Journey of Amarjit Singh from Phagwara to Pilani

Abstract

In this paper, various aspects of the life of Padma Bhusan Dr. Amarjit Singh are discussed. The author dedicates the paper to his mentor at CEERI, Dr. S.S.S. Agarwala, with whom Dr. Amarjit Singh had a long association. Dr. Singh served as Assistant Director/Assistant Director-cum-Officer-in-Charge of CEERI from 1959 to 1962, and then as Director from 1963 to 1984. During his early school years in Phagwara, Kapurthala, Punjab, Dr. Singh was guided by his father, the great experimentalist Sardar Jagdish Singh, and his science teacher, Mr. Banwari Lal. Dr. Singh attended Sikh National College, Lahore, for his Bachelor of Science (Honours) and Master of Science (Honours) degrees from Punjab University in 1944 and 1945, respectively; his master's thesis was praised by Sir C.V. Raman, his thesis examiner. Dr. Singh then studied Radio Engineering at Ohio State University and Applied Physics at Harvard University, earning a Master of Engineering Science in 1947 and a Doctor of Philosophy in 1949, both from Harvard University. Dr. Singh's journey, which began in Phagwara, concluded in Pilani, where he constructed CEERI brick by brick. This journey will inspire young people to overcome obstacles with perseverance and commitment in order to accomplish their goals. The author owes Dr. P.C. Panchariya for permission to reproduce this paper from CEERI News.

Keywords:

• Magnetron
• Microwave tubes
• Padma Bhushan
• SSS Agarwala
• Travelling wave tube
• Vacuum electron devices

Acknowledgments

I express my sincere gratitude to Prof. S.N. Joshi, formerly coordinator of Microwave Tubes Area of CSIR-CSIR-CEERI, Pilani as well as to Prof. Chandra Shekhar, formerly Director of CSIR-CSIR-CEERI, Pilani, for sparing their valuable time to discuss with me different aspects of this article. I am profoundly grateful to Ms. Sreelatha Menon for her helpful criticism and editing. I enjoyed working with Mr. Rohit Singh of CSIR-CEERI Library while editing the manuscript of this article. I express my profound gratitude to Prof. S.C. Dutta Roy and Prof. P.C. Panchariya.²

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 In addition to this article, I have dedicated one of my earlier works a book titled Technical Writing [1] also to Dr.Agarwala.

2 The author has taken due permission from Dr. P. C. Panchariya, the Director of CSIR-CEERI, Pilani, to reproduce the present article from CEERI News in IETE Journal of Education.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

B. N. Basu

B N Basu received BTech, MTech and PhD degrees from the Institute of Radio Physics and Electronics, Calcutta University in 1965, 1966 and 1976, respectively. He superannuated as professor & head of Electronics Engineering Department and Coordinator of Centre of Research in Microwave Tubes (CRMT) at Institute of Technology, BHU (now known as (IIT)-BHU), India. Currently, he holds the position of distinguished adjunct professor at the Supreme Knowledge Foundation Group of Institutions (SKFGI) in Mankundu, West Bengal, India. Previously, in addition to IIT-BHU and SKFGI-Mankundu, he worked for the National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur; CSIR-Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute (CEERI), Pilani; DRDO-Defense Electronics Research Laboratory (DLRL), Hyderabad; and College of Engineering and Technology, IFTM, Moradabad. He was in the team responsible for the development of the first ever travelling-wave tube (TWT) in the country. He was one of the members of the DST Steering Committee of the multi-institutional project in which the first ever gyrotron in the country for fusion plasma heating was developed. He was distinguished visiting scientist of CSIR at CEERI-Pilani and Consultant to DRDO-MTRDC-Bangalore. He at present co-chairs with ISRO director a committee that monitors a project at CEERI-Pilani for the indigenous development of a class of space-qualified TWTs for ISRO-SAC-Ahmedabad. He played a pivotal role in establishing MOUs (i) between Department of Electronics Engineering, IIT-BHU and CSIR CEERI, Pilani; (ii) between Seoul National University and CSIR-CEERI, Pilani; and (iii) between SKFGI, Mankundu and CSIR-CEERI, Pilani. He is Golden Reviewer of IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices. He serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of ElectromagneticWaves and Applications (JEMWA), and he guest-edited Issue 17, Vol. 31, 2017 of the journal's Special Issue on Microwave Tubes and Applications (Taylor and Francis). Professor Basu took visiting assignments abroad at Lancaster University, UK; Seoul National University, Korea; Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany; and University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu. He was President of Vacuum Electronic Devices and Application Society, India of which he is one of the founders. He established the renowned WhatsApp group “Thinkers in Vacuum Electron Devices”. Professor Basu has authored (or co-authored) more than 130 research papers in journals of international repute (including more than 45 in IEEE Transactions) and 8 monograph chapters in the area of vacuum electron devices (microwave tubes). He has authored 6 books: (i) Electromagnetic Theory and Applications in Beam-Wave Electronics (World Scientific, Singapore/New Jersey/London/Hong Kong, 1996), (ii) Technical Writing (Prentice-Hall of India, New Delhi, 2007), (iii) Engineering Electromagnetics Essentials (Universities Press, Hyderabad, 2015) (distributed by Orient Blackswan, India), (iv) High Power Microwave Tubes: Basics and Trends, Vol. 1, (v) Ibid Vol. 2, Morgan & Claypool Publishers, California,USA with IOP Publishing, Bristol, UK 2018) (with Vishal Kesari as his co-author), besides (vi) his autobiography in Bengali: ‘Chhoriye Chhitiye Muhoortogulo,” 2023. Professor Basu served on the Technical Committee on Vacuum Electronic Devices of the IEEE Electron Devices Society. He is recipient of the SVC Aiya Memorial Award of IETE, India; Lifetime Achievement Award of the Vacuum Electronic Devices and Application Society, India; Microwave Pioneer Award of International Symposium of Microwaves, India; and Lifetime Achievement Award of IETE.