Biography of first woman prof of Panjab University Physics Department released

Chandigarh, April 30

The Panjab University Alumni Association (PUAA) today released a biography of Suman Beri, the first woman professor of the Physics Department and the first woman professor emeritus.

Dr Rajinder Singh authored the biography, “Suman Beri – Higgs Boson, Top Quark and Single Top Quark – The Story of a Punjabi Woman Scientist”.

Three former PU Vice-Chancellors, namely Prof Arun Grover, Prof RC Sobti and Prof KN Pathak, were present on the occasion. Prof Navdeep Goyal, Prof GSS Saini and Prof Vipin Bhatnagar of the Physics Department and Senator Prof Rajat Sandhir also graced the occasion.

Born on August 6, 1949, Suman was the youngest of the four siblings. Her father Daulat Ram Paruthi was a headmaster at a school in Shimla. She did her higher schooling from Government Senior Secondary School, Portmore, Shimla. She studied Physics (Honour School) at the PU in 1970 and submitted her PhD thesis in 1975.

One of the top scientists in the country, her big contributions included observation of the top quark in 1995, observation of single top quark production in 2009 and observation of the Higgs boson in 2012. These three discoveries filled the gap and experimentally confirmed the Standard Model.