Jagjit Singh

Who was Jagjit Singh?

Jagjit Singh was an Indian writer and science popularizer. In college he excelled in mathematics courses, yet made his career as an important director of India's railways, applying his mathematical skills there. Upon retirement, he set out in writing several books, starting with Great Ideas of Modern Mathematics, popularizing science and targeting laymen. Singh subsequently won the Kalinga Prize from the UNESCO in 1963, the first Asian to do so.

In 1960, he was appointed director of the Indian Railway Board, and nine years later he was appointed general manager of the Northeast Frontier Railway. After his retirement he went to work as was managing director of the Indian Drug and Pharmaceuticals, adviser of Asian Development Bank and adviser of Tata Chemicals.

Singh was elected a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society and awarded an honorary Doctorate in Science by Roorkee University. He was also chosen by Pakistan scientist and Nobel Prize winner in Physics in 1979, Abdus Salam to write his biography, which came out in 1992 published by Penguin books.