Samaresh Mitra (born 1937) is an Indian bioinorganic chemist and an
INSA
The Intelligence and National Security Alliance (INSA) is a non-profit, nonpartisan 501(c)(6) professional organization based in Arlington Virginia for public and private sector members of the United States Intelligence Community.
History
...
Senior Scientist at the
Indian Institute of Chemical Biology
Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (IICB) is a biomedical research centre in Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
Established in 1935 as Indian Institute of Experimental Medicine (IIEM), it was inducted under the aegis of Council of Scientific & I ...
(IICB).
He is known for his researches on inorganic paramagnetic complexes and low-symmetry transition metal complexes
and is an elected fellow of the
Indian National Science Academy
The Indian National Science Academy (INSA) is a national academy in New Delhi for Indian scientists in all branches of science and technology.
In August 2019, Dr. Chandrima Shaha was appointed as the president of Indian National Science Academ ...
,
the
National Academy of Sciences, India
The National Academy of Sciences, India, established in 1930, is the oldest science academy in India. It is located in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. Prof. Meghnad Saha was the founder president.
Fellows
*Suddhasatwa Basu
* Sudha Bhattacharya
* Ch ...
and the
Indian Academy of Sciences
The Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore was founded by Indian Physicist and Nobel Laureate C. V. Raman, and was registered as a society on 24 April 1934. Inaugurated on 31 July 1934, it began with 65 founding fellows. The first general meet ...
.
The
Council of Scientific and 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 l ...
, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the
Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology
The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology (SSB) is a science award in India given annually by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for notable and outstanding research, Applied science, applied or Fundamenta ...
, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 1983, for his contributions to chemical sciences.
Biography
Born on 17 March 1940 in the Indian state of
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...
, Samaresh Mitra graduated in chemistry from
Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gorakhpur University
DDU Gorakhpur University (simply known as University of Gorakhpur) is located in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh.
The University of Gorakhpur is a teaching and residential-cum-affiliating University. It is about . from the downtown to the east and al ...
and completed his master's degree form the same institution.
Enrolling for his doctoral studies in 1962 at
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 ...
(IACS) where he had the opportunity to work under the guidance of Akshayananda Bose, a renowned chemist, he secured DPhil in 1966 and moved to
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...
the same year for his post-doctoral studies at the department of chemistry of the university. On his return to India in 1970, he started his career by joining the
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) is a public deemed research university located in Mumbai, India that is dedicated to basic research in mathematics and the sciences. It is a Deemed University and works under the umbrella of the D ...
(TIFR) where he spent his entire academic career till his superannuation as a Senior Professor in 2003. Subsequently, he moved to
Indian Institute of Chemical Biology
Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (IICB) is a biomedical research centre in Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
Established in 1935 as Indian Institute of Experimental Medicine (IIEM), it was inducted under the aegis of Council of Scientific & I ...
(IICB) as a Raja Ramman fellow where he continues as an
INSA
The Intelligence and National Security Alliance (INSA) is a non-profit, nonpartisan 501(c)(6) professional organization based in Arlington Virginia for public and private sector members of the United States Intelligence Community.
History
...
Senior Scientist. During the course of his career, he served as a visiting scholar at the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
, as a visiting professor at
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
,
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
,
University of North Carolina
The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...
,
Australian National University
The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...
and
Monash University
Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university has a ...
and as a visiting fellow at
Tezpur University
Tezpur University is a Central University located in Tezpur in the North-Eastern state of Assam, India, established by an act of Parliament, in 1994.
History
The establishment of Tezpur University is considered to be one of the outcomes of t ...
.
Legacy
Mitra's researches were focused on physico-chemical and spectroscopic studies of the
bimolecular
In chemistry, molecularity is the number of molecules that come together to react in an elementary (single-step) reactionAtkins, P.; de Paula, J. Physical Chemistry. Oxford University Press, 2014 and is equal to the sum of stoichiometric coeffici ...
systems.
He deployed single crystal magnetic anisotropy and Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy for investigating inorganic paramagnetic complexes such as metalloporphyrins and low-symmetry transition metal complexes and his work is reported to have widened our understanding of their electronic structures.
His contribution to
magnetochemistry
Magnetochemistry is concerned with the magnetic properties of chemical compounds. Magnetic properties arise from the spin and orbital angular momentum of the electrons contained in a compound. Compounds are diamagnetic when they contain no unpaire ...
is marked by the methodologies he developed to measure single crystal susceptibilities. Working on the magnetic and electronic properties of
phthalocynines, metal
porphyrins
Porphyrins ( ) are a group of heterocyclic macrocycle organic compounds, composed of four modified pyrrole subunits interconnected at their α carbon atoms via methine bridges (=CH−). The parent of porphyrin is porphine, a rare chemical compo ...
and similar inorganic materials, the team led by him discovered the
molecular ferromagnet and elucidated their electronic structures for the first time.
He also elucidated a method for the determination of the electronic structures of low symmetry systems utilizing their single crystal magnetic properties, also reported to be a first time discovery. Later in his career, he studied metal enzymes and proteins with regard to their enzyme-substrate interaction, molecular recognition, drug metabolism as well as the catalytic functions of several enzymes and these studies have assisted in resolving problems faced by the researchers in their metabolic and catalytic pathway.
Mitra's researches have been documented in over 140 articles published in peer-reviewed journals
and several authors have quoted his work.
Besides, he has also contributed chapters to seven books authored by others, including ''Single Crystal Magnetic Study on Ferromagnetic Manganese (II) Phthalocyanine'', published by the
Defense Technical Information Center
The Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC, pronounced "Dee-tick") is the repository for research and engineering information for the United States Department of Defense (DoD). DTIC's services are available to DoD personnel, federal governm ...
in 1982.
On the academic front, he established a bioinorganic chemistry laboratory at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and organised an international conference series on bioinorganic chemistry which is now conducted every four years.
He was among the group of scientists who initiated the ''Modern Trends In Inorganic Chemistry'', a bi-annual conference in 1985 and serves as a member of its national advisory committee.
He is also associated with a number of journals as their editorial board member and has sat in various committees set up by the
Department of Science and Technology,
Council of Scientific and 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 l ...
and the
University Grants Commission of India
University Grants Commission (UGC) is a statutory body set up by the Department of Higher Education (India), Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development (India), Ministry of Education,
Government of India in accordan ...
.
Awards and honors
The
Council of Scientific and 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 l ...
awarded Samaresh Mitra the
Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize
The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology (SSB) is a science award in India given annually by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for notable and outstanding research, Applied science, applied or Fundamenta ...
, India's highest award in science, in 1983.
He received the Silver Medal of the
Chemical Research Society of India
Chemical Research Society of India (CRSI) is an India based scientific society
A learned society (; also learned academy, scholarly society, or academic association) is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline, professio ...
in 2002 and D. S. Kothari Memorial Gold Medal of the Indian Science Congress Association in 2005.
An elected scholar of the
St John's College, Oxford
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979.Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist Its founder, Sir Thomas White, intended to pro ...
in 1986, he is an elected fellow of all the three major Indian science academies, viz. Indian National Science Academy, Indian Academy of Sciences,
and the National Academy of Sciences, India.
The award orations delivered by him include INSA S. Swaminathan 60th Birthday Commemoration Lecture (1998) and C. Natarajan Endowment Medal of
Madurai Kamaraj University
Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) is a public state university located in Madurai city, in southern Tamil Nadu, India, established in 1966. MKU is one of the 15 universities in India with the University with Potential for Excellence status, wh ...
(1998).
Selected bibliography
Books
*
*
Articles
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
See also
*
Ferromagnetism
Ferromagnetism is a property of certain materials (such as iron) which results in a large observed magnetic permeability, and in many cases a large magnetic coercivity allowing the material to form a permanent magnet. Ferromagnetic materials ...
*
Magnetochemistry
Magnetochemistry is concerned with the magnetic properties of chemical compounds. Magnetic properties arise from the spin and orbital angular momentum of the electrons contained in a compound. Compounds are diamagnetic when they contain no unpaire ...
Notes
References
Further reading
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitra, Samaresh
Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Chemical Science
1937 births
Living people
Indian scientific authors
Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences
Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy
Fellows of The National Academy of Sciences, India
Scientists from West Bengal
Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gorakhpur University alumni
University of Melbourne alumni
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research faculty
Fellows of St John's College, Oxford
Ohio State University faculty
University of Pennsylvania faculty
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty
Australian National University faculty
Monash University faculty
Tezpur University