Bimla Buti
Bimla Buti is an Indian physicist born in 1933, and specializes in plasma physics. Buti completed her undergraduate studies as well as her master studies at Delhi University, where she graduated in physics. She later completed her PhD at University of Chicago, where she served under the mentorship of Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar — earning her PhD in plasma physics in 1962. Buti then returned to India and worked for two years as a teacher at Delhi University, after which she returned to the U.S. — working at the Goddard Space Flight Center.
Buti returned to India in 1968, and began to work at the Indian Institute of Technology ( IIT) in New Delhi. From 1970 to 1993, Buti decided to work at the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), where she worked as Associate Professor, Professor, Senior Professor and finally as Dean of Faculty until the end of her stint. At PRL, Buti set up a new department for the Plasma Physics experimental programme, which was later set up as a separate agency under the aegis of the Indian Atomic Energy Department established as the Institute of Plasma Science. At the International Center for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy, Buti was the Director of Plasma Physics from 1985–2003. She has edited four books, in addition to writing a significant number of academic papers.
Professor Buti has contributed significantly to the theoretical developments of plasma waves and instabilities, linear theory effects of weak nonlinearities leading to isolated or single waves, and strong nonlinear interactions resulting in turbulence and chaos. In her earlier research, Buti concentrated more on the analysis of the relativistic effects on different incivities, the stability of beam-plasma systems that can produce new instability, namely the existing instability in return. Together with her collaborators, she worked on hot beam and hot plasma nonlinear interactions where stabilizing effects are shown to be due to thermal effects. She also studied many instabilities, including loss-cone and anti-loss cone instabilities, which are relevant in the solar-wind plasma field as well as in the magnetospheric plasma domain.
In addition to this, Buti founded India’s Plasma Science Society and served as its President from 1992–93. She was an Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, USA, and between 1991–94 served as Vice President and President of the International Astronomical Union. Buti also served as a member of the Nuclear Science Centre’s Governing Council in New Delhi between 1996–98 and the Inter University Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics between 1997–99. She was on the Physics Committee, University Grants Commission, New Delhi from 1997–99.
Buti has initiated a range of awards through the Physical Research Laboratory, the Indian Physics Association and the Indian Plasma Science Awards for Young Scientists Society; a scholarship and a Gold Medal for Best Female Scientist at IIT, Delhi. Further, Buti served as a member of the INSA Council from 1991–93. She has spent four years at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA), California Institute of Technology, following her formal retirement from PRL. She now lives in New Delhi, where she continues her research, as well her social initiatives through the 2003 Buti Foundation.
