Bibha studied physics at Rajabazar Science College of Calcutta University and was the only woman to complete M.Sc. degree in the year 1936. She joined the Bose Institute after graduating in 1939 and worked with Debendra Mohan Bose. Together, they experimentally observed and published on mesotron showers, later called mesons. She studied batches of Ilford half-tone plates that were exposed to cosmic rays at two different altitudes, one in Darjeeling and a higher one at Sandakphu. The particles had decreased mass at lower altitudes, suggesting that they had decayed over time. She noticed that the decays were curved, likely due to multiple scattering of particles. They could not take the investigation further because there were not more sensitive emulsion plates available. Chowdhuri joined the laboratory of Patrick Blackett for her doctoral studies, working on cosmic rays at the University of Manchester. Her PhD thesis investigated extensive air showers. Her examiner was Lajos Jánossy. It is unclear how much her work contributed to Blackett's Nobel Prize.