Ipsita Biswas is an Indian

terminal ballistics Terminal ballistics (also known as wound ballistics) is a sub-field of ballistics concerned with the behavior and effects of a projectile when it hits and transfers its energy to a target. Bullet design (as well as the velocity of impact) larg ...

scientist. In 2019 she was conferred India's highest civilian award for women, the Narishakti Puruskar, for her contributions to India's armed forces,

paramilitary forces A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carr ...

and

women's empowerment Women's empowerment (or female empowerment) may be defined in several ways, including accepting women's viewpoints, making an effort to seek them and raising the status of women through education, awareness, literacy, and training.Kabeer, Naila ...

in defence research and development.

Life

Biswas was born and brought up in Kolkata. She completed her post-graduate degree in

applied mathematics Applied mathematics is the application of mathematical methods by different fields such as physics, engineering, medicine, biology, finance, business, computer science, and industry. Thus, applied mathematics is a combination of mathemati ...

from

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 ...

in 1988. Immediately after her post-graduation she applied for a job at the

Defence Research and Development Organisation The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) (IAST: ''Raksā Anūsandhān Evam Vikās Sangaṭhan'') is the premier agency under the Department of Defence Research and Development in Ministry of Defence of the Government of India, ...

(DRDO) and was selected in 1988 itself. She joined

Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL) is a laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) which comes under Ministry of Defence. Located in Chandigarh, the laboratory has become one of the major DRDO labs in the f ...

(TBRL), a DRDO lab in 1998 and now leads three divisions in the laboratory. Her work includes evaluating life-saving devices, protective systems and

frangible bullet Frangible bullets are intended to disintegrate into tiny particles upon target impact to minimize their penetration of other objects. Small particles are slowed more rapidly by air resistance, and are less likely to cause injury or damage to perso ...

s. In 2016, she led the TBRL team which developed less-lethal plastic bullets which have been used by Indian paramilitary forces for

crowd control in Jammu and Kashmir Crowd control in Jammu and Kashmir is a public security practice to prevent and manage violent riots. It is enforced by police forces through laws preventing unlawful assembly, as well as using riot control agents such as tear gas, chili grenade ...

. These plastic bullets can be used in the existing weapons used by the security forces. In March 2019, she was conferred India's highest civilian award for women, the Narishakti Puruskar "2018", by President Ram Nath Kovind, for her contributions to the women's empowerment in defence R&D and for her work on

bulletproof vests A bulletproof vest, also known as a ballistic vest or a bullet-resistant vest, is an item of body armor that helps absorb the impact and reduce or stop penetration to the torso from firearm-fired projectiles and fragmentation from explosions. Th ...

and other protective systems for India's security forces. The award was conferred at the Presidential Palace. Prime Minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament fro ...

was present. She has also been conferred the 'Agni Award for Excellence in Self Reliance' and the 'High Energy Material Society of India (HEMSI) Team Award for Meritorious Service'. The bullets can be used in

AK-47 The AK-47, officially known as the ''Avtomat Kalashnikova'' (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is a gas-operated assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms d ...

rifles and they "reduce fatalities". Biswas and her team have also been involved with developing

frangible A material is said to be frangible if through deformation it tends to break up into fragments, rather than deforming elastically and retaining its cohesion as a single object. Common crackers are examples of frangible materials, while fresh bre ...

bullets which shatter if they hit a surface that is harder than the bullet. The application would allow

sky marshal A sky marshal is a covert law enforcement or counter-terrorist agent on board a commercial aircraft to counter aircraft hijackings. Such an agent is also known as an air marshal, a flight marshal, or an in-flight security officer (IFSO). Sky marsh ...

s to use these bullets to shoot, or threaten to shoot, hijackers on board aircraft with the assurance that the aircraft itself would not suffer substantial damage.

Air India Air India is the flag carrier airline of India, headquartered at New Delhi. It is owned by Talace Private Limited, a Special-Purpose Vehicle (SPV) of Tata Sons, after Air India Limited's former owner, the Government of India, completed the ...

have been using sky marshals since 1999.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Biswas, Ipsita Living people Nari Shakti Puraskar winners Defence Research and Development Organisation 21st-century Indian women scientists 21st-century Indian scientists Jadavpur University alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Women scientists from West Bengal