26-05-2025
RP Bambah, eminent mathematician & former PU V-C, passes away at 99
Former Panjab University (PU) vice-chancellor and eminent mathematician professor RP Bambah passed away in his sleep at his Sector 19 residence on Monday morning.
He was 99 and would have turned 100 in September. As per university officials, Bambah had expressed his wish to donate his body to PGIMER for medical research, which his two daughters will honour. Thus, there will be no cremation.
Professor Bambah, a Padma Bhushan awardee, had served as PU vice-chancellor from 1985 to 1991 and remained the president of the Indian Mathematical Society in 1969.
A scholar of global repute, he was known for his pioneering work in number theory and discrete geometry, especially in lattice coverings and Ramanujan's Tau Function. Among numerous honours, he was also awarded the Srinivasa Ramanujan Medal in 1979 for is work in mathematical sciences.
Born on September 17, 1925, into a middle-class family in Jammu, Bambah scored a record 600 out of 600 in his master's from Government College, Lahore, in 1946, and went on to earn a PhD from the University of Cambridge, England, in a record two years.
He joined the Panjab University department of mathematics as a reader in 1952, when it was still based in Hoshiarpur. Along with Hans Raj Gupta, he helped establish the department, which later shifted to Chandigarh in 1958. Under his leadership, PU became home to India's first Centre for Advanced Study in Mathematics in 1963.
Bambah also spent five years teaching at Ohio State University before returning to PU, where he served as the vice-chancellor, and continued to contribute as Professor Emeritus and a long-standing member of the PU senate, varsity's highest governing body, after his retirement in 1993.
A condolence meeting was held at the university on Monday, where PU vice-chancellor Renu Vig described him as a globally acclaimed mathematician, a towering figure in Indian academia and one of the most distinguished former vice-chancellors of PU.
'Remembered for his extraordinary blend of brilliance, humility and institutional devotion, professor Bambah inspired countless students, faculty and administrators. His belief in the transformative power of education remains a guiding light for the academic community,' she added.
Former PU V-C Arun Grover, also present, called him a statesman of Indian higher education. 'Professor Bambah was not just a mathematician of international renown. He was a mentor to many, and his vision and values shaped the academic culture of PU for decades. His scholarship elevated Indian mathematics on the world stage and his personal integrity set a benchmark for academic leadership.'
Even in his final years, Bambah had remained deeply invested in maths and PU, which had been planning to celebrate his birth centenary in September.
