This Kolkata Scientist Who Cycled To Work Won a $3 Million Prize for His Physics Breakthrough

Born in Kolkata in 1956, Professor Ashoke Sen grew up with an innate fascination for complex mathematical ideas. From his early schooling at Sailendra Sircar Vidyalaya and undergraduate days at Presidency College, Kolkata, equations and theoretical puzzles held more allure than ease of life. 

He went on to complete his master’s at IIT Kanpur and pursued doctoral research at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, later holding post‑doctoral positions at Fermilab and the Stanford Linear Accelerator Centre.

Despite lucrative offers abroad, Sen chose to return to India. He joined the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai in the late 1980s, and in 1995 moved to the Harish‑Chandra Research Institute in Prayagraj, where he built a distinguished career on a foundation of chalkboards and deep thought.

Sen’s contributions to theoretical physics, especially in string theory, reshaped the field in the 1990s. His work on strong‑weak coupling duality and the idea now known as the ‘Sen Conjecture’ offered fresh insight into how different versions of string theory might fit together, helping to launch what some described as the ‘second superstring revolution’.

In 2012, he received a life‑changing call; he had been awarded the inaugural Fundamental Physics Prize, nearly three times the monetary value of a Nobel, in recognition of his visionary work.

Many expected his life to change. Instead, a significant portion of the prize was donated to support students and scientific research, and the next day he pedalled his bicycle back to work. Sen still prefers a modest office and the simplicity of chalk and board to the limelight.

His story reminds us that true greatness often arrives not with noise, but quietly, on two wheels and with relentless curiosity at its core.