H C Verma is one of the most recognised names in Physics education in India. For years, there has been a familiar scene in Indian homes before an IIT-JEE exam or a board exam. A student would sit with a copy of Concepts of Physics, stare at a problem for several minutes, try again, get stuck, and then turn the page looking for a solution. For many, the book was difficult. But that was also the point. The man who wrote it had spent years trying to understand why students were afraid of Physics in the first place. He wanted them to stop memorising formulas and start understanding what those formulas were actually saying.Today, H C Verma is one of the most recognised names in Physics education in India. He is a former professor of Physics at IIT Kanpur, the author of several Physics books and the recipient of the Padma Shri.But his own journey began in Bihar, with a mother, an hour of study and a thekua.
He wasn’t always a serious student
Harish Chandra Verma was born in Darbhanga, Bihar, in 1952 and spent much of his childhood in Patna. His father, Ganesh Prasad Verma, was a teacher. Yet school did not immediately turn him into the brilliant student people would later associate with his name.According to various media and interviews, Verma struggled with studies and did not develop much interest in school education. His schooling up to Class 10 did not create sufficient interest in him and that he struggled with examinations. Then, one day his mother offered him a deal: study for an hour and you will get a thekua. The famous Bihari/Purvanchali dish became an incentive to sit with the books.What began as a small bargain at home eventually became an ability to sit with a difficult problem and stay with it. That would later become one of the defining ideas behind his teaching.
Patna Science College changed his relationship with Physics
He later taught at Patna Science College before joining IIT Kanpur, where he built a long career as a teacher and researcher.
The turning point came when Verma reached Patna Science College. The environment was different. His teachers encouraged him and, gradually, his interest in science grew. According to his official website, He went on to study Physics and eventually completed his MSc and PhD at IIT Kanpur. He later taught at Patna Science College before joining IIT Kanpur, where he built a long career as a teacher and researcher.But it was his experience in the classroom that eventually gave him the idea for the book that would make his name familiar to generations of students. When he began teaching at Patna Science College in 1979, he taught students from different levels, including Classes 11 and 12.He noticed a problem. He had been impressed by books such as Resnick and Halliday and enjoyed the way they presented Physics. But his school students were not responding to them in the same way.As Verma explained in an interview published by IIT Kanpur’s NERD, he realised that he had been able to appreciate those books only when he studied them at the MSc level, when he was mature enough to understand the beauty of Physics. His students needed something different. So he decided to write it himself.
Eight years went into one book
“Concepts of Physics” was not written overnight. According to his official website, Verma spent eight years working on it. The two-volume book eventually became one of the most widely used Physics texts among students preparing for competitive engineering examinations, including IIT-JEE.Verma’s problems often forced students to think before calculating. The book became known for its conceptual questions and numerical problems, and for many IIT aspirants, it became a regular part of their preparation. The book’s official resource site describes it as a tool for concept-building through problem solving and self-learning, with more than 1,400 solved IIT-JEE problems available through its associated resources.
He didn’t stop with the book
For Verma, Physics was never supposed to remain trapped between the pages of a textbook. He developed more than 600 Physics experiments that teachers could demonstrate in classrooms using simple materials. His stated aim was to help students connect Physics with things they could see and experience around them. He also conducted workshops for Physics teachers. According to his official profile, he trained more than 8,000 teachers through these efforts. Some of those teachers went on to adopt experiment-based approaches in their own classrooms.
The Padma Shri came much later
In 2021, Verma received the Padma Shri from then President of India, Ramnath Kovind.
In 2021, Verma received the Padma Shri for his contribution to Physics education. By then, his name had already travelled far beyond IIT Kanpur. It was in coaching centres, college libraries and school bags. It was on desks where students were preparing for one of India’s toughest entrance examinations. It was in the hands of students who had never met him and would probably never enter his classroom.The story of H C Verma begins with a child who needed a reason to sit with his books for one hour. His mother gave him one: a thekua. Years later, he gave millions of students a different reason to stay with a difficult subject. It was understanding.