Bilal U. Haq is a Pakistani-American geoscientist (and poet) who is currently affiliated with and divides his time between the
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...
in Washington, DC, and
Sorbonne University
Sorbonne University () is a public research university located in Paris, France. The institution's legacy reaches back to the Middle Ages in 1257 when Sorbonne College was established by Robert de Sorbon as a constituent college of the Unive ...
's Institute of Earth Sciences in Paris, France. He is best known for his work on the
Phanerozoic
The Phanerozoic is the current and the latest of the four eon (geology), geologic eons in the Earth's geologic time scale, covering the time period from 538.8 million years ago to the present. It is the eon during which abundant animal and ...
sea-level fluctuations and
eustatic
Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised ...
curves that are widely used in the academia and industry as the basis for global
stratigraphy
Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock layers (strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks.
Stratigraphy has three related subfields: lithost ...
and in exploration geology. He is a laureate of the Prestwich Prize for geosciences from France.
Early life and education
Bilal Haq was born in the foothills of Himalayas (Gorakhpur) where his father Mohammad Fazl-i-Haq was a senior ICS officer in the British Indian government. After the independence of India his father opted to serve in the new nation of Pakistan since his family originated from Lahore, now in Pakistan. He received his early education at
St. Paul
Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. For his contributions towards the New Testament, he is generally ...
's and
Central Model Schools in Karachi and Lahore, respectively. In Lahore, he also earned his Bachelor and Master of Science degrees from the
Government College and the
Punjab University Punjab University may refer to:
India
* Punjab Agricultural University, a state agricultural university in Ludhiana, Punjab
* I. K. Gujral Punjab Technical University, a state university in Kapurthala, Punjab
* Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab Techn ...
. In Europe, after receiving a diploma in German language from Dolmetscher Institut of
Heidelberg University
Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is Germany's oldest unive ...
, he started his graduate research at the
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...
and then moved to Sweden to earn his PhD and DSc degrees in marine geoscience from the
University of Stockholm
Stockholm University (SU) () is a public university, public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, social ...
.
Career
Bilal U. Haq's career spans over five decades, and he has carried out research in several disciplines of marine geosciences at the
University of Stockholm
Stockholm University (SU) () is a public university, public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, social ...
, the
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI, acronym pronounced ) is a private, nonprofit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of marine science and engineering.
Established in 1930 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, it i ...
in Massachusetts,
Exxon
Exxon Mobil Corporation ( ) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Founded as the largest direct successor of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, the modern company was form ...
Production Research Company in Houston, the
National Science Foundation
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...
in Washington, DC, the Universities of
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...
,
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
,
Oxford
Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town.
The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...
,
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
(UPMC, Sorbonne) and
Utrecht
Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...
. He has consulted with, provided advice to, or delivered specialized courses to numerous multinational resource companies, and
geological surveys around the world through his consulting partnership.
He was seconded to the
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...
in Washington, DC in their Environment Department, where already in 1994 he produced a special report on the effects of climate change and sea-level rise on the economies of developing
maritime nation
A maritime nation is any nation that borders the sea and is dependent on its use for the majority of the following state activities: commerce and transport, war, to define a territorial boundary, or for any maritime activity (activities using the ...
s.
In 1994, Bilal was also seconded by NSF to the White House's Executive Office of the US president for the
Federal Budget where he worked on the science budget for independent science agencies. Bilal was appointed an
honorary professor
Honorary titles (professor, president, reader, lecturer) in academia may be conferred on persons in recognition of contributions by a non-employee or by an employee beyond regular duties. This practice primarily exists in the UK and Germany, as ...
at both
Tongji University
Tongji University is a public university located in Shanghai, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Construction. Tongji is one of the ...
in Shanghai and the Academia Sinica Institute of Ocean Sciences in Qingdao, China, and was a visiting professor at both Oxford and Cambridge Universities in the UK.
Bilal Haq is also a poet who has published four volumes of poetry,
with insights into nature and the nature of man. His poetic license, enabled by his scientific background, has been fondly dubbed by his peers as "geopoetry", and his poetic message is that we have to learn to live with nature, if we are to survive.
Among Bilal's many services to the scientific community was his rescue of a prolific fossil site in the Shandong province of China (Confucius' birthplace) through an international appeal,
(now a National
Geopark
A geopark is a protected area with internationally significant geology within which Sustainability, sustainable development is sought and which includes tourism, conservation, education and research concerning not just geology but other relevant s ...
). He also conceived and helped create a paleontological Geopark (together with the Chinese biologist and academician, Zheng Shouyi) consisting of giant sculptures based on fossil micro-organisms (
Foraminifera
Foraminifera ( ; Latin for "hole bearers"; informally called "forams") are unicellular organism, single-celled organisms, members of a phylum or class (biology), class of Rhizarian protists characterized by streaming granular Ectoplasm (cell bio ...
) in Zhongshan City in Guangdong Province. Since its opening in December 2009, the sculpture park has been visited by over 200,000 visitors every year, which the
''Smithsonian'' magazine declared the second most important "Evo-tourism" site in the world. This was followed by another, larger, Foraminiferal sculpture park in the city of Qingdao, that was established in 2017.
Research
Bilal Haq's research covers a broad spectrum of geosciences, from
marine geology
Marine geology or geological oceanography is the study of the history and structure of the ocean floor. It involves geophysical, Geochemistry, geochemical, Sedimentology, sedimentological and paleontological investigations of the ocean floor and ...
to marine
sedimentology
Sedimentology encompasses the study of modern sediments such as sand, silt, and clay, and the processes that result in their formation (erosion and weathering), transport, deposition and diagenesis. Sedimentologists apply their understanding of m ...
,
paleoceanography
Paleoceanography is the study of the history of the oceans in the geologic past with regard to circulation, chemistry, biology, geology and patterns of sedimentation and biological productivity. Paleoceanographic studies using environment model ...
,
paleoclimatology
Paleoclimatology ( British spelling, palaeoclimatology) is the scientific study of climates predating the invention of meteorological instruments, when no direct measurement data were available. As instrumental records only span a tiny part of ...
,
paleobiogeography
Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities often vary in a regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, ...
,
biostratigraphy
Biostratigraphy is the branch of stratigraphy which focuses on correlating and assigning relative ages of rock strata by using the fossil assemblages contained within them.Hine, Robert. "Biostratigraphy." ''Oxford Reference: Dictionary of Biology ...
,
seismic
Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes (or generally, quakes) and the generation and propagation of elastic ...
, sequence and global stratigraphy, and
natural gas hydrates
Methane clathrate (CH4·5.75H2O) or (4CH4·23H2O), also called methane hydrate, hydromethane, methane ice, fire ice, natural gas hydrate, or gas hydrate, is a solid clathrate compound (more specifically, a clathrate hydrate) in which a large amo ...
. In the past his focus was on documenting sea-level changes along the world's
continental margin
A continental margin is the outer edge of continental crust abutting oceanic crust under coastal waters. It is one of the three major zones of the ocean floor, the other two being deep-ocean basins and mid-ocean ridges.
The continental marg ...
s and interior basins for the last 550 million years of Earth history (the complete Phanerozoic Eon). More recently he has directed his attention to influence of
tectonics
Tectonics ( via Latin ) are the processes that result in the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. The field of ''planetary tectonics'' extends the concept to other planets and moons.
These processes ...
on the
sedimentary record. He has also focused on quantifying the amount of total
Messinian
The Messinian is in the geologic timescale the last age or uppermost stage of the Miocene. It spans the time between 7.246 ± 0.005 Ma and 5.333 ± 0.005 Ma (million years ago). It follows the Tortonian and is followed by the Zanclean, the fir ...
salt sequestered in the deep Mediterranean evaporite giant and its implications for tectonics in various
deep basin
Deep or The Deep may refer to:
Places United States
* Deep Creek (Appomattox River tributary), Virginia
* Deep Creek (Great Salt Lake), Idaho and Utah
* Deep Creek (Mahantango Creek tributary), Pennsylvania
* Deep Creek (Mojave River tributary) ...
s and continental margins and the paleoceanography of this enclosed Sea. Bilal has published over 160 research papers, book chapters and encyclopedia articles, several of them among the most highly cited in Earth sciences, of which one was chosen as among the top 100 papers in geosciences of all time.
Awards and honours
Bilal Haq's honors include the Shepard Medal for excellence in marine geology, the Ocean Sciences Award from the
American Geophysical Union
The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of Earth, Atmospheric science, atmospheric, Oceanography, ocean, Hydrology, hydrologic, Astronomy, space, and Planetary science, planetary scientists and enthusiasts that ...
, the
Antarctic Medal
The Antarctic Medal is a civil decoration of Norway. Established by King Olav V on 3 February 1960, it was awarded to the individuals associated with the Sixth Norwegian Antarctic Expedition. The medal ranks 27th in the order of precedence of Ord ...
of the
US National Science Foundation
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is t ...
, and more recently the Prestwich Prize from the
Geological Society of France
Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth s ...
. The Geological Society of America recently recognized his contributions to geosciences with their International Distinguished Career Award. He has also been recognized for his research by the award of a ''doctoris honoris causa'' by the Sorbonne University, election to the membership of the European Academy of Science and Letters (
Academia Europaea
The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of humanities, letters, law, and sciences.
The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europe ...
),
and to fellowships of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...
and the Geological Society of America. Bilal has also been honored by his peers with the naming of a fossil plankton species and a genus after him. His international appeal saved a prolific fossil site from destruction (that was later declared a National Geopark) in Shandong Province in China and he helped create two Foraminiferal sculpture parks in Guangzhou and Qingdao.
Bilal U. Haq's poetry
Bilal Haq has published four volumes of poetry: ''Reflections'' (2016), ''Musings'' (2017), ''Ruminations'' (2017) and ''Glimpses of Nature and Man'' (2018).
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bilal Ul Haq
1948 births
Living people
Academic staff of Paris-Sorbonne University
Smithsonian Institution people
Pakistani emigrants to the United States
Government College University, Lahore alumni
University of the Punjab alumni
Stockholm University alumni
University of Vienna alumni
21st-century American earth scientists
Pakistani earth scientists
Marine geologists