View source for Ashoke Sen

{{Short description|Indian physicist (born 1956)}}
{{For|the Indian politician|Ashoke Kumar Sen}}
{{Use Indian English|date=January 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name             = Ashoke Sen
| native_name      = 
| native_name_lang = 
| image            = Dr. Ashoke Sen in Physics department of Scottish Church College.jpg
| caption          = Sen in the Physics department of [[Scottish Church College]] in 2019
| birth_date       = {{Birth date and age|1956|7|15|df=yes}}
| birth_place      = [[Kolkata, West Bengal]], India
| death_date       = 
| death_place      = 
| fields           = [[Physics]]
| workplaces       = {{ublist|[[Fermilab]]|[[Stanford Linear Accelerator Center]]|[[Tata Institute of Fundamental Research]]|[[Harish-Chandra Research Institute]]|[[Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal]]}}
| alma_mater       = {{ublist|[[Presidency College, Kolkata]] (BSc)|[[Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur|IIT Kanpur]] (MSc)|[[Stony Brook University]] (PhD)}}
| doctoral_advisor = {{ublist|[[George Sterman]]}}
| known_for        = Contributions to [[string field theory]]<br />[[S-duality]]<br />[[tachyon condensation|Sen Conjecture]]
| awards           = {{ublist|[[G.D. Birla Award for Scientific Research]] (1996)|[[TWAS Prize]] (1997)|[[Padma Shri]] (2001)|[[Infosys Prize]] - Mathematical Sciences (2009)|[[Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics]] (2012)|[[Padma Bhushan]] (2013)|[[Dirac Medal (ICTP)|Dirac Medal]] (2014)}}
| spouse           = [[Sumathi Rao]]
| website          = {{URL|https://home.icts.res.in/~sen/}}
}}
'''Ashoke Sen''' [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]] ({{IPAc-en|ə|ˈ|ʃ|oʊ|k|_|s|ɛ|n}}; born 1956) is an Indian [[theoretical physicist]] and ICTS-Infosys Madhava Chair Professor at the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS), Bangalore.<ref name="ICTS"/> A former Distinguished Professor at the [[Harish-Chandra Research Institute]], [[Prayagraj]],<ref name="Pulakkat">{{cite news|author=Pulakkat, Hari|date=19 December 2013|title=How many of us know about Breakthrough Prize winner, Ashoke Sen?|url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/et-commentary/how-many-of-us-know-about-breakthrough-prize-winner-ashoke-sen/articleshow/27612815.cms|newspaper=[[The Economic Times]]|access-date=4 September 2019}}</ref> He is also an honorary fellow in [[National Institute of Science Education and Research]] (NISER) India.<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=https://www.niser.ac.in/sps/page/faculty|title=School of Physical Sciences|publisher=National Institute of Science Education and Research|access-date=4 September 2019}}</ref> He is also a Morningstar Visiting Professor at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] (MIT) and a Distinguished Professor at the [[Korea Institute for Advanced Study]]. His main area of work is [[string theory]]. He was among the first recipients of the [[Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics]] "for opening the path to the realization that all string theories are different limits of the same underlying theory".<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Breakthrough Prize - Fundamental Physics Breakthrough Prize Laureates - Ashoke Sen |url=https://breakthroughprize.org/Laureates/1/L8 |website=breakthroughprize.org |access-date=17 June 2020}}</ref>

==Early life==
He was born on 15 July 1956<ref name=IASFellowProfile>{{cite web|title=Fellow Profile&nbsp;– Sen, Prof. Ashoke|url=http://www.ias.ac.in/describe/fellow/Sen,_Prof._Ashoke|website=Indian Academy of Sciences|access-date=23 January 2016|location=Bangalore|publisher=[[Indian Academy of Sciences]]}}</ref> in Kolkata, and is the elder son of Anil Kumar Sen, a former professor of physics at the [[Scottish Church College]], Kolkata, and Gouri Sen, a [[Homemaking|homemaker]].<ref name=pillow_power>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/physicist-with-pillow-power/cid/389848|title=Physicist with pillow power|author=Miudur, G.S.|date=2 August 2012|access-date=4 September 2019}}</ref>

After completing his schooling from [[Sailendra Sirkar Vidyalaya|Sailendra Sircar Vidyalaya]] in [[Kolkata]], he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in 1975 from the [[Presidency College, Kolkata|Presidency College]] under the [[University of Calcutta]], and his master's a year later from the [[Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur]]. During his undergraduate studies at Presidency, he was greatly inspired by the work and teaching of [[Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri]]. He did his doctoral work in physics at [[Stony Brook University]].

==Career==
Ashoke Sen made a number of major original contributions to the subject of [[string theory]], including his landmark paper on strong-weak coupling duality or [[S-duality]],<ref>{{cite journal|title=Dyon&nbsp;– monopole bound states, selfdual harmonic forms on the multi&nbsp;– monopole moduli space, and SL(2,Z) invariance in string theory|journal=Phys. Lett.|volume=B329|year=1994|pages=217–221|doi=10.1016/0370-2693(94)90763-3|arxiv=hep-th/9402032|bibcode= 1994PhLB..329..217S|last1=Sen|first1=Ashoke|issue=2–3|s2cid=17534677}}</ref> which was influential in changing the course of research in the field. He pioneered the study of unstable [[D-branes]] and made the famous [[tachyon condensation|Sen conjecture]] about [[String (physics)|open string]] [[tachyon condensation]] on such branes.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Tachyon condensation on the brane antibrane system|journal=JHEP|volume=1998|issue=8|year=1998|pages=012|doi=10.1088/1126-6708/1998/08/012|arxiv =hep-th/9805170|bibcode=1998JHEP...08..012S|last1=Sen|first1=Ashoke|s2cid=14588486}}</ref> His description of rolling tachyons<ref>{{cite journal|title=Rolling Tachyon|journal=JHEP|volume=2002|issue=4|year=2002|pages=048|doi=10.1088/1126-6708/2002/04/048|arxiv=hep-th/0203211|bibcode=2002JHEP...04..048S|last1=Sen|first1=Ashoke|s2cid=12023565}}</ref> has been influential in [[string cosmology]]. He has also co-authored many important papers on [[string field theory]].

In 1998, he won the fellowship of the [[Royal Society]] on being nominated by the theoretical physicist [[Stephen Hawking]].<ref name="Pulakkat" /> His contributions include the entropy function formalism for extremal black holes and its applications to attractors. His important works include the attractor mechanism and the precision counting of microstates of black holes, and new developments in string perturbation theory. He joined the [[National Institute of Science Education and Research]] (NISER) India as an Honorary Professor in the School of Physical Sciences.<ref name="auto"/> In the year 2020, he joined [[Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal]] (IISER Bhopal), Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India as a visiting/adjunct professor in the Department of Physics.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://phy.iiserb.ac.in/faculty.php|title=Department of Physics|publisher=Indian Institute of Science, Education & Research- Bhopal (IISER-Bhopal)|access-date=2 September 2020|archive-date=22 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922124141/https://phy.iiserb.ac.in/faculty.php|url-status=dead}}</ref> He is currently serving as a distinguished professor at the [[International Centre for Theoretical Sciences]] (ICTS), Bangalore where he is working on string theory. His specific research interests include [[S-duality]], [[tachyon condensation]], [[black hole entropy]] and superstring perturbation theory.<ref name="ICTS">{{cite web |title=Ashoke Sen {{!}} ICTS |url=https://www.icts.res.in/people/ashoke-sens |website=www.icts.res.in |access-date=10 June 2023}}</ref>{{better source needed|reason=Require WP:independent source|date=June 2023}}

==Honors and awards==
*[[ICTP Prize]] in 1989<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ictp.it/about-ictp/prizes-awards/the-ictp-prize/the-prize-winners/ictp-prize-winner-1989.aspx|title=ICTP Prize Winner 1989|access-date=4 September 2019}}</ref>
*Fellow of the [[Indian Academy of Sciences]] in 1991<ref name=IASFellowProfile/>
*[[Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology|S.S. Bhatnagar award]] in 1994
*[[TWAS Prize]] 1997<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twas.org/recipients-twas-awards-and-prizes|title=Prizes and Awards|publisher=The World Academy of Sciences|access-date=4 September 2019}}</ref>
*[[Fellow of the Royal Society]] 1998<ref name="Pulakkat"/>
*Fellow of the [[Indian National Science Academy]] in 1996<ref>The Year Book 2014 // Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi.</ref>
*[[Padma Shri]] in 2001<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf|title=Padma Awards|publisher=[[Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India]]|access-date=21 July 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015193758/http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf|archive-date=15 October 2015}}</ref>
*[[Infosys Prize]] in the [[Mathematics|Mathematical Sciences]], 2009<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.infosys-science-foundation.com/prize/laureates/2009/ashoke-sen.asp|title=Infosys Prize - Laureates 2009 - Prof. K VijayRaghavan|website=www.infosys-science-foundation.com}}</ref>
*[[Fundamental Physics Prize]], 2012, for his work on string theory<ref>{{cite web|url=https://breakthroughprize.org/News/15|title=New annual US$3&nbsp;million Fundamental Physics Prize recognizes transformative advances in the field|publisher=Breakthrough Prize|date=31 July 2012|access-date=4 September 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/indian-scientist-ashoke-sen-bags-top-physics-honour/articleshow/15322177.cms|work=[[The Times of India]]|title=Indian scientist Ashoke Sen bags top physics honour|date=2 August 2012|access-date=4 September 2019}}</ref><ref name=":0" />
*[[Padma Bhushan]] in 2013<ref>{{cite news|url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-01-26/india/36563644_1_s-haider-raza-padma-awards-padma-vibhushan|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130128211127/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-01-26/india/36563644_1_s-haider-raza-padma-awards-padma-vibhushan|url-status=dead|archive-date=28 January 2013|title=Rajesh Khanna, Sridevi, Mary Kom, Rahul Dravid on Padma list|agency=TNN|date=26 January 2013|work=[[The Times of India]]}}</ref>
*M.P. Birla Memorial Award in 2013
*[[Dirac Medal (ICTP)|Dirac Medal]] in 2014<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ictp.it/about-ictp/prizes-awards/the-dirac-medal/the-medallists/dirac-medallists-2014.aspx|title=ICTP - Dirac Medallists 2014|website=www.ictp.it}}</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="200">
File:Ashoke Sen and Sumathi Rao.jpg|Sen and Prof. Sumathi Rao with students at Harish-Chandra Research Institute, 2018
</gallery>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Scholia}}
*{{Official website|http://www.hri.res.in/~sen/|name=Home page}} 
*[http://www.hri.res.in/~sen/cv.pdf Ashoke Sen CV]
*[http://scientific.thomson.com/press/2006/8334014/ "Thomson Honours Leading Indian Scientists"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070312074859/http://scientific.thomson.com/press/2006/8334014/ |date=12 March 2007 }}
*{{usurped|[https://web.archive.org/web/20040505213325/http://www.hinduonnet.com/2001/01/07/stories/0207000o.htm ''The Hindu'', Sunday, January 7, 2001: "Stringing together the ultimate law"]}}
*{{cite news|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/india/photo/profile-of-top-25-scientists-in-india-366262-2011-09-11|title=Profile of Top 25 scientists in India|date=11 September 2011|work=India Today|access-date=4 September 2019}}
{{commons category-inline|Ashoke Sen (physicist)}}

{{2000s Padma Shri Award Recipients in Science & Engineering}}
{{Breakthrough Prize laureates}}
{{FRS 1998}}
{{SSBPST recipients in Physical Science}}
{{PadmaBhushanAwardRecipients 2010–19}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sen, Ashoke}}
[[Category:1956 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Presidency University, Kolkata alumni]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:IIT Kanpur alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian physicists]]
[[Category:Stony Brook University alumni]]
[[Category:Indian string theorists]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in science & engineering]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in science & engineering]]
[[Category:Scottish Church Collegiate School alumni]]
[[Category:Scientists from Kolkata]]
[[Category:TWAS laureates]]
[[Category:Indian theoretical physicists]]
[[Category:Bengali physicists]]
[[Category:Bengali scientists]]