The Early Years
Till 10th October 2000 the Institute was known as the Mehta Research
Institute of Mathematics and Mathematical Physics (M.R.I). On 11.10.2000
it was renamed as Harish-Chandra Research Institute (H.R.I) after the
mathematician, late Prof. Harish-Chandra.
The Institute started with the efforts of Dr. B. N. Prasad, a mathematician
at the University of Allahabad, who obtained the initial support from
the B. S. Mehta Trust, Calcutta. Dr. Prasad was succeeded in January 1966
by Dr. S. R. Sinha, also of Allahabad University. He was followed by Prof.
P. L. Bhatnagar, who joined as the first formal Director. On Prof. Bhatnagar’s
demise in October 1976, the responsibilities were again taken up by Dr.
Sinha. In January 1983, Prof. S. S. Shrikhande of Bombay University joined
as the next Director of the Institute. During his tenure the dialogue
with the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) entered into the decisive stage
and a review committee was constituted by the DAE for examining the future
of the Institute. In 1985 the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, agreed
to provide sufficient land for the Institute and the DAE promised financial
support for meeting both the recurring and non-recurring expenditure.
In January 1992, finally, about 66 acres of land was acquired in Jhusi,
Allahabad.
Prof. Shrikhande was followed by Prof. H. S. Mani who took over as the
Director in January 1992. With his joining and, the shift to the new campus
at Jhusi in 1996, the activities of the Institute picked up quickly. This
phase of rapid growth is still continuing.
The New Phase
After a distinguished tenure of about nine years Prof. Mani retired in
August 2001 and the charge was taken over by Professor Ravi S. Kulkarni.
The Institute continues to be devoted to fundamental research in various
fields of Mathematics and Theoretical Physics and is a Fully Aided Institute,
within the DAE family, Govt of India. Since the year 1992 it has achieved
satisfactory progress, as is evident from the recognition received by
many of its faculty members, both at the national and international levels.
Amongst them, Prof. Ashoke Sen, Prof. D. Prasad and Dr. D. Choudhury merit
special mention. Prof. Ashoke Sen was also honoured with the Padmashree
Award in the year 2001.
The Institute has a residential campus in Jhusi, with a very well endowed
research library, state of the art computational facilities and fast internet
links to the outside world. There is an active Graduate Program and a
large traffic of visiting scientists and students at the Institute. H.R.I
is now considered a premier institute for research in Fundamental Physics
and Mathematics in the country.
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