Jitendra Nath Goswami is an Indian scientist from Assam who was involved in Chandrayaan-2, a history in the chest of space. Not only Chandrayaan-2, but this Assamese child also played an important role in the planning and implementation of this mission in parallel with becoming the Chief Scientist of India’s first lunar mission Chandrayaan-1. Assamese are proud of Jitendra Nath Goswami, the son of Assam, who is one of the Chief Scientist of Chandrayaan-1 and was also the developer of this project.
Biography of Jitendra Nath Goswami
| Name | Jitendra Nath Goswami[1] |
| Date of Birth | 18th November, 1950 |
| Place of Birth | Jorhat, Assam |
| Age | 70 Years |
| Education | 1/ Jorhat Government Higher Secondary School 2/ Bahumukhi Boys School 3/ Cotton College 4/ Guwahati University 5/ Tata Institute of Fundamental Research 6/ Gujarat University |
| Awards | 1/Youth Scientist Award of National Academy of Indian Science (INSA) (1978) 2/NASA Public Service Group Assignment Award (1986). 3/Shanti(Peace) Swarup Bhatnagar Award (1994) 4/ Kamal Kumari Award for Science and Technology (2003). 5/Asia Oceania Geoscience Society’s ‘Exford’ Award (2014) 6/Assam Ratna (2015) 7/Padma Shri (2017) |
Early Life
Born in an educationally noble family in Jorhat, Dr. Jitendra Nath Goswami introduced his talented qualities from a very young age. Goswami was the only student to get scholarship in class VI. Goswami, who started his education career in Jorhat, got sixth position in the higher secondary examination in 1965. Goswami later enrolled in the graduation stream at Cotton College with physics as the main subject. In parallel, he started researching at the University of California as a postgraduate floor research student. He later received his PhD degree from Gujarat University in 1978. One of the reasons he was attracted to science was the role of his uncle, late Trailokya Goswami (professor of JB College and later principal of Tinsukia College). Along with his uncle, teachers also played an important role in the life of Goswami. Importantly Goswami also won Science Talent Scholarship.
Also Read : Biography of Ambikagiri Raichoudhury
Achievements
After completing his Doctorate degree, he did research work at various institutions such as the University of California, the University of Washington, Lunar and Planetary Institute and the Max-Planck Institute of Astronomy. The main theme of Goswami’s research was study of Solar system and Astronomy. Goswami and other fellow scientists highlighted many other important facts while proving that the 26Al nucleoid particles acted as a source of energy during the creation of the solar system.
Apart from these Goswami has also highlighted some important results in relation to cosmic rays, tectonic plates etc. He also played the role of a caretaker in the early stages of the Indian Space Research Organisation’s Planetary Science and Exploration Project in 2004-07. Goswami also served as a co-caretaker of the Indian Cosmic Ray Test on spacecraft SpaceLab-3 and chief caretaker of the Lunar Samples. One of the advisors to the Mars Orbiter Mission launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was an Assamese child. On the other hand Jitendra Nath Goswami was also elected president of the Indian Astronomical Association in 2007. Goswami is currently in charge of the Director of Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad as well as ISRO. On the other hand, Dr° Goswami is also an honorary member of various organisations like The World Academy of Science, Indian Academy of Sciences, European Association of Geochemistry etc. Goswami as well as two other scientists first investigated the rocks and dust cosmic rays brought from the moon during the Apollo mission. It is for these reasons that they have had a seminar(discussion cycle)on this issue every year since 1990. The spacecraft successfully inserted into the lunar orbit on November 8, 2008. Chandrayaan-1’s technical goal was to travel to and around the moon and inform the earth about scientific, i.e. the details of the lunar surface. The main success of this Chandrayaan-1 was to discover water for the first time on the moon.
Scientist Jitendra Nath Goswami was also involved in Chandrayaan-1 as well as the Mars mission. The research on the Mangal mission started from 2010. The Mars campaign was successful in the first step. Their Mars vehicle travelled around the planet with capacity. It may be recalled that this was the first expedition in the world where it had simultaneously succeeded in travelling around Mars. The pay load used in ‘Mangalyaan’ were indigenously constructed. The basic purpose of ‘Mangalyaan’ was to study the composition of the surface of Mars, the structure, appearance, etc. of mars using indigenous scientific tools and minerals. The Mars spacecraft was successfully placed in earth orbit by the Indian Space Research Organisation on November 5, 2013. The Mars mission had 5 tools for scientific experiments. Mars is India’s first interplanetary mission and ISRO is the fourth space agency on Earth to Mars.
Successful launch of Chandrayaan-1 as well as Chandrayaan-2; Assamese scientist Dr. Jitendra Nath Goswami was also a partner in the campaign. On July 22, 2019, the Indian Space Research Organisation successfully launched mission ‘Chandrayaan-2’ from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Srihari Kota to India’s second moon at 2.43 pm. Dr. Jitendra Nath Goswami, a pride space scientist from Assam, was involved as the advisory director in Chandrayaan-2 mission which was successfully launched by ISRO. Chandrayaan-2 was launched into earth’s orbit with the help of a GSLV-MKlII-M1 rocket named ‘Bahubali’ from Sriharikota Space Center.
Chandrayaan-2 launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation crossed a distance of about 384,4000 km and entered the southern end of the moon. India was the first country in the world to launch a mission to the southern end of the moon through Chandrayaan-2. It may be recalled that the total expenditure incurred on the campaign was Rs 978 crore. Senior space scientist Jitendra Nath Goswami served as the chairman of chandrayaan-2 advisory committee. Positively with Chandrayaan-2 not only did Jitendra Nath Goswami but two other Assamese children Deepak Kumar Das and Hidam Rajeev Singh served as directors of ISRO’s Space Application Centre and members of production stage respectively.
Goswami’s view on moving forward to study space science in the Northeast is that it is very important to plan on increasing the student attraction towards space science. It may be noted that information at all levels of the Satellite Remote Sensing through ISRO event called North-East Space Application Centre (NESAC) in Shillong, analysis training is given. According to Goswami, interested students may get some glimpses while in college. According to him students can also take guidance of ISRO.
According to Goswami, students should do whatever they want to do and whatever they wanted to study or work. But before choosing any study or work one should have a proper knowledge and skill, However, according to Goswami, a mentor is required or needed to discuss, analyse and consult everything in this regard in a thorough manner.
In the past, NASA Public Service Group of Achievement Award, Shanti(peace) Swarup Bhatnagar Award, Kamal Kumari National Award, Oxford Award as well as Assam’s Ratna Samman Award and in addition the Padma Shri award was conferred to Dr° Jitendranath Goswami for his contribution in the field of science and engineering in 2017.
Conclusion
Jitendra Nath Goswami is one of the brightest star of Assam, On various occasions the children of Assam have lit the name of Assam in the world court. Assamese children have been able to show their skills in their respective workplaces at different times. One of the notable name of Assam who have a distinct status in the field of science and technology is Dr° Jitendra Nath Goswami. Born into a knowledge city of Assam, Jorhat, this Assamese child is a familiar name not only for Assam but for the whole of India. Goswami is the pride of the Assamese people and the whole of India.
FAQ
1. Who is the famous Scientist of Assam?
Ans: Jitendra Nath Goswami.
2. Who is the first Scientist of Assam?
Ans: Raghab Chandra Deka was the first Assamese to be selected as a member of the 7th Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica in November, 1987.
3. When and where was Jitendra Nath Goswami born?
Ans: He was born on 18th November, 1950 at Jorhat, Assam.
4. Who is Jitendra Nath Goswami?
Ans: Jitendra Nath Goswami is an Indian scientist from Assam who was involved in Chandrayaan-1 and Chandrayaan-2, a history in the chest of space.
5. What is the full form of ISRO?
Ans: Indian Space Research Organisation.
6. When did Goswami was awarded with Assam Ratna?
Ans: He was awarded with Assam Ratna in 2015.
7. When did Goswami was awarded with Padma Shri Award?
Ans: He was awarded with Padma Shri Award in 2017.
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