Prabhu Lal Bhatnagar
| Prabhu Lal Bhatnagar | |
|---|---|
| Born |
8 August 1912 Kota, India |
| Died | 5 October 1976 (aged 64) Allahabad, India |
| Residence | India |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Alma mater |
Allahabad University Agra University |
| Known for | Bhatnagar–Gross–Krook operator |
| Awards | Padma Bhushan in 1968 |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematician |
| Institutions |
University of Delhi Indian Institute of Science Harvard University Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory |
| Doctoral advisor | Amiya Charan Banerjee |
| Doctoral students | Phoolan Prasad |
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 operator used in Lattice Boltzmann methods (LBM).
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.
His research career started at the Allahabad University under the supervision of Prof. B. N. Prasad on summability theory but soon he joined Prof. Amiya Charan Banerjee to work in differential equations. The results of his work (with Prof. Banerji, published in Proceeding of National Academy of Sciences, 1938) are included in the book of Erich Kamke. He became interested in the area of astrophysics after coming in contact with Meghnad Saha. 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. His work with the Boltzmann equation led to his well-known BGK collision model in 1954 together with Eugene P. Gross and Max Krook. 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.
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