From stars in Himalaya to neutrinos in Antarctica's ice

Kunal Deoskar is a PhD at the Department of Physics. He's from Nagpur from the state of Maharashtra in central India. When he grew up he got fascinated in astronomy during hikes with his parents in the Himalayas. That led to studies in physics in India and in 2017 he came to Fysikum. He recently defended his PhD Thesis on the search for Neutrinos from Gamma-ray Bursts using the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica.

Kunal Deoskar
Kunal Deoskar, PhD at the Department of Physics

He comes from a city called Nagpur in the state of Maharashtra in central India. After he completed high school in 2012, he studied at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, where he completed a 5 year Integrated Masters in Science course in Physics. In October 2017 he came to Fysikum to pursue his PhD with the IceCube project.

Mesmerized by the stars sparked the interest in physics

"I became interested in physics, mainly through my fascination for astronomy. My parents are professional mountaineers and as a kid I used to accompany them to hikes every summer in the Himalayas. During those hikes, we used to do star gazing at nights to locate the different constellations in the night sky. I remember being deeply mesmerized by the infinity of the night sky, which sparked my interest in knowing more about this field."

Thesis Search for Neutrinos from Gamma-ray Bursts using the IceCube Neutrino Observatory
Cover picture of Kunal Deoskar's Thesis: Search for Neutrinos from Gamma-ray Bursts using the IceCube Neutrino Observatory

PhD Thesis Defence: Search for Neutrinos from Gamma-ray Bursts using the IceCube Neutrino Observatory

Recently Kunal had his Thesis Defence. He has also made a graphic art work explaining the research 'My Thesis in Pictures'.
"I am currently working on a comic series called ‘Science in Pictures’ which is intended to communicate the joy of research to people who are enthusiastic to learn more about it, but feel limited due to their educational background. In the first comic in this series, I explain my research and the analysis that I did over the course of my PhD."

Future plans include Data Science and science comics

I will start working as a Data Scientist in a startup called OMATEQ in Stockholm in March next year. I am deeply interested in science communication as well so I will be working on creating more science comics in addition to my primary job.

Kunal's advice to new students

"To new PhD students, my advice would be to hold on to the romance for physics that led you to do a PhD in the first place! Treat the PhD education as an experience in itself, instead of as a stepping stone to some career. You never know where your path may take you, and there are many exciting career paths in which you can put to use the skills that you will learn over the course of the next 4-5 years!"

More information

PhD Thesis Defense: Search for Neutrinos from Gamma-ray Bursts using the IceCube Neutrino Observatory

My thesis in pictures by Kunal Deoskar

The Courses and Programmes in Physics at Fysikum

Contact Kunal Deoskar

Mail: kunal.deoskar@fysik.su.se
Instagram: @kunal_deoskar
Twitter: @KDeoskar