Most sadly, I learned today that applied mathematics Professor Tanuka Chattopadhyay, from the University of Calcutta, had passed away last month. We had been briefly collaborating after I met her and her husband Asis Chattopadhyay, also Professor of Statistics at the University of Calcutta, following a Franco-Indian workshop in Bangalore. Discussing research directions in astrostatistics in Kolkata and later in Paris, when they visited. We had not been in touch for a few years and I was not aware she was severely ill. Dedicated researcher and mentor, as well as contributing to the administration of the University in many ways, she was versed in classical Indian culture and I will keep the memory of our conversations, esp. the one on New Year’s Ewe in Kolkata.
What follows is an obituary written by Professor Ajit Kembhavi.
Professor Tanuka Chattopadhyay (née Kanjilal), a member of the Astronomical Society of India, passed away on October 16th this year, at the age of 60, after a long and heroic battle with cancer. She was a Professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics of the University of Calcutta. She has been Head of the Department and Dean, Faculty of Science, Calcutta University. At her demise she was Director, Center for Research in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology of the University.Tanuka was from an early age very interested in mathematics. To take that interest further, she joined Presidency College, Kolkata from where she completed her degree in Mathematics with Honours in 1983. For post graduate studies she joined the Department of Applied Mathematics where she got interested in Astrophysics. She later worked for a Ph.D. under the supervision of Professor Baidyanath Basu on Explosion in the central region of the Galaxy, the consequent star formation, formation of molecular clouds and structure of shocks.
Over the years Tanuka worked on a variety of topics. Her earliest papers were on squalls, thunderstorms and convective instability. From these terrestrial considerations her interest soon shifted to molecular clouds, star formation and density waves in the Galaxy. In later years she worked on globular clusters, galaxies with special interest in dwarf and ultra-compact galaxies, Gamma-ray bursts, statistical simulation and computation. In much of her work she used advanced statistical methods to get the most out of available astronomical data. She has published about 50 papers in international journals, and written four books, including Statistical Methods for Astronomical Data Analysis written with her husband Professor Asis Kumar Chattopadhyay, published by Springer and awarded an outstanding publication award in Astrostatistics by the International Astrostatistics Association. Tanuka successfully completed several national and international funded projects and was a frequent visitor to several leading universities in Canada, France and the USA, where she had long collaborations. She supervised a number of Ph.D. students and was a respected teacher and mentor.Tanuka was a Visiting Associate of IUCAA, Pune from 2002 until she passed away. I met her during her first visits to IUCAA, and we soon became friends and collaborators. We were later joined by her husband Asis Chattopadhyay, who is a Professor at the Department of Statistics in the University of Calcutta and was a Pro-Vice Chancellor and Acting Vice Chancellor of the University. Asis soon became a Visiting Associate of IUCAA and the three of us organised a number of workshops in Kolkata and other places on statistical methods and their application to the analysis of astronomical data. Tanuka was a Fellow of West Bengal Academy of Science and member of several organisations including the International Astronomical Union (IAU), Astronomical Society of India, and the International Astrostatistics Association.Using funds obtained under the DST PURSE programme, Tanuka obtained a 14” optical telescope. This was installed in 2015 on the terrace of a building in Rajabazar College and was used for sky watching, as well as carrying our research projects, by students of the Department of Applied Mathematics and other departments of the University. She was also planning to start an outreach programme for school children in Kolkata. Making the telescope available was an exemplary initiative from a person who was a mathematician and a theoretical astrophysicist.In spite of her illness, which stretched over several years, Tanuka remained brave, cheerful and full of spirit, and continued to work very hard. A few months ago, she, Dipankar Banerjee and I were speakers at a meeting celebrating the birth centenary of Professor M. K. Dasgupta. It was impossible for me to then believe that the dynamic speaker was gravely ill, with further treatment not really possible. She talked to me about a visit to IUCAA in December and I was sure she would really come. But about five weeks after the event, she had to be admitted to hospital one night, after having spent the evening attending a meeting in the Vice-Chancellor’s office. She did not return.Tanuka had many interests outside astrophysics. She wrote two Bengali novels Bibashan and Gandhari Santoti. She was completing her first English novel when she passed away, which her family hopes to publish posthumously. She had an artistic nature, had formal training in music and dance and was greatly interested in travel and culture. She was a wonderful wife, mother and mother-in-law, a great hostess and beloved friend, and respected guide and mentor to many. She will be greatly missed.Ajit Kembhavi
IUCAA and Pune Knowledge Cluster
