At present is theDirector, Physics Group in BARC and Director, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics in Kolkata. Mohanty at the age of 60, took over his new assignment from K.N. Vyas, the Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission, and Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy (DAE). BARC is a multi-disciplinary research center with immense infrastructure for advanced research and development which covers the whole spectrum of Nuclear Science, Engineering, and other areas.

Mohanty in his 36 years at BARC, worked in various areas of Nuclear Physics from Collision Energy to Sub-Coulomb Barrier and relativistic regime. He was also the part of many revolutionary experiments at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) in Mumbai, the Brookhaven National Laboratory in the United States, and the CERN in Geneva (IANS).

Ajit Kumar Mohanty was born in the year 1959, in Odisha. He completed his Graduation from MPC College at Baripada in the year 1979 and had an honors degree in Physics. In 1983, he joined BARC’s Nuclear Physics Division, after completing his graduation from the 26th batch of the BARC Training School. With this, he also completed his doctorate simultaneously from the University of Mumbai.

He has twice earned the honor of being the CERN Scientific Associate in the year 2002-04 and in 2010-11. He also received the honor of Indian Physical Society’s ‘Young Scientists Award’, the Indian National Science Academy’s ‘Young Physicist Award’, and the DAE’s ‘Homi Bhabha Science and Technology Award’.