Dipen Bhattacharya
Dipen Bhattacharya (Bengali দীপেন ভট্টাচার্য, born September 21, 1959) is a Bengali science fiction writer. He is a high energy astrophysicist working with gamma-ray detectors at Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics in University of California, Riverside, USA.. He is also a Founder Member of Anushandhitshu Chokro Science Organization in Bangladesh. .
Family Background
His father was Justice Debesh Chandra Bhattacharya., a Supreme Court Judge, one of the first judges appointed by the newly independent Government of Bangladesh in 1972.
Education & Professional Background
Graduated from St. Gregory's High School in Dhaka (SSC, 1974) and Dhaka College (HSC, 1976), Moscow State University, Russia (MS, 1984). He obtained his PhD in experimental astrophysics from University of New Hampshire in USA in 1990. Dipen Bhattacharya worked in NASA's NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, USA, from 1990 to 1992. Currently, he is a research scientist with the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics at the University of California, Riverside. He also teaches physics and astronomy at the Riverside Community College. As a Fulbright Fellow he taught physics at BRAC University, Dhaka during 2006-2007.
His current research work concentrates on the construction of a next-generation gamma-ray telescope working in medium gamma-ray energies. His earlier work included research on the distribution of supernova remnants in our galaxy.
He played a major role in the advancement of amateur astronomy in Bangladesh, especially through A. Chokro Science Organization, which was responsible for assembling the largest eclipse watching crowd ever in one place. More than 25,000 people gathered in Panchagarh Stadium in northern Bangladesh on July 22, 2009, to observe a total solar eclipse.
He also works with Bangladesh Environment Network (BEN), a Environment based association of scientists and activists. In a report, he shows that the government of Bangladesh must outline a detailed, long-term plan to cope with climate change and their adaptation strategy will have to be based on the long-term geological experience of the Bengal delta, as well as short-term human-induced changes in land-use and water resources in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna basin.
Books
Dipen Bhattacharya is the author of two Bengali science fiction novels: Neolith Shopno (Neolith Dreams) and Avijit Nokkhotrer Alo (Light from Vega). These books are unusual within the Bengali science fiction genre and have received acclaim from seasoned readers.
Recent Publications
- The Spiral Arm Connection of EGRET Unidentified Sources
- Prototype TIGRE Compton Gamma-Ray Balloon-Borne Telescope
- Enhanced Performance of an Electron Tracking Compton Gamma-Ray Telescope
- On the Distribution of EGRET Unidentified Sources in the Galactic Plane
- Development of the TIGRE Compton Telescope for Intermediate-Energy Gamma-Ray
- A Tracking and Imaging Gamma-Ray Telescope (TIGRE) for Energies of 0.3 to 100 MeV
- Solar Two Gamma-Ray Observatory
- On the Nature of the Discrete Gamma-Ray Sources in the Vicinity of the Supernova Remnant G312.4-0.4