Jitendra Nath Goswami

Jitendranath Goswami (born 18 November 1950) is an Indian scientist from Jorhat, Assam. He was the Chief Scientist of Chandrayaan-1, and was also the developer of this project. He served as a director of Physical Research Laboratory situated at Ahmadabad, Gujarat. He was also associated with Chandrayaan-2 and Mangalyaan. Goswami started his schooling in Jorhat. In 1965, he was sixth in the higher secondary examination conducted by AHSEC. Soon after, he enrolled in Cotton College to study Physics. He got his MSc from Gauhati University and joined Tata Institute of Fundamental Research for his PhD. At this time he also worked as a post-graduate research scholar at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1978, he received his PhD degree from Gujarat University. After his PhD, Goswami worked as a research scientist in many prestigious institutes, including UC Berkeley, Washington University in St. Louis, Lunar and Planetary Institute and the Max Planck Institute. The main focus of his research is study of Solar System and Astrophysics. He and his associates have proven that the main source of energy for our solar system at the time of its origin was 26Al nuclide in its half life. He has also worked on Cosmic Rays, Tectonic Plates and concluded many theories. At the Physical Research Laboratory, he served as a scientist on exploration projects including ISRO at its preliminary state. He was an associate scientist of Cosmic Ray experiment and chief scientist of Lunar Samples at spacecraft Spacelab-3. He also served on the Physical Sciences jury for the Infosys Prize from 2016 to 2018. Youth Scientist Award by Indian National Science Association (1978) NASA's Public Service Group of Achievement Award (1986) Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar Award (1994) Kamal Kumari National Award for science and technology (2003) Axford award by Asia Oceania Geoscience Society (2014) Asom Ratna (2015), highest civilian award of Government of Assam Padma Shri, 2017 by Government of India. Goswami was elected president of the Astronomical Society of India in 2007.