Prabhu Lal Bhatnagar

Prabhu Lal Bhatnagar
Born	18 August 1912(1912-08-18) Kota, India
Died	5 October 1976(1976-10-05) (aged 64) Allahabad, India
Residence	India
Nationality	Indian
Fields	Mathematician
Institutions	University of Delhi Indian Institute of Science Harvard University Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
Alma mater	Agra University
Doctoral advisor	Amiya Charan Banerjee
Doctoral students	Purushottam Lal Sachdev Phoolan Prasad
Known for	Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook
Notable awards	Padma Bhushan in 1968

Prabhu Lal Bhatnagar (8 August 1912 – 5 October 1976), commonly addressed as P. L. Bhatnagar, was an Indian mathematician known for his contribution to the Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook (BGK) collision model used in Lattice Boltzmann methods (LBM).

Biography

Early years

P. L. Bhatnagar was born in Kota in Rajasthan and was the second of five sons. He did his schooling in Rampura and later at Herberter College in Kota. After schooling he went to Maharajah's College in Jaipur where in 1935 he completed BSc with first rank, followed by MSc.^{[citation needed]}

Middle years

His research career started at the Allahabad University, where he worked from 1937 till 1939 on Fourier series and Allied series. The result of his work are included in the book of Erich Kamke.^[1] and also resulted in journal publications together with his supervisor Amiya Charan Banerjee.^[2] He became interested in the area of astrophysics after coming in contact with Megh Nad Saha, who was well known figure in the field. In 1939 he obtained DPhil degree in mathematics for his thesis titled On the Origin of the Solar System.

In 1939 he joined St. Stephen's College, Delhi on the invitation of S. N. Mukherjee and spent the next 16 years there. There he worked on the theory of white dwarfs, independently and together with Daulat Singh Kothari.

In 1952 he was invited to Harvard University as a Fulbright scholar. There he worked together with Donald Howard Menzel and Hari Kesab Singh in the field of non-linear gases.^[3] His work with the Boltzmann equation led to his well known BGK collision model in 1954 together with E. P. Gross and Max Krook.^[4] It was at first extensively developed for ionized gases with many applications. These days, the BGK collision operator is essential for the recent development of lattice Boltzmann automata methods.

In 1950 he was elected fellow of Indian National Science Academy and in 1955 the fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences. In 1956 he was invited to join Indian Institute of Science as professor of the newly created department of mathematics. There he expanded his research area into the field of non-Newtonian fluid mechanics. Alongside to his research work he also laid down the foundation stone of the Indian National Mathematics Olympiad.^[5] For his contributions to the nation, on 26 January 1968 he was awarded the Padma Bhushan.^[6]

During the early sixtees he developed complications in the lower spinal region and was opearated in the United States. In 1969 he moved to Rajasthan University in Jaipur as Vice-Chancellor and in 1971 joined Himachal Pradesh University in Shimla as senior professor.

Later years

His wife died in January 1973. He moved to Delhi in October as member of the Union Public Service Commission. In 1975 he accepted the post of Director of the newly created Mehta Research Institute in Allahabad. He died of a heart attack on 5 October 1976.^[7]

See also

• Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook

References

1. ^ Kamke, Erich (1971). Differentialgleichungen-Lösungsmethoden und Lösungen. Chelsea Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0828400442. 
2. ^ Bhatnagar, P. L.; A. C. Banerji (1938). "On the solution of certain types of differential equations". Proceedings of National Academy of Science India 8: 85–91. 
3. ^ Bhatnagar, P. L.; D. H. Menzel, H. K. Sen (1963). Stellar Interiors. International Astrophysics. Chapman and Hall. 
4. ^ Bhatnagar, P.; Gross, E.; Krook, M. (1954). "A Model for Collision Processes in Gases. I. Small Amplitude Processes in Charged and Neutral One-Component Systems". Physical Review 94 (3): 511. Bibcode 1954PhRv...94..511B. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.94.511. 
5. ^ Bhatnagar, P. L.; M. K. Singal (1974). "Mathematical Olympiads". Bulletin of Mathematical Association of India 6. 
6. ^ Singal, M. K. (1972). "P. L. Bhatnagar, Man and Mathematician". The Mathematics Student 40: 1–12. 
7. ^ Prasad, Phoolan (1978). "A few glimpses of Professor P. L. Bhatnagar". Mathematics Teacher (India) 14: 82–85. 

External links

• Biography on Springer website
• Biography
• Webpage of Phoolan Prasad

Persondata
Name	Prabhu Lal Bhatnagar
Alternative names
Short description	Indian mathematician
Date of birth	8 August 1912
Place of birth	Kota
Date of death	5 October 1976
Place of death	Allahabad