Moti Lal Rustgi, Professor in Physics and expert on photodisintegration theory, was born in Delhi, India, on September 29, 1929. He graduated with honors from Delhi University with a Bachelor of Science at the age of 20, an achievement followed two years later with the awarding of his master's degree in physics, also from Delhi University. Rustgi pursued doctoral studies at Stanford University and later at Louisiana State University, where he earned his doctorate in theoretical nuclear physics. In 1957 he completed his dissertation, Photodisintegration of the Lightest Nuclei, and left Louisiana for Yale University to spend three years as a research associate under Gregory Breit, the renowned physicist who rose to prominence during World War Two for his work on the Manhattan Project and his groundbreaking research on weaponry.

In 1960, Rustgi began a postdoctoral fellowship divided between the National Resource Council in Ottawa, Canada and Harvard University. After completing his fellowship Rustgi returned to India, working as a reader in physics at Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi. Rustgi returned to the United States in 1963 when he assumed the position of Assistant Professor at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. A year later, he was hired by Yale University as an Assistant Professor; two years later he departed Yale to assume the position of Associate Professor at the University at Buffalo. Breit joined him in Buffalo in 1968 and they continued their collaboration. Rustgi was made Full Professor that same year, a position he would hold for twenty-four years. At University at Buffalo, Rustgi taught courses such as Freshman Physics, Electromagnetic Fields, Quantum Mechanics, Nuclear Theory, Statistical Mechanics, and Classical Electrodynamics. Twice Rustgi held visiting appointments, at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in 1973 and 1980, respectively.

Rustgi was a prolific researcher in the fields of medical, nuclear, atomic, and solid-state physics, with 145 articles in scholarly journals and three papers published in different conference proceedings to his name. From 1951 to 1953 he served as a Fellow of the India Atomic Energy Commission at Delhi University. Rustgi funded his varied research interests though a number of grants from the State University of New York Research Foundation, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Twice he held NASA / American Society for Engineering Education summer fellowships. Rustgi gave numerous presentations and invited talks at international conferences. At the University at Buffalo, Rustgi was an active participant in the department, serving on numerous committees and directing graduate studies for the department. Rustgi was also instrumental in founding the concentration in medical physics still available to master's students in the department. Outside of the academy, Rustgi helped establish the Western New York Hindu Culture Society. For his contributions to the field of Physics, Rustgi was made Fellow of the American Physical Society. In addition, he was listed in the sixth edition of Who's Who in the World as well as numerous editions of Who's Who in America and American Men and Women of Science. He passed away on November 16, 1992 at the age of 63.