.
Biography
Samarendra Kumar Mitra known as “the father of Indian computer revolution" was born on 14 March 1916, in Calcutta, the eldest of two children. He was the only son and had a younger sister. His father was Sir Rupendra Coomar Mitter and his mother was Lady Sudhahasinee Mitter. His father, Sir Rupendra Coomar Mitter, was an MSc in mathematics, gold medalist and also a gold medalist in Law from the
University of Calcutta
The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate State university (India), state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered ...
and was an advocate by profession who practiced in the
Calcutta High Court
The Calcutta High Court is the oldest High Court in India. It is located in B.B.D. Bagh, Kolkata, West Bengal. It has jurisdiction over the state of West Bengal and the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The High Court buildi ...
from 1913 to 1934. In 1934, Sir Rupendra Coomar Mitter was appointed as a Judge, Calcutta High Court and was Chief Justice (Acting) in 1947 during
independence of India
The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947.
The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...
and continued as a Judge until 1950. Additionally, he was knighted in 1926. Thereafter, he was the Chairman of the Labour Appellate Tribunal from 1950 to 1955.
Education
Samarendra Kumar Mitra studied at the Bowbazar High School,
Calcutta
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
, and completed his Matriculation in 1st Division in 1931. In 1933, he did his Intermediate in Science (I.Sc.) in 1st Division from
Presidency College (presently
Presidency University),
Calcutta
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
(now
Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
). In 1935, he did his Bachelor in Science with Honours (B.Sc. Hons) in Chemistry, with 2nd rank, from
Presidency College (presently
Presidency University), Calcutta (now Kolkata) and was awarded the Cunningham Memorial Prize in Chemistry. In 1937, he completed his Master in Science (M.Sc.) Chemistry and in 1940 his Master in Science (M.Sc.) in Applied Mathematics from the
Rajabazar Science College
The University College of Science, Technology and Agriculture (commonly or formerly known as Rashbehari Siksha Prangan & Taraknath Palit Siksha Prangan or Rajabazar Science College & Ballygunge Science College) are two of five main campuses of ...
,
University of Calcutta
The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate State university (India), state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered ...
, Calcutta. In later years, he was working towards his PhD in Physics under Professor
Meghnad Saha
Meghnad Saha (6 October 1893 – 16 February 1956) was an Indian astrophysicist who developed the Saha ionization equation, used to describe chemical and physical conditions in stars. His work allowed astronomers to accurately relate the sp ...
, but did not pursue it after his mentor's death in 1956.
Career
He worked as a research physicist under the
Council of Scientific & Industrial Research
The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research ( IAST: ''vaigyanik tathā audyogik anusandhāna pariṣada''), abbreviated as CSIR, was established by the Government of India in September 1942 as an autonomous body that has emerged as the ...
(CSIR,India) scheme on the design and development of an air-driven
ultracentrifuge
An ultracentrifuge is a centrifuge optimized for spinning a rotor at very high speeds, capable of generating acceleration as high as (approx. ). There are two kinds of ultracentrifuges, the preparative and the analytical ultracentrifuge. Both cla ...
, at the Palit Laboratory of Physics,
University of Calcutta
The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate State university (India), state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered ...
, from 1944 to 1948.
He was awarded an
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
Special Fellowship on the study of High Speed Computing Machines in the
United States of America
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...
and the United Kingdom during 1949–50 and worked at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
,
Institute for Advanced Study
The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States, is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholar ...
,
Princeton
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...
, United States and at the Mathematical Laboratory,
University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
,
U.K.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
During his time at the
Institute for Advanced Study
The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States, is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholar ...
, he became close with numerous eminent physicists and mathematicians, such as
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...
,
Wolfgang Pauli
Wolfgang Ernst Pauli (; ; 25 April 1900 – 15 December 1958) was an Austrian theoretical physicist and one of the pioneers of quantum physics. In 1945, after having been nominated by Albert Einstein, Pauli received the Nobel Prize in Physics fo ...
,
John von Neumann
John von Neumann (; hu, Neumann János Lajos, ; December 28, 1903 – February 8, 1957) was a Hungarian-American mathematician, physicist, computer scientist, engineer and polymath. He was regarded as having perhaps the widest cove ...
. And, attended lectures of
Niels Bohr
Niels Henrik David Bohr (; 7 October 1885 – 18 November 1962) was a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. B ...
and
Robert Oppenheimer
J. Robert Oppenheimer (; April 22, 1904 – February 18, 1967) was an American theoretical physicist. A professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, Oppenheimer was the wartime head of the Los Alamos Laboratory and is often ...
. In fact, it is known that he had many discussions with Albert Einstein and spent a lot of his time with him (while he was at Princeton).
He worked in various capacities from 1950 to 1976 at the
Indian Statistical Institute
Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) is a higher education and research institute which is recognized as an Institute of National Importance by the 1959 act of the Indian parliament. It grew out of the Statistical Laboratory set up by Prasanta C ...
(ISI),
Calcutta
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
, such as, professor, research professor and director.
The Computing Machines and Electronics Division at the ISI, Calcutta was founded by Mitra.
In 1953-54 he designed and constructed the first computer built in India. This was an electronic analogue computer for solving linear equations with ten variables and related problems.
![Samarendra Kumar Mitra and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Samarendra_Kumar_Mitra_and_Prime_Minister_Jawaharlal_Nehru.jpg)
He was UNTAA Adviser on Computing,
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
, and was responsible for bringing a massive technical aid to India from the
U.S.S.R
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
, amounting to nearly one crore rupees under UNTTA, 1955.
He was an adviser to the
Ministry of Defense
{{unsourced, date=February 2021
A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...
,
Government of India
The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...
, for computation of ballistic trajectories. Under his advice the firing table for the first gun produced in India in 1962 was made.
He was a member of the
Indian National Committee for Space Research
The Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) was set up by Dr. Vikram Sarabhai in 1962 to formulate the Indian Space Programme. At the time, the committee was part of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. The committee too ...
from 1962 to 64.
In 1963, he was the leader of the team for the design and construction of a general purpose high speed electronic digital computer, the ISI-JU computer (
Indian Statistical Institute
Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) is a higher education and research institute which is recognized as an Institute of National Importance by the 1959 act of the Indian parliament. It grew out of the Statistical Laboratory set up by Prasanta C ...
-Jadavpur University).
He was a Technical Adviser during 1969–1976 to the
Union Public Service Commission
The Union Public Service Commission (ISO: ), commonly abbreviated as UPSC, is India's premier central recruitment agency for recruitment of all the Group 'A' officers under Government of India. It is responsible for appointments to and exami ...
,
Government of India
The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...
.
He had several research publications in mathematics, theoretical physics, and computer science.
He travelled on work to United States, United Kingdom,
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
, Switzerland, France,
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
and
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
.
He was a member of the
Calcutta Mathematical Society
The Calcutta Mathematical Society (CalMathSoc) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and education in India. The Society has its head office located at Kolkata, India.
History
C ...
,
Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science
Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS) is a public, deemed, research university for higher education and research in basic sciences under the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, situated at the heart of ...
,
Association for Computing Machinery
The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is a US-based international learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 and is the world's largest scientific and educational computing society. The ACM is a non-profit professional member ...
, U.S. and the
Indian Statistical Institute
Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) is a higher education and research institute which is recognized as an Institute of National Importance by the 1959 act of the Indian parliament. It grew out of the Statistical Laboratory set up by Prasanta C ...
, India.
He was Professor Emeritus and chairman,
Calcutta Mathematical Society
The Calcutta Mathematical Society (CalMathSoc) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and education in India. The Society has its head office located at Kolkata, India.
History
C ...
and Professor of the N.R. Sen Center for Pedagogical Mathematics.
His other interests included translating from
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
books of
Scientific
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
interest, such as Vaisheshik Darshan by Maharishi
Kanada Kanada may refer to:
*Kanada (philosopher), the Hindu sage who founded the philosophy of Vaisheshika
*Kanada (family of ragas), a group of ragas in Hindustani music
*Kanada (surname)
*Kanada Station, train station in Fukuoka, Japan
*Kannada, one of ...
, a Hindu sage and philosopher.
References
;Further reading
*Devaprasanna Sinha (August 2012). "Glimpsing through Early Days of Computers in Kolkata". Computer Society of India. pp. 5–6. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
*"50 Years of IT: Disrupting Moments: 1956–1965: The Beginning". Dataquest magazine, India. 30 December 2006. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitra, Samarendra Kumar
1916 births
1998 deaths
Bengali Hindus
20th-century Bengalis
Bengali scientists
Scientists from Kolkata
20th-century Indian mathematicians
Indian mathematicians
University of Calcutta alumni