A Conversation with Shoutir Kishore Chatterjee

TL;DR

This paper presents an interview with Shoutir Kishore Chatterjee, highlighting his life, career, and philosophical views on fulfillment and the pursuit of knowledge in the field of statistics.

Contribution

It offers a personal and professional perspective on the life of a prominent Indian statistician, emphasizing his impact on education and research in statistics.

Findings

Chatterjee's career spanned over four decades in academia.

He significantly influenced statistics education in India.

He advocates for fulfillment beyond material and peer recognition.

Abstract

Shoutir Kishore Chatterjee was born in Ranchi, a small hill station in India, on November 6, 1934. He received his B.Sc. in statistics from the Presidency College, Calcutta, in 1954, and M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in statistics from the University of Calcutta in 1956 and 1962, respectively. He was appointed a lecturer in the Department of Statistics, University of Calcutta, in 1960 and was a member of its faculty until his retirement as a professor in 1997. Indeed, from the 1970s he steered the teaching and research activities of the department for the next three decades. Professor Chatterjee was the National Lecturer in Statistics (1985--1986) of the University Grants Commission, India, the President of the Section of Statistics of the Indian Science Congress (1989) and an Emeritus Scientist (1997--2000) of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India. Professor Chatterjee, affectionately known as SKC to his students and admirers, is a truly exceptional person who embodies the spirit of eternal India. He firmly believes that ``fulfillment in man's life does not come from amassing a lot of money, after the threshold of what is required for achieving a decent living is crossed. It does not come even from peer recognition for intellectual achievements. Of course, one has to work and toil a lot before one realizes these facts.''