Сушанта Кумар Бхаттачарья: Британдық-индиялық инженер, педагог және кеңесшінің өмірі мен қызметі

British Indian engineer, educator, and government advisor (1940–2019)

Sushanta Kumar Bhattacharyya was born on 6 June 1940 to a Bengali Brahmin family in Bangalore, Kingdom of Mysore. He was the elder son of Sudhir Kumar Bhattacharyya (1909–1987) and Hemanalini Chakravarti. The Bhattacharyyas were an aristocratic zamindar family based in the Dacca district of the Bengal Presidency of British India (now Bangladesh). At the time, his father, a distinguished professor of physical chemistry and subsequently Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, was a professor at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, where Bhattacharyya spent the first 12 years of his life. In 1952, upon his father's appointment as head of the chemistry department at the new Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, the family moved to Kharagpur. Bhattacharyya studied at Hijli High School, situated inside IIT Kharagpur campus & then studied Mechanical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, successfully sought honours and titles, taking his Bachelor of Technology (BTech) degree in 1960. While completing his PhD at Birmingham, he was appointed as a lecturer and began the process of establishing a manufacturing education programme for industry there. During this time, he was instrumental in brokering significant partnerships for UK manufacturing including the takeover of Jaguar Land Rover by Indian firm Tata Motors in 2008 and the investment in the National Automotive Innovation Centre at the University of Warwick. Lord Bhattacharyya's contribution to innovation in academia and industry led to several prime ministerial visits to WMG. Margaret Thatcher called Bhattacharyya "a true pioneer" in a 1990 speech opening WMG's Advanced Technology Centre. A decade later, Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair said WMG was "an outstanding example of combining academic excellence with industrial relevance." In a 2007 speech, Blair's successor, Gordon Brown, said that WMG "provides a prime example of how the knowledge created in our universities can be transferred to make a difference in the real world". In 2016, Prime Minister Theresa May visited WMG with Chancellor Philip Hammond as part of her government's development of a UK Industrial Strategy. Bhattacharyya was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1997 New Year Honours and knighted in 2003. On 3 June 2004, he was created a life peer as Baron Bhattacharyya He sat on the Labour benches in the House of Lords. He was also a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering He also served as a scientific adviser to the government of South Africa. He sat on the Policy Advisory Council of the Institute for Public Policy Research and served on the National Consumer Council from 1990 to 1993.

Kumar Bhattacharyya sat on the Labour benches in the House of Lords. His focus was on policy areas such as business and industry, economy and finance, education, international affairs and science and technology. Throughout his career, he was a passionate advocate for engineering innovation and the revival of British industry. Lord Baker paid tribute to his enormous contribution to technical education in the UK as "quite remarkable".

Bhattacharyya and his Irish wife, Bridget, had three daughters, Anita, Tina and Malini. He wrote a regular opinion column for the Birmingham Post.

Professor Lord Bhattacharyya died on 1 March 2019 following a short illness.