Subir Kumar Ghosh (1 March 1932 – 30 October 2008) was an Indian structural geologist and an emeritus professor at

Jadavpur University Jadavpur University ( abbr. JU) is a public state funded research university with its main campus located at Jadavpur, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It was established on 25 July in 1906 as ''Bengal Technical Institute'' and was converted into ...

. He was known for his studies on theoretical and experimental structural geology and was an elected fellow of the

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 ...

, and the

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 ...

. 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 1977.

Biography

Born on 1 March 1932 in the Indian state of

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

, S. K. Ghosh graduated in science (BSc) from

University of Kolkata The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

and after completing a master's degree from the same institution, he joined his alma mater as a member of the faculty of geology in 1958. Simultaneously, enrolled at

Presidency College, Kolkata Presidency University, formerly Presidency College, is a public state university located in College Street, Kolkata. Established in 1817 as the ''Hindoo College'', it was later renamed ''Presidency College'' in 1855 and functioned as a leadi ...

for his doctoral studies under the guidance of Santosh Kumar Ray and secured a PhD working on the time-correlation of the structural and metamorphic histories of the terrain in Kuilapal village in

Purulia District Purulia district () is one of the twenty-three districts of West Bengal state in Eastern India. Purulia is the administrative headquarters of the district. Some of the other important towns of Purulia district are Raghunathpur- Adra, Manbazar ...

. Subsequently, he moved to

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...

where he worked under Hans Ramberg, a renowned geologist who would later lend his name to Rambergite mineral. He stayed with Ramberg for two years at the end of which period he received the degree of Filosofisk doktorgrad from Uppsala University in 1967 and returned to join

where he set up an experimental laboratory to continue his researches. He served the university till his superannuation in 1997 but continued his association post-retirement as an emeritus professor, an INSA senior scientist, and as an INSA honorary scientist. During this period, he also had a short stint in Sweden as a research associate for the Swedish National Programme for the Geodynamics Project. Dr. Ghosh was married to Sheila Ghosh née Sen and the couple's son Abhik Ghosh is a noted chemist. He died on 30 October 2008, at the age of 76.

Legacy

Focusing his attention on the theoretical and experimental aspects of structural geology, Ghosh studied the ''geometrical relationships of the axial surfaces of folds with the principal planes of deformation'' and his researches assisted in the wider understanding of the geological phenomena such as superposed buckle folding, buckling due to constructional deformation, rotation of spherical and ellipsoidal inclusions in shear zones, deformation of early lineations, chocolate tablet boudinage and evolution of shear zone structures. A theory on conglomerate deformation and an analysis of the mechanism of distortion of planar structure around rigid bodies have been credited to him. His researches have been documented as a book, ''Structural Geology: Fundamentals and Modern Developments,'' as chapters in books edited by others and as over 50 peer-reviewed articles, the article repository of the Indian Academy of Sciences has listed a number of them. He also published a field guide for field research in

Ghatsila Ghatshila is a small town in the Ghatshila block, Ghatshila Community development blocks in India, CD block in the Ghatshila subdivision of the East Singhbhum district, in the Indian state of Jharkhand. History According to legends, the roy ...

. He served as a National professor of the

University Grants Commission of India University Grants Commission (UGC; ISO: ''Viś‍vavidyālaya Anudāna Āyōga'') is a statutory body under Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Government of India. It was set up in accordance to the UGC Act 1956 and is c ...

during 1979–80 and sat in the editorial boards of the

Journal of Structural Geology The ''Journal of Structural Geology'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering on the field of structural geology. It is published by Elsevier and the editor-in-chief is G. Ian Alsop (University of Aberdeen). According to the ''Journa ...

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

and

Tectonophysics Tectonophysics, a branch of geophysics, is the study of the physical processes that underlie tectonic deformation. This includes measurement or calculation of the stress- and strain fields on Earth’s surface and the rheologies of the crust, ...

Elsevier Elsevier ( ) is a Dutch academic publishing company specializing in scientific, technical, and medical content. Its products include journals such as ''The Lancet'', ''Cell (journal), Cell'', the ScienceDirect collection of electronic journals, ...

, besides mentoring thirteen doctoral scholars in their studies.

Awards and honors

The

awarded Ghosh 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, in 1977. The Indian National Science Academy elected him as their fellow in 1979, INSA would honor him again in 1998 with K. Naha Memorial Medal. The same year, the Indian Academy of Sciences also elected him as a fellow. ''Evolution of Geological Structures in Micro- to Macro-scales'', edited by Sudipta Sengupta and published by

Springer Springer or springers may refer to: Publishers * Springer Science+Business Media, aka Springer International Publishing, a worldwide publishing group founded in 1842 in Germany formerly known as Springer-Verlag. ** Springer Nature, a multinationa ...

in 1997 is a

festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

on Ghosh and Kshitindramohan Naha, another noted geologist.

Selected bibliography

Books

* *

Chapters

* *

Articles

* * *

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ghosh, Subir Kumar Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean & Planetary Sciences 1932 births Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy 2008 deaths Scientists from Kolkata Bengali scientists Presidency University, Kolkata alumni University of Calcutta alumni 20th-century Indian geologists Academic staff of Jadavpur University Academic staff of the University of Calcutta Structural geologists 20th-century Indian educational theorists