Shyam Sundar Rai (born 16 March 1954, Chandauli, U.P) is an Indian

seismologist 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 ...

and a former chair professor (now an

emeritus professor ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

) at the department of Earth and Climate Science of the

Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune (IISER Pune) is an autonomous public university established in 2006. It is one of the seven Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research, and was one of the first IISERs to be ...

. He is known for his researches on the

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 ...

structure of Indian continental

lithosphere A lithosphere () is the rigid, outermost rocky shell of a terrestrial planet or natural satellite. On Earth, it is composed of the crust and the lithospheric mantle, the topmost portion of the upper mantle that behaves elastically on time ...

and is an elected fellow of all the three major Indian science academies viz.

Indian National Science Academy The Indian National Science Academy (INSA) is a national academy in New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three b ...

Indian Academy of Sciences The Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore was founded by Indian Physicist and List of Nobel laureates, Nobel Laureate Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, C. V. Raman, and was registered as a society on 27 April 1934. Inaugurated on 31 July 1934, it ...

, and the

National Academy of Sciences, India The National Academy of Sciences, India, also known as NASI, was established in 1930 and is the oldest science academy of India. It is located in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. Prof. Meghnad Saha was the founder president. Fellows * Suddhasatwa Bas ...

as well as of the

Indian Geophysical Union The Indian Geophysical Union is the Government of India's scientific body responsible for all activities related with Earth Science System such as seismology, magnetism, meteorology, geodesy, volcanology, oceanography, hydrology and tectonophysi ...

. The

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR; IAST: ''vaigyanik tathā audyogik anusandhāna pariṣada'') is a research and development (R&D) organisation in India to promote scientific, industrial and economic growth. Headquarter ...

, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the

Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology Shanti or Shanthi may refer to: In Sanskrit * Inner peace, a state of being mentally and spiritually at peace, with enough knowledge and understanding to keep oneself strong in the face of discord or stress * Kshanti, one of the paramitas of B ...

, one of the highest Indian science awards for his contributions to Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean and Planetary Sciences in 1996.

Biography

S. S. Rai, born on 16 March 1954 in the Indian state of

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

, graduated in science (BSc hons) from

Banaras Hindu University Banaras Hindu University (BHU), formerly Benares Hindu University, is a collegiate, central, and research university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, and founded in 1916. The university incorporated the Central Hindu College, ...

in 1973 and obtained a master's degree in engineering (MTech) from the

Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee The Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IIT- Roorkee or IIT-R) is a technical university located in Roorkee, Uttarakhand, India. It is the oldest engineering institution in India. It was founded as the College of Civil Engineering in 1847 d ...

(then known as the University of Roorkee) in 1977. He started his career as a senior scientific assistant at the

National Geophysical Research Institute The National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) is a geoscientific research organization established in 1961 under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India's largest Research and Development organization. It is suppo ...

(NGRI) of the

and stayed with the institute for the rest of his career. Simultaneously, he did his doctoral studies at the

Indian School of Mines The Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines) Dhanbad is a public technical university located in Dhanbad, India. IIT Dhanbad is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in India. Indian Institute of Technology Dha ...

to secure a PhD in 1988. He also had three stints abroad; as a

UNDP The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human development. The UNDP emphasizes on developing local capacity towar ...

fellow at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

in 1981, as a

German Academic Exchange Service The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD; ), founded in 1925, is a joint organization of German universities and student bodies to foster their international relations. Since 1 January 2020, the president has been Joybrato Mukherjee. Organisa ...

fellow at the

University of Kiel Kiel University, officially the Christian Albrecht University of Kiel, (, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a public research university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in 1665 as the ''Academia Holsator ...

during 1986–88 and as a

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science The is an Independent Administrative Institution in Japan, established for the purpose of contributing to the advancement of science in all fields of the natural and social sciences and the humanities.JSPSweb page History The Japan Society f ...

senior fellow at

Hirosaki University is a Japanese national university in Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture, Japan. Established in 1949, it comprises five faculties: Faculty of the Humanities, Faculty of Education History, Hirosaki University Medical School History, Faculty of Science a ...

in 1998. He held various positions of a junior scientist to Chief scientist at NGRI before his superannuation in 2014. In between, he also served as a professor at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata during 2009–10. He moved to the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Pune as founding Chair and Professor ( 2014-2019) of the Department of Earth and Climate Science.

Legacy

Continental-continental convergence Fig21contcont

Rai's researches have been focusing on the seismic structure of Indian continental

and his work has assisted in widening the understanding of its

geotectonic 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 ...

evolution. His later studies on the

seismic tomography Seismic tomography or seismotomography is a technique for imaging the subsurface of the Earth using seismic waves. The properties of seismic waves are modified by the material through which they travel. By comparing the differences in seismic waves ...

of the region provided explanations to Indo-Asian

continental collision In geology, continental collision is a phenomenon of plate tectonics that occurs at Convergent boundary, convergent boundaries. Continental collision is a variation on the fundamental process of subduction, whereby the subduction zone is destroy ...

. These studies are known to have helped in developing methodologies to target ''mineralized zones, ground water aquifers and kimberlite pipes''. His contributions are reported in the preparation of a 3-D velocity image of the Indian subcontinent, identification and demarcation of Indian lithosphere in Western Tibet, and the later day exploration of diamond bearing

Kimberlite Kimberlite is an igneous rock and a rare variant of peridotite. It is most commonly known as the main host matrix for diamonds. It is named after the town of Kimberley, Northern Cape, Kimberley in South Africa, where the discovery of an 83.5-Car ...

s in the eastern

Dharwar Dharwad (), also known as Dharwar, is a city located in the northwestern part of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of the Dharwad district of Karnataka and forms a contiguous urban area with the city of Hubballi. It was merge ...

Craton A craton ( , , or ; from "strength") is an old and stable part of the continental lithosphere, which consists of Earth's two topmost layers, the crust and the uppermost mantle. Having often survived cycles of merging and rifting of contine ...

of South India. His studies have been detailed in several peer-reviewed articles;

ResearchGate ResearchGate is a European commercial social networking site for scientists and researchers to share papers, ask and answer questions, and find collaborators. According to a 2014 study by ''Nature'' and a 2016 article in ''Times Higher Education' ...

and

Google Scholar Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of Academic publishing, scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Released in Beta release, beta in November 2004, th ...

, two online repositories of scientific articles, have listed 478 and 98 of them respectively. He was associated with the Indian Academy of Sciences as a member of its sectional committee during 1999–2002 and 2008–09 and as a council member during 2013–15. He also sat in the council of the Indian National Science Academy during 2011–13.

Awards and honors

Rai, who held the Senior Associateship of the

Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) is a research center for physical and mathematical sciences, located in Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The center operates under a tripartite agreement between the Ita ...

during 1994–2008 and the J. C. Bose National fellowship in 2010, received the Young Scientist Award of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research in 1988 and the

Krishnan Medal The Krishnan Medal is an Indian geology award given annually by the Indian Geophysical Union. The award is named after M. S. Krishnan, an eminent geologist. Overview The Indian Geophysical Union instituted the Krishnan Medal to be awarded each y ...

of the Indian Geophysical Union in 1991. The

honored him again in 1996 with the

Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize Shanti or Shanthi may refer to: In Sanskrit * Inner peace, a state of being mentally and spiritually at peace, with enough knowledge and understanding to keep oneself strong in the face of discord or stress * Kshanti, one of the paramitas of B ...

, one of the highest Indian science awards. The Ministry of Mines awarded him the National Geoscience Award in 2004 and the Scientist Award of the Government of Andhra Pradesh reached him two years later. In 2016, the

Ministry of Earth Sciences The Ministry of Earth Sciences is an executive ministry of the Government of India, established on 29 January, 2006. It was formed through the reorganisation of the Department of Ocean Development and the assumption of administrative control ov ...

awarded him the National Award in Geoscience and Technology. The Indian Academy of Sciences elected him as its fellow in 1996 and the other two major Indian science academies, the National Academy of Sciences, India and the Indian National Science Academy, followed suit in 2005 and 2009 respectively. He is also an elected fellow of

. The Indian National Science Academy honored him with Professor K. Naha Memorial Award in 2019. The IIT (Roorkee) and IIT (ISM, Dhanbad) honored Professor Rai with their Distinguished Alumnus award.

Selected bibliography

* * * * *

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rai, Shyam Sundar Academic staff of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean & Planetary Sciences 1954 births Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy Fellows of the National Academy of Sciences, India Fellows of the Indian Geophysical Union Scientists from Uttar Pradesh Banaras Hindu University alumni IIT Roorkee alumni University of Toronto people Academic staff of the University of Kiel Living people Indian seismologists Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad alumni