Professor Bobby Kachappilly Antony

Professor Bobby Antony is a Professor of Physics at Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines) Dhanbad, India. Recently he was awarded the Fellow of Institute of Physics (FInstP), London in recognition of his position as a leading physics professional among his peers for excelling in academics and his area of research.

Professor Bobby Antony began his research career in atomic and molecular physics in 2000, when he was awarded the Junior Research Fellowship to investigate electron scattering from atoms and molecules. He performed theoretical calculations using quantum mechanical and semi-classical approaches to predict cross sections of electron interactions with many interesting atomic and molecular species. During his Ph.D. at Sardar Patel University, India (and at The Open University, UK under the Commonwealth Scholarship award), the group developed a semi-classical method to predict ionization cross-section for atomic and molecular systems upon electron impact. From February 2005, he worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, USA, in the department of environmental, earth, and atmospheric sciences on atmospheric physics. Later he joined Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, India, as a visiting fellow.

In 2008 he joined Indian School Mines, an institute under MHRD, Govt of India (presently an IIT), and is currently working as a full-time professor in the Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology, Dhanbad, India. Here he founded the Atomic and Molecular Physics Group. Besides electron collision studies, the group has developed methodology to study positron impact scattering and electron/positron impact scattering from solids. Photoionization studies are also being performed by his group. To date, he has successfully supervised 14 Ph.Ds. and 3 M.Phils. and more than 40 graduate and undergraduate students in their projects. Currently 5 Ph.D. and one undergraduate student are registered with him. 

Bobby was awarded the ASEM-DUO Fellowship for collaborative research with Prof. Nigel Mason at the University of Kent, UK. He is also the recipient of the Royal Society International Exchange Award in collaboration with Prof. Nigel Mason at the University of Kent, UK. He has successfully completed 6 projects funded by various Indian government agencies. He is also a member of the ‘Dissociative Electron Attachment – DEA club.’ The research performed by Bobby and his group is mainly focused on the fundamental aspects of electron, positron, and photon-induced chemistry of molecules. Bobby has over 151 SCEI publications (indexed in Web of Science) with an h-index of 25.

·        Electron and positron scattering studies.

·        Photoionization of molecules.

·        Irradiation driven molecular dynamics.

The following are the courses currently offered by Prof. Bobby Antony at the IIT Dhanbad:

1.    NPHC205: Introduction to Quantum Mechanics

2.    NPHC505: Numerical Methods and Computer Programming

He has published over 140 articles in SCIE journals and given many invited talks at conferences, guest lectures, and departmental colloquia. He is a member of various academic and research organisations, like the Institute of Physics, UK, the Indian Association of Physics Teachers, the Indian Science Congress, and the Indian Society of Atomic and Molecular Physics. He is on the editorial board of journals – Frontiers in Physics and Scientific Reports.