Shyam Sundar Rai (born 1954, Chandauli, U.P) is an Indian
seismologist and a former chair professor (now an
emeritus professor
''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
) 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 ...
.
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 and the propagation of elastic waves through the Earth or through other ...
structure of Indian continental
lithosphere 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 for Indian scientists in all branches of science and technology.
In August 2019, Dr. Chandrima Shaha was appointed as the president of Indian National Science Acade ...
,
Indian Academy of Sciences
The Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore was founded by Indian Physicist and Nobel Laureate C. V. Raman, and was registered as a society on 24 April 1934. Inaugurated on 31 July 1934, it began with 65 founding fellows. The first general meet ...
,
and the
National Academy of Sciences, India
The National Academy of Sciences, India, established in 1930, is the oldest science academy in India. It is located in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. Prof. Meghnad Saha was the founder president.
Fellows
*Suddhasatwa Basu
* Sudha Bhattacharya
* Ch ...
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 tectonophysic ...
.
The
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research ( IAST: ''vaigyanik tathā audyogik anusandhāna pariṣada''), abbreviated as CSIR, was established by the Government of India in September 1942 as an autonomous body that has emerged as the ...
, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the
Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology
The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology (SSB) is a science award in India given annually by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for notable and outstanding research, applied or fundamental, in biology, ...
, 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 (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
. graduated in science (BSc hons) from
Banaras Hindu University
Banaras Hindu University (BHU) IAST: kāśī hindū viśvavidyālaya IPA: /kaːʃiː hɪnd̪uː ʋɪʃwəʋid̪jaːləj/), is a collegiate, central, and research university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, and founded in 1916 ...
in 1973 and obtained a master's degree in engineering (MTech) from the
Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (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
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research ( IAST: ''vaigyanik tathā audyogik anusandhāna pariṣada''), abbreviated as CSIR, was established by the Government of India in September 1942 as an autonomous body that has emerged as the ...
and stayed with the institute for the rest of his career.
Simultaneously, he did his doctoral studies at the
Indian School of Mines
Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad (abbreviated IIT (ISM), Dhanbad) is a prestigious Public university, public technical university located in Dhanbad, India. It has main campus of 218 acres in Sardar Patel Nagar a ...
to secure a PhD in 1988. He also had three stints abroad; as a
UNDP
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...
fellow at the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...
in 1981, as a
German Academic Exchange Service
The German Academic Exchange Service, or DAAD (german: Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst), was founded in 1925 and is the largest German support organisation in the field of international academic co-operation.
Organisation
''DAAD'' is a ...
fellow at the
University of Kiel
Kiel University, officially the Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel, (german: Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in ...
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 for ...
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 ...
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
Rai's researches have been focusing on the seismic structure of Indian continental
lithosphere and his work has assisted in widening the understanding of its
geotectonic evolution.
His later studies on the
seismic tomography of the region provided explanations to Indo-Asian
continental collision.
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 to be the main host matrix for diamonds. It is named after the town of Kimberley in South Africa, where the discovery of an diamond called the Star of S ...
s in the eastern
Dharwar
Dharwad (), also known as Dharwar, is a city located in the north western 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 grc-gre, κράτος "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 an ...
of South India.
His studies have been detailed in several peer-reviewed articles;
ResearchGate and
Google Scholar
Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Released in beta in November 2004, the Google Scholar index includes ...
, 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 an international research institute for physical and mathematical sciences that operates under a tripartite agreement between the Italian Government, United Nations Education ...
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 of the Indian Geophysical Union in 1991.
The
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research ( IAST: ''vaigyanik tathā audyogik anusandhāna pariṣada''), abbreviated as CSIR, was established by the Government of India in September 1942 as an autonomous body that has emerged as the ...
honored him again in 1996 with the
Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize
The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology (SSB) is a science award in India given annually by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for notable and outstanding research, applied or fundamental, in biology, ...
, 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 was formed on 29 January 2006 from a merger of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune ...
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
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 tectonophysic ...
.
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
*
*
*
*
*
See also
*
Plate tectonics
Plate tectonics (from the la, label=Late Latin, tectonicus, from the grc, τεκτονικός, lit=pertaining to building) is the generally accepted scientific theory that considers the Earth's lithosphere to comprise a number of large ...
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
Indian scientific authors
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