Hassan Nasiem Siddique (20 July 1934 – 14 November 1986) was an Indian marine geologist and the director of the National Institute of Oceanography. He was the deputy leader of the first Indian expedition to the Antarctica during 1981–82. He was known for his geological studies on Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea and was an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy,

Geological Society of India The Geological Society of India is based in Bangalore, India. Its flagship product is the ''Journal of the Geological Society of India (JGSI)''. Establishment As declared in the ''JGSI'', the society was established on May 28, 1958, to promote th ...

, Association of Exploration Geophysicists and the National Academy of Sciences, India. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards for his contributions to Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean and Planetary Sciences in 1978. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest Indian civilian honour of Padma Shri in 1983.

Biography

H. N. Siddiquie was born on 20 July 1934 to M. A. Siddiquie, a civil surgeon and his homemaker wife, Ahemedi Begum as the eldest of their 6 sons and two daughters in

Bijnor Bijnor is a city and a municipal board in Bijnor district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, IndiaUttar Pradesh. His early education was at the Government Higher Secondary School, Adilabad and after matriculation in 1949, he completed his intermediate studies at Osmania University in 1951. Thereafter he joined

Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh Muslim University (abbreviated as AMU) is a Public University, public Central University (India), central university in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan as the Muhammadan Anglo-Orie ...

(AMU) from where he completed his graduate degree in science in 1954. It was during this period, his father died but he continued his studies at AMU to obtain a master's degree in geology in 1956 and pursued his doctoral studies at the university but his doctoral degree came years later when the university awarded him the degree of Doctor of Philosophy while he was serving National Institute of Oceanography. His career started at Geological Survey of India (GSI) in 1956 at their Ground Water Exploration Division and Research Laboratories. He served GSI for over 17 years during which period he served as a senior geologist during 1966–73 and had a training stint at

Shirshov Institute of Oceanology The Shirshov Institute of Oceanology ( P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology (IO) RAN, russian: Федеральное государственное бюджетное учреждение науки Институт океанологии имен ...

, Moscow. When the Government of India established National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) in 1973, he moved to the institute's Goa headquarters as a Grade-E scientist and the head of the Geological Oceanography Division. He served NIO in different capacities such as Grade-F Scientist and deputy director before becoming the director of the institute in 1985. Siddiquie was married to Talat, and the couple had a daughter and two sons. He was 52 years old when he died in harness on 14 November 1986 succumbing a massive heart attack, the second one in a span of one year.

Legacy

Siddiquie's principal areas of operation were the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and the Antarctica and his efforts may be categorized under seven heads viz. exploration of petroleum and minerals, infrastructure development, exploration of ploymetallic nodules, studies on sediments, studies on Foraminifera,

paleoclimatic Paleoclimatology (British spelling, palaeoclimatology) is the study of climates for which direct measurements were not taken. As instrumental records only span a tiny part of Earth's history, the reconstruction of ancient climate is important to ...

studies and Antarctica expedition. He was associated with several oil projects which include piping route identification, bathymetric and shallow

seismic survey Reflection seismology (or seismic reflection) is a method of exploration geophysics that uses the principles of seismology to estimate the properties of the Earth's subsurface from reflection (physics), reflected seismic waves. The method require ...

s and post-lay surveys in Bombay High, Bassein-Gujarat line, and

Butcher Island Butcher Island (Jawahar Dweep) is an island off the coast of Mumbai, India. It has an oil terminal used by the port authorities to offload it from oil tankers. The crude oil is stored in oil containers on the island. From there they are piped t ...

routes for

Oil and Natural Gas Commission The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is a central public sector undertaking under the ownership of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India. It is headquartered in New Delhi. ONGC was founded on 14 August 1956 by the ...

and the

Mahanadi delta The Mahanadi is a major river in East Central India. It drains an area of around and has a total length of . Mahanadi is also known for the Hirakud Dam. The river flows through the states of Chhattisgarh and Odisha and finally merged with Bay ...

survey for Oil India. For Port Trust Board of India, he conducted surveys for the ports of Mormugao, Visakhapatnam, Mangalore and Karwar. He was credited with the initiation of managanese nodule program in India and this coordinated program was reported to have earned India a place among the seven registered Pioneer Investors of the International Seabed Authority of the United Nations. The first bottom sediment map of the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal was prepared under his supervision which served as a guide for future explorations in the region. The map identified the presence of Foraminifera, a class of amoeboid protists, which indicated the marine pollution levels and the resources of calcareous sediments in Lakshadeep sea. His studies on Lakshadeep offshores also assisted in widening the understanding of about the origin of the Chagos-Laccadive Ridge. He was the deputy leader of the first Indian expedition to Antarctica, under the leadership of

Syed Zahoor Qasim Sayed Zahoor Qasim (31 December 1926 – 20 October 2015) was an Indian marine biologist. Qasim helped lead India's exploration to Antarctica and guided the other seven expeditions from 1981 to 1988. He was a Member of the Planning Commission of ...

and he coordinated the marine science programs for

Dakshin Gangotri Dakshin Gangotri was the first scientific base station of India situated in Antarctica, part of the Indian Antarctic Programme. It is located at a distance of from the South Pole. It is currently being used as a supply base and transit camp. T ...

, the permanent Indian station in the southernmost continent. His studies and researches have been documented by way of a number 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'' ...

, an online repository of scientific articles has listed 14 of them. He also mentored seven doctoral scholars in their studies. Siddiquie was associated with the Indian government agencies such as Ocean Science and Technology Board and National Council of Science Museums and was a member of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics and Jadavpur University Geological Society in 1983 and 1984 respectively. He sat in the council of Association of Exploration Geophysicists in 1985 and served as the vice-chair of the ''Training, Education and Mutual Assistance'' (TEMA) (1984–85) and ''Improved uses of Research Vessels'' workshop (1984), both organized by of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission/ UNESCO. He was also a member of IOC/UNESCO Guiding Group of Experts for the Programme Ocean Science and Non-Living Resources (OSNLR). On the educational front, he served as a member of the research and advisory council of 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 ...

, the boards of studies of Andhra University, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Mangalore University and Bombay University, the planning board of Kashmir University and the executive council of Goa University. He also served as a member of the editorial boards of ''Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences'' and ''Indian Journal of Marine Sciences''.

Awards and honors

The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research awarded the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 1978. The Government of India included him the Republic Day honors list for the fourth highest civilian award of the Padma Shri in 1983. The same year, he was elected by the Indian National Science Academy as their fellow. He was also an elected fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India (1984),

and Association of Exploration Geophysicists (1982). He was also a recipient of the National Mineral Award and the State Award of the Government of Goa, which he received in 1986. Indian Geophysical Union has instituted an annual award oration, ''Dr. H. N. Siddique Memorial Lecture'' in Siddique 's honor.

Selected bibliography

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Biography

Legacy

Awards and honors

Selected bibliography

See also

Notes

References

Further reading