Kshitindramohan Naha (1932–1996) was an Indian geologist and a professor and CSIR Emeritus scientist at the

Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT Kharagpur) is a public institute of technology established by the Government of India in Kharagpur, West Bengal, India. Established in 1951, the institute is the first of the IITs to be established ...

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

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 ...

, and the

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 ...

. 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 1972.

Biography

Born on 2 January 1932 in

Comilla Comilla (; bn, কুমিল্লা, Kumillā, ), officially spelled Cumilla, is the fifth largest city of Bangladesh and second largest in Chittagong division. It is the administrative centre of the Comilla District. The name Comilla was ...

, in the Bengal region of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

(presently in Bangladesh), Kshitindramohan Naha graduated in science from

Presidency College, Kolkata Presidency University, Kolkata (formerly known as Presidency College, Kolkata) is a second major public state aided research university located in College Street, Kolkata. Considered as one of best colleges when Presidency College was affili ...

and later completed his master's degree from the

Rajabazar Science College The University College of Science, Technology and Agriculture (commonly or formerly known as Rashbehari Siksha Prangan & Taraknath Palit Siksha Prangan or Rajabazar Science College & Ballygunge Science College) are two of five main campuses of ...

where he continued at the same institution as a research scholar under the guidance of Santosh Kumar Ray. In 1958, he moved to the

as a member of faculty of the department of geology and geophysics and it was during his service there, he received the degree of Doctor of Science from the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a public collegiate state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered one of best state research university all over India every year, ...

in 1959. He rose in ranks at IIT Kharagapur and when he superannuated from service in 1992, he was holding the post of a professor. During this period, he had two stints abroad as a visiting professor at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

(1968) and

La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora. The university was established in 1964, becoming the third university in the state of Victoria a ...

(1975–76). Post retirement, he served as a CSIR Emeritus scientist of the institute till his death on 24 May 1996, at the age of 64.

Legacy

Naha was known to have made extensive studies on the structural geology of Precambrian era and was credited with compiling an integrated geological history of Precambrian rocks in

Ghatsila Ghatshila is a census town in the Ghatshila CD block in the Ghatshila subdivision of the East Singhbhum district, in the Indian state of Jharkhand. History Legend says that the royal family of the Kingdom of Dhalbhum had originated from ...

Singhbhum Singhbhum was a district of India during the British Raj, part of the Chota Nagpur Division of the Bengal Presidency. It was located in the present-day Indian state of Jharkhand. Chaibasa was the district headquarters. Located in the southern li ...

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

and in

Simla Shimla (; ; also known as Simla, the official name until 1972) is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared as the summer capital of British India. After independence, th ...

region. Through his studies, he estimated the time of formation and

kinematic Kinematics is a subfield of physics, developed in classical mechanics, that describes the motion of points, bodies (objects), and systems of bodies (groups of objects) without considering the forces that cause them to move. Kinematics, as a fiel ...

significance of deformation

lamellae Lamella (plural lamellae) means a small plate or flake in Latin, and in English may refer to: Biology * Lamella (mycology), a papery rib beneath a mushroom cap * Lamella (botany) * Lamella (surface anatomy), a plate-like structure in an animal * ...

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica ( silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical ...

Migmatites Migmatite is a composite rock found in medium and high-grade metamorphic environments, commonly within Precambrian cratonic blocks. It consists of two or more constituents often layered repetitively: one layer is an older metamorphic rock th ...

and its architecture, the geometry of reclined folds and the early precambrian terrance of the southern parts of India and central

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...

were some of the other foci of his studies. His studies also assisted in developing methodologies for the recognition of angular run conformity in metamorphic terraces as well as the coaxial refolding prior to non- coaxial deformation. His researches are available as several peer-reviewed articles and he was associated with the ''Indian Journal of Earth Science'', ''Indian Journal of Geology'' and ''

Precambrian Research ''Precambrian Research'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering the geology of the Earth and its planetary neighbors. It is published by Elsevier and, , the editors-in-chief are V. Pease (Stockholm University) and G.C. Zhao (University of ...

'' as a member of their editorial boards. He chaired the Indian National Committee on Continental Lithosphere and served as a member of the council of the Indian National Science Academy during 1990–92.

Awards and honours

Naha received the S. L. Biswas Medal of the

Asiatic Society The Asiatic Society is a government of India organisation founded during the Company rule in India to enhance and further the cause of "Oriental research", in this case, research into India and the surrounding regions. It was founded by the p ...

in 1958 and the National Mineral Award in 1970. The

awarded him 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, in 1972. The Indian National Science Academy elected him as their fellow in 1977 and he became an elected fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences in 1983. He was also a fellow of the Mining and Metallurgical Society of India and the

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 ...

. He delivered several award orations which included Professor K. P. Rode Memorial Lecture of the

Indian Science Congress Indian Science Congress Association(ISCA) is a premier scientific organisation of India with headquarters at Kolkata, West Bengal. The association started in the year 1914 in Kolkata and it meets annually in the first week of January. It has a ...

(1992), Professor H. C. Dasgupta Memorial Lecture of the Geological, Mining and Metallurgical Society of India (1992) and Dr. S. Balakrishna Memorial Lecture of the Andhra Pradesh Academy of Sciences (1992). ''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 Subir Kumar Ghosh, another noted geologist and Naha, but the book could be released only after the latter's death. The Indian National Science Academy and the Geological Survey of India have instituted awards, ''Professor K. Naha Memorial Medal'' and ''K. Naha Award'' respectively, in his honour.

Selected bibliography

* * * *

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Naha, Kshitindramohan Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean & Planetary Sciences 1932 births Indian scientific authors Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy 1996 deaths Scientists from West Bengal Bengali scientists Presidency University, Kolkata alumni University of Calcutta alumni Academic staff of IIT Kharagpur University of California, Berkeley faculty La Trobe University faculty 20th-century Indian geologists 20th-century Indian educational theorists