Patna (Bihar): Tathagat Avatar Tulsi, a child prodigy who became one of the youngest master's degree holder in Physics at the age of 12, worked as an Assistant Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology- Bombay at 22 and did research with Indian- American computer scientist Lov Grover for six months in America, is now fighting legal battles to get a job.
His struggle to find a job began after he was sacked from IIT-Bombay for being absent from the institute for a period of almost four years. Tulsi now plans to go to the Delhi High Court demanding his virtual transfer from IIT Bombay to IIT Delhi under special case.
Hailing from Bihar, Tulsi finished high school when he was just nine years old. He did his BSc when he was 11 and completed his MSc at 12. He completed his PhD when he was just 21 years old. He also worked on a research paper with Lov Grover. After he completed his PhD, Tulsi got a job as an assistant professor at IIT Bombay in 2010. Unfortunately, Tulsi lost his job in 2019. According to Tulsi, the institute sacked him because he had to take a long break due to illness.
In 1994, Tathagata Avatar Tulsi was also honoured by the then Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav. He was given money as a reward for his achievement, but he refused to take the money. He was then given a computer which helped him achieve great heights. Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was then the Chief Minister of Gujarat also honoured Tulsi in 2012 for his achievements. In collaboration with Lov Grover, Tulsi wrote his thesis on "Generalisation of the Quantum Search Algorithm".
In a conversation with ETV Bharat, Tulsi said, "In 2011, I got very sick with high fever and was diagnosed with an allergy. The illness continued and I had to leave Mumbai in 2013 after taking a four-year leave from IIT Bombay. I could not return to Mumbai because of my allergy. Finally, in 2019, I was fired from my job. I requested a transfer to IIT Delhi under a special case as it was not possible for me to live in Mumbai because of my health issues."
He further said, "I want to work for the betterment of my country in the field of quantum computers as I have been studying this topic for a long time now. I worked under the mentorship of Lov Grover when I was just 17 years old. My research profile was good earlier but after I moved to Mumbai, my health deteriorated and I could not focus much on my research."
He continued, "But now I want to contribute to the field of quantum computers. Rs 8,000 crores have been sanctions for quantum computers in India and as I have studied quantum computers for so long, I can bring revolution in this field."
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