London, The Imperial College London quiz team, comprising Calcutta computing science graduate Saurajit Debnath, has emerged as the champion trophy of 'University Challenge', said to be the toughest quiz tournament on television in the UK.
The 31-year-old answered a number of challenging questions in Imperial's Quiz Society's final Pie Testament and "unparalleled guidance" from previous teams contributed to this year's victory by an impressive margin. Victory in Monday night's final, broadcast on BBC, made the London-based university one of the most successful in the show's history, lifting the prestigious trophy for the fifth time - the last time being in 2022.
Debnath said, "I'm delighted to be a part of British quizzing history and grateful that your team had the opportunity to win the title representing Imperial."
British Indian presenter Amol Rajan, who hosts the popular BBC programme, described Imperial's victory as "remarkable".The team was awarded the 'University Challenge' trophy by host Amol Rajan and acclaimed playwright Sir Tom Stoppard at an event at the South Kensington campus of Imperial College London.
Professor Ia Walmsley, Provost of Imperial, said: “Imperial's diverse international community is really used to finding answers to tough questions, whether it's in the laboratory or at the University Challenge, I'm really proud of our winning team.”
“The breadth of their knowledge beyond the sciences is truly impressive, and their disciplined approach to the quiz has led to Imperial making history as the most successful University Challenge team,” he said.
In preparation for the challenge, the team spent several months revising specialist topics and practicing quizzes as a tight-knit group.
Team captain Suraiya Haddad said: “I am thrilled to captain Imperia College London to an historic fifth win, making us the winningest institution in the program’s history.We have all worked incredibly hard and made Imperial proud.
“We were all balancing our degrees with our exams, in my case my final exams. W faced fantastic opposition with UCL [University College London] playing brilliantly throughout the series. The support we have received from the Imperial community and beyond has been amazing, thank you to everyone who has been cheering us on!”
Imperial's team has excelled this year across a wide range of subjects including classical sculpture, European history, Korean mythology and mathematics. To reach this year's final, the team defeated Trinity College of the University of Cambridge in the semi-finals and other teams including the University of Manchester and the University of Sheffield.“Imperial's team is unusually well-equipped this year and each teammate has his own selection of specialties or specializations to borrow from the quiz language. “All other things being equal, I am responsible for covering pop culture on the humanities side, along with math, physics, and generational science,” Debnath shared ahead of the finals this week.
Debnath completed a Master's degree in Applied Computational Science and Engineering in the Department of Earth Sciences and Engineering at Imperia College London, a degree she chose to pursue a career in computational science.
In India, he was a space scientist at the U R Rao Space Centre, the spacecraft manufacturing arm of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), where he worked on the 2019 Indian lunar lander/rover mission Chandrayaan-2, in addition to other spacecraft . After graduating from Imperial College London, he joined an Imperial start-up focused on geophysics algorithms, operating out of the university's Royal School of Mines.Imperial College London stated that its success is partly based on the expertise of previous teams, as representatives from previous seasons participate in Imperial's mentoring program in preparation for the competition. Contestants are selected by the University Challenge Committee made up of previous contestants, who then brief the team on how to make revisions for various topics and maximize their ability to answer questions quickly.
The 31-year-old answered a number of challenging questions in Imperial's Quiz Society's final Pie Testament and "unparalleled guidance" from previous teams contributed to this year's victory by an impressive margin. Victory in Monday night's final, broadcast on BBC, made the London-based university one of the most successful in the show's history, lifting the prestigious trophy for the fifth time - the last time being in 2022.
Debnath said, "I'm delighted to be a part of British quizzing history and grateful that your team had the opportunity to win the title representing Imperial."
British Indian presenter Amol Rajan, who hosts the popular BBC programme, described Imperial's victory as "remarkable".The team was awarded the 'University Challenge' trophy by host Amol Rajan and acclaimed playwright Sir Tom Stoppard at an event at the South Kensington campus of Imperial College London.
Professor Ia Walmsley, Provost of Imperial, said: “Imperial's diverse international community is really used to finding answers to tough questions, whether it's in the laboratory or at the University Challenge, I'm really proud of our winning team.”
“The breadth of their knowledge beyond the sciences is truly impressive, and their disciplined approach to the quiz has led to Imperial making history as the most successful University Challenge team,” he said.
In preparation for the challenge, the team spent several months revising specialist topics and practicing quizzes as a tight-knit group.
Team captain Suraiya Haddad said: “I am thrilled to captain Imperia College London to an historic fifth win, making us the winningest institution in the program’s history.We have all worked incredibly hard and made Imperial proud.
“We were all balancing our degrees with our exams, in my case my final exams. W faced fantastic opposition with UCL [University College London] playing brilliantly throughout the series. The support we have received from the Imperial community and beyond has been amazing, thank you to everyone who has been cheering us on!”
Imperial's team has excelled this year across a wide range of subjects including classical sculpture, European history, Korean mythology and mathematics. To reach this year's final, the team defeated Trinity College of the University of Cambridge in the semi-finals and other teams including the University of Manchester and the University of Sheffield.“Imperial's team is unusually well-equipped this year and each teammate has his own selection of specialties or specializations to borrow from the quiz language. “All other things being equal, I am responsible for covering pop culture on the humanities side, along with math, physics, and generational science,” Debnath shared ahead of the finals this week.
Debnath completed a Master's degree in Applied Computational Science and Engineering in the Department of Earth Sciences and Engineering at Imperia College London, a degree she chose to pursue a career in computational science.
In India, he was a space scientist at the U R Rao Space Centre, the spacecraft manufacturing arm of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), where he worked on the 2019 Indian lunar lander/rover mission Chandrayaan-2, in addition to other spacecraft . After graduating from Imperial College London, he joined an Imperial start-up focused on geophysics algorithms, operating out of the university's Royal School of Mines.Imperial College London stated that its success is partly based on the expertise of previous teams, as representatives from previous seasons participate in Imperial's mentoring program in preparation for the competition. Contestants are selected by the University Challenge Committee made up of previous contestants, who then brief the team on how to make revisions for various topics and maximize their ability to answer questions quickly.
