Mani Lal Bhaumik was born in a Bengali Mahishya family on March 30, 1931 in a small village in Tamluk and attended the Kola Union High School. His father Gunodhar Bhaumik was a notable freedom fighter. As a teenager, Bhaumik spent some time with Mahatma Gandhi in his Mahisadal camp. In his boyhood Mani Lal was hugely influenced by freedom fighter Matangini Hazra, popularly known as Lady Gandhi. He received a B.Sc. degree from Scottish Church College and an M.Sc. degree from the Rajabazar Science College campus of University of Calcutta. He won the attention of Satyendra Nath Bose (creator of the Bose–Einstein statistics) who encouraged his prodigious curiosity. Bhaumik became the first student to receive a doctorate from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur when he received his Ph.D. degree in quantum physics in 1958. His thesis was on Resonant Electronic Energy Transfers, a subject he would have cause to use in his work with lasers.