Antoniojaw at 05:17, 9 January 2026

2026-01-09T05:17:55Z

New page

{{Short description|Indian Optical Physicist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=October 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name = D. D. Bhawalkar
| image =
| imagesize =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1940|10|16}}
| birth_place = [[Sagar, Madhya Pradesh|Sagar]], [[Madhya Pradesh]], India
| death_date =
| death_place =
| restingplace =
| restingplacecoordinates =
| othername =
| occupation = Laser physicist
| yearsactive = 1962-present
| known for = [[Lasers]]
| spouse =
| domesticpartner =
| children =
| parents =
| website =
| awards = [[Padma Shri]]<br>[[Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize]]<br>Goyal Prize<br>[[H K Firodia awards|Firodia Award]]<br>[[Homi Bhabha Award]]
}}
'''Dilip Devidas Bhawalkar''' is an Indian optical physicist and the founder director of the [[Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology]] (CAT), an institute under the [[Department of Atomic Energy]], serving as a centre for higher studies in the fields of [[lasers]] and [[particle accelerators]].<ref name="CAT Director gets extension for two years">{{cite web | url=http://www.cat.gov.in/newsletter/news/oct0001.html | title=CAT Director gets extension for two years | publisher=Centre for Advanced Technology | date=2015 | access-date=4 November 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170208211226/http://www.cat.gov.in/newsletter/news/oct0001.html | archive-date=8 February 2017 | url-status=dead }}</ref> He is credited with pioneering research in [[optics]] and [[lasers]] in India and is reported to have contributed in making CAT a partner in the [[International Linear Collider]] and [[Large Hadron Collider]] experiments of the [[European Organization for Nuclear Research]] (CERN).<ref name="Dr.D.D.Bhawalkar retires as Director, CAT">{{cite web | url=http://www.cat.ernet.in/newsletter/news/oct0302.html | title=Dr.D.D.Bhawalkar retires as Director, CAT | publisher=Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology | date=2015 | access-date=4 November 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304115821/http://www.cat.ernet.in/newsletter/news/oct0302.html | archive-date=4 March 2016 | url-status=dead }}</ref> He is a recipient of the [[Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize]], the highest Indian award in science and technology.<ref name="Brief Profile of the Awardee">{{cite web | url=http://ssbprize.gov.in/content/Detail.aspx?AID=409 | title=Brief Profile of the Awardee | publisher=Council of Science and Industrial Research | date=2015 | access-date=4 November 2015}}</ref> The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian award of the [[Padma Shri]] in 2000.<ref name="Padma Awards">{{cite web |url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |title=Padma Awards |publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India |date=2015 |access-date=21 July 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015193758/http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |archive-date=15 October 2015 }}</ref>

== Biography ==
Bhawalkar, born on 16 October 1940 at [[Sagar, Madhya Pradesh|Sagar]] city of [[Dr. Hari Singh Gour University]], in the Central Indian state of [[Madhya Pradesh]], completed his graduate (BSc) in 1959 and postgraduate (MSc) studies in 1961 at [[Sagar University]], topping the examinations for which he received ''Chintamanrao Gold Medal'' from the university. He continued his studies at [[Southampton University]], securing a master's degree (MSc) in electronics and a doctoral degree (PhD) in [[lasers]] and started his career as a member of faculty at the same university in 1966.<ref name="Dr.D.D.Bhawalkar retires as Director, CAT" /> His career at Southampton was short-lived as he returned to India in 1967 and accepted the job of a scientific officer at the [[Bhabha Atomic Research Centre]] (BARC) to continue his work on lasers. He stayed at BARC mainstream till 1987 during which period, he became the section head in 1973 and the division head in 1984.<ref name="INSA Fellow">{{cite web | url=http://www.insaindia.org.in/detail.php?id=N90-1046 | title=INSA Fellow | publisher=Indian National Science Academy | date=2015 | access-date=4 November 2015 | url-status=usurped | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160812233506/http://www.insaindia.org.in/detail.php?id=N90-1046 | archive-date=12 August 2016 }}</ref>

Bhawalkar was appointed as the founder director when [[Centre for Advanced Technology]] was started by the [[Department of Atomic Energy]] in 1987. In 2000, when he was due for his statutory superannuation, the government extended his service for a further period of two years, till October 2002.<ref name="CAT Director gets extension for two years" /> After his retirement in 2002, he joined ''Quantalase'', an organization manufacturing industrial and medical lasers, as its director and holds the post till date.<ref name="About Director">{{cite web | url=http://quantalase.in/about_us/about_director | title=About Director | publisher=Quantalase Enterprises | date=2015 | access-date=4 November 2015}}</ref>

== Legacy ==
Bhawalkar is one of the pioneers of laser in India and one of the early doctoral scholars in the technology when the discipline was at its nascent stage.<ref name="Dr.D.D.Bhawalkar retires as Director, CAT" /> He initiated research on lasers at BARC, has been one of the key figures in the establishment of the [[Centre for Advanced Technology]] of the DAE at BARC and was involved with the institution from its beginning till his superannuation. During this period, he was instrumental in setting up of various laboratories and facilities of CAT<ref name="Dr.D.D.Bhawalkar retires as Director, CAT" /> and developing a ''National Laser Programme'' for the country.<ref name="About Director" /><ref name="LASER TECHNOLOGY IN INDIA">{{cite web | url=http://pib.nic.in/feature/feyr98/fe1298/f1512981.html | title=LASER TECHNOLOGY IN INDIA | publisher=Press Information Bureau, Government of India | date=2015 | access-date=5 November 2015}}</ref> His efforts are reported behind the establishment of research infrastructure and courses on [[lasers]] and [[particle accelerators]] at BARC training school and behind the introduction of R&D programmes at the Laser Division of BARC.<ref name="INSA Fellow" /> He also mentored 18 research scholars, including two from [[Southampton University]], in their studies.<ref name="INSA Fellow" />

Bhawalkar is credited with pioneering research on Lasers in India and was the initiator of a new method for measuring ''weak lensing in gases'' by employing a [[Gaussian beam]] which has since been incorporated in [[Photothermal spectroscopy]].<ref name="INSA Fellow" /> His development of an ''Nd Glass laser chain'' for generating 10GW of pulsed power has assisted the subsequent experiments on [[Plasma acceleration|laser-produced plasmas]].<ref name="Brief Profile of the Awardee" /> He has also contributed to the development of biological and medical applications of lasers.<ref name="INSA Fellow" /> He founded a prototype production facility at CAT which is reported to have supplied over 50 lasers for DAE researches and to the industry. The team led by him<ref name="CENTRE FOR ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF ATOMIC ENERGY">{{cite web | url=http://www-pub.iaea.org/mtcd/nf/ws2001/india/cat-dae.html | title=CENTRE FOR ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF ATOMIC ENERGY | publisher=International Atomic Energy Agency | date=2015 | access-date=4 November 2015}}</ref> is known to have contributed for the setting up of INDUS 1, the first [[Synchrotron Radiation Source]] in India and the precursor of [[Indus 2]].<ref name="Dr.D.D.Bhawalkar retires as Director, CAT" /> It was during his tenure as the director, CAT started its participation in the [[International Linear Collider]]<ref name="INSA Fellow" /> and [[Large Hadron Collider]] experiments of [[European Organization for Nuclear Research]] (CERN).<ref name="Dr.D.D.Bhawalkar retires as Director, CAT" /> His researches have been documented by over 80 scientific and organizational<ref name="LASER TECHNOLOGY IN INDIA" /> articles, published in national and international peer reviewed journals.<ref name="INSA Fellow" />

== Positions ==
Bhawalkar is a distinguished scientist of the [[Centre for Advanced Technology]] and a distinguished honorary professor of the [[Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur]].<ref name="About Director" /> He served as the coordinator of DAE=CERN collaboration and the ''Integrated Long Term Programme of Cooperation'', an Indo-Russian joint venture on lasers and accelerators and as a member of the steering committee of the [[International Linear Collider]] programme.<ref name="INSA Fellow" /> He is the founder president of the ''Indian Laser Association''.<ref name="Earlier Executive Committees">{{cite web | url=http://www.ila.org.in/ | title=Earlier Executive Committees | publisher=Indian Laser Association | work=2015 | access-date=5 November 2015}}</ref> He is a member of the ''Indian Physics Association'',<ref name="About Director" /> and a former member of the ''Asian Committee for Future Accelerators'' and the ''International Committee for Future Accelerators''.<ref name="INSA Fellow" /> He chaired the ''Asian Committee for Future Accelerators'' (ACFA) and the Advanced Technology Committee of ''Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences'' of the [[Department of Atomic Energy]] and is a member of [[International Union of Pure and Applied Physics#Committees and governance|C-13 Committee]] of [[International Union of Pure and Applied Physics]].<ref name="About Director" />

== Awards and honours ==
The [[Indian Academy of Sciences]] elected Bhawalkar as its Fellow in 1986.<ref name="IAS Fellow">{{cite web | url=http://www.ias.ac.in/listing/fellows | title=IAS Fellow | publisher=Indian Academy of Sciences | date=2015 | access-date=4 November 2015}}</ref> The [[Indian National Science Academy]] (INSA)<ref name="INSA Fellow" /> and the [[National Academy of Sciences, India]] (NASI) followed suit in 1990.<ref name="NASI Fellow">{{cite web | url=http://www.nasi.org.in/fellows.asp?RsFilter=B | title=NASI Fellow | publisher=National Academy of Sciences, India | date=2015 | access-date=4 November 2015 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150717005033/http://www.nasi.org.in/fellows.asp?RsFilter=B | archive-date=17 July 2015 }}</ref> He was elected as a Fellow of the [[Optical Society of America]] in 1998<ref name="Optical Society of America Fellow">{{cite web | url=https://www.osa.org/en-us/connect/fellows_directory/ | title=Optical Society of America Fellow | publisher=Optical Society of America | date=2015 | access-date=4 November 2015}}</ref> and was, subsequently, selected as the Foreign Fellow of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences.<ref name="INSA Fellow" /> The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) awarded him the [[Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize]], the highest Indian award in the science and technology category in 1984,<ref name="Brief Profile of the Awardee" /> the same year, as he was selected as the UGC lecturer by the [[University Grants Commission (India)|University Grants Commission of India]]. He received the ''Goyal Prize'' of the [[Kurukshetra University]] in 1999<ref name="Goyal Prize">{{cite web | url=http://kuk.ac.in/userfiles/file/news/goyal%20prize%202008.pdf | title=Goyal Prize | publisher=Kurukshetra University | date=2015 | access-date=5 November 2015}}</ref> and he was included in the 2000 [[Indian honours system|Republic Day honours]] list for the civilian award of the [[Padma Shri]], by the Government of India.<ref name="Padma Awards" /> He received one more award, [[H K Firodia awards|H. K. Firodia Award]], in 2000.<ref name="H K Firodia awards">{{cite web | url=http://hkfmindq.org/awards_2.html | title=H K Firodia awards | publisher=H K Firodia Foundation | date=2015 | access-date=5 November 2015 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117023035/http://hkfmindq.org/awards_2.html | archive-date=17 November 2015 }}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[Large Hadron Collider]]
* [[Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology]]
* [[Synchrotron Radiation Source]]
* [[International Linear Collider]]
* [[Large Hadron Collider]]
* [[International Union of Pure and Applied Physics]]
{{div col end}}
{{portal|India|Science}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{2000s Padma Shri Award Recipients in Science & Engineering}}
{{SSBPST recipients in Engineering Science}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhawalkar, Dilip Devidas}}
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in science & engineering]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Physical Science]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy]]
[[Category:Fellows of the National Academy of Sciences, India]]
[[Category:Foreign members of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences]]
[[Category:Fellows of Optica (society)]]
[[Category:People from Sagar, Madhya Pradesh]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Southampton]]
[[Category:Academics of the University of Southampton]]
[[Category:1940 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Scientists from Madhya Pradesh]]
[[Category:Indian optical physicists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian physicists]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Engineering Science]]
[[Category:People associated with CERN]]

D. D. Bhawalkar - Revision history

Antoniojaw at 05:17, 9 January 2026