Born in 1910 in Burrabagar, Calcutta, Himangshu Sett graduated at the Presidency College, Calcutta, before completing his medical studies at the R G Kar Medical College. He went to England in 1938 to study for the FRCS, which he passed in 1940. He returned to Calcutta the following year to work under Colonel Anderson. He was a pioneer in thoracic surgery in Calcutta, performing pneumonectomies at the Lake Hospital. Later he specialised in cancer surgery, particularly of the large bowel. He was professor and director of surgery at the R G Kar Medical College in Calcutta and, when he retired, continued to work in the Chittaranian Cancer Hospital, as well as his own nursing home. He travelled extensively, attending meetings of the International Society of Colorectal Surgery, and visiting the Sloane Kettering Memorial Hospital in New York, the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, and hospitals in Tokyo. He was a senator of Calcutta University, and secretary of the rowing club. He was a life member of the Royal Horticultural Society, of the Boy's Own Library and a trustee of Sri Chaitanya Library. He had two sons and five daughters, the eldest son, Pradikumar Sett, is also an FRCS. He died on 29 February 1998.