Sen, AT

Sen, AT (1901-1971) Eminent Soil Scientist and educationist. Ashutosh Sen was born on 30 November 1901 in bogra district of undivided Bengal. His parental house was in the village Mattagram of manikganj district. His father Dewan Bahadur Sarada Prasad Sen was the District Judge at Bogra and later on he became Treasurer of Dhaka University. AT Sen got his early education in dhaka. He obtained his PhD degree from the University of London for his research work on soils conducted at the internationally reputed Rothamsted Experimental Station, England. Dr Sen was one of those who joined the Dhaka University as a teacher during the formative stage of Soil Science Unit, which later developed into a full-fledged Department. He attended the International Soil Science Conference at Oxford in 1935. He was deputed by government to Burma (now Myanmar) for three years to establish an Agricultural College. In 1940 he returned to Dhaka University as associate professor. He was a dedicated teacher and an outstanding research worker. Several students including Dr BC Deb earned their PhD and DSc degree of Dhaka University under his able guidance. After partition of Bengal, Dr Sen went to India and joined as Land Development Commissioner in Delhi. Then he went to Calcutta and became the Chairman of the West Bengal Public Service Commission. Subsequently he served the government of India as member, Union Public Service Commission, New Delhi. After retirement Professor Sen remained associated with the academic matter related to Agricultural College, Sriniketan of Visva Bharati University and several educational and social organisations. Ashutosh Sen was the father of Nobel Laureate Professor Amartya Sen. He passed way on 29th March 1971 in Calcutta. [DK Das and SK Mukhopadhyay] [Das, DK Writer and researcher, West Bengal]