Retd Sambalpur University Math Prof Indulata Sukla Passes Away

Cuttack: Indulata Sukla, a retired professor of mathematics who served for more than three decades at Sambalpur University, breathed her last here at 8.40 pm on Thursday evening.  She was 76.

A native of Baripada, her father, Pandit Kashinath Kar Mohapatra, was the royal priest of the erstwhile king of the princely state of Mayurbhanj. Indulata did her schooling at Maharani Prem Kumari Girls’ School and BSc with Mathematics Honours from MPC College, Baripada.

She completed her MSc in Mathematics from Ravenshaw College, Cuttack, in 1966, and had a brief stint as a lecturer in MPC College, before moving to the University of Jabalpur with a CSIR Fellowship to pursue PhD under the supervision of mathematician Late Professor Tribikram Pati.

While pursuing her research, she joined Sambalpur University in November 1970 as a lecturer in the School of Mathematical Sciences and continued there till her retirement in March 2004.

Her main areas of research were Analysis, Number Theory and Cryptography. Her textbook entitled Number Theory and Its Applications to Cryptography published in 2000 is still widely followed by postgraduate students in Odisha.

Her academic association with renowned English mathematician Prof. Brian Kuttner (1908-1992) who worked on Fourier Series, is a rare achievement in her life. She is a Life Member of the prestigious American Mathematical Society (AMS) and the Indian Mathematical Society (IMS).