[7][8] Swapan Chattopadhyay was born in Calcutta, India, and spent his early childhood years in the Himalayan hill town of Darjeeling.

After having completed his PhD, he moved to CERN as an "attaché scientifique" in the Super Proton-Antiproton Synchrotron, contributing to program of stochastic cooling of antiproton beams.

At Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, he made critical advancements in microwave superconducting linear accelerators leading the way to current and future grand instruments of science such as the high precision CEBAF and its 12 GeV upgrade for precision research in hadronic physics,[20] Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA to advance neutron sciences and novel materials research, and the current superconducting version of the International Linear Collider, to name a few.

His research at the Cockcroft Institute in UK included development of sources of "ultra-cold" relativistic free electron beams to advance coherent electron diffraction techniques; production of novel coherent and ultra-short pulses of photons (e.g. x-ray FELs); novel acceleration methods; investigation of photonic crystals and metamaterial structures for charged particle acceleration; novel high energy colliders.

[21][22] Having contributed to the conception, design, construction, commissioning and operation of numerous accelerators for particle and nuclear physics, photon and neutron sciences around the world, with significant research accomplishments in advanced particle and photon beam physics,[23][24] and mentoring scientists around the world, in the developing nations in particular, in accelerator developments as a unifying global force among nations, Swapan Chattopadhyay is a frequently invited speaker and advisor at professional societies and government research agencies, serving on numerous editorial, advisory and review committees throughout the world.