A gifted mind and a pure soul

A prodigy and a genius in the true sense of the word, one of the most renowned and revered figures in Indian Mathematics, Prabhu Lal Bhatnagar was born today.

Born on 8th August 1912

When his eyes searched for science and science searched for its Bhatnagar

The town of Kota in Rajasthan is famous (and simultaneously infamous) for giving the country countless brilliant minds. One of them was Prabhu Lal Bhatnagar, although there's a slight difference- Bhatnagar was born and brought up here. The large-scale education industry that exists here today didn't exist back then.

P.L. Bhatnagar was born into one of the few comfortable Indian households back in the year 1912. His family had earned goodwill by immersing themselves in philanthropic work and were well respected throughout the city for it.

A comfortable upbringing meant that Prabhu Lal could focus on his studies full-time and his dedication towards books reflected in his academic performance. Right from the beginning, he shone like a star in his class, outperforming most other students.

He carried his performance to Maharajah's College Jaipur and later Agra University, where his exceptional performance fetched him honours and scholarships aplenty.

Seeing his academic potential, Bhatnagar's friends and family pushed him to appear for the Indian Civil Services exam- one of the toughest exams for an Indian to clear but one that rewarded people immensely.

Together, the two of them did exceptional work which came to be quoted in numerous books and Prabhu Lal was awarded the E.G. Hill Memorial Prize for his research during the years 1937-39.

S. N. Mukherji, the then principal of St. Stephen's College, invited him to join his faculty and Prabhu Lal obliged. First as a lecturer and then as the HoD of the Mathematics Department, he made a name for himself within and beyond India.

This fetched him a seat at Harvard University, where he went in the year 1952 as a Fulbright Scholar. It was here that one of his most renowned works, the Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook model for collisions took birth and today it has become an inseparable part of Kinetic Theory.

Back in India, he was appointed the founding Professor of the Department of Applied Mathematics at the Indian Institute of Science. Here, Bhatnagar made significant inroads in the study of non-Newtonian fluid mechanics.

In the last 15 years of his life, he suffered from problems in his lower spine but his academic output didn't decrease significantly. After being awarded the Padma Bhushan for his exemplary contribution to the Sciences, he joined Rajasthan University as its Vice-Chancellor.

The Civil Services finally caught up to him after the death of his wife; Prabhu Lal accepted the offer of being appointed to the Union Public Service Commission before becoming the director of Allahabad's Mehta Research Institute. Just a year into his tenure, Mehta suffered a heart attack and lost the battle of life in the October of 1976 but not before he had significantly enhanced man's understanding of the universe around them.

This story was first published by ThisDay.app.