Mihir Kumar Bose (1933–2009) was an Indian geologist and a professor at the

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 ...

. He was known for his studies on

igneous petrology Igneous petrology is the study of igneous rocks—those that are formed from magma. As a branch of geology, igneous petrology is closely related to volcanology, tectonophysics, and petrology in general. The modern study of igneous rocks utilizes a ...

and was an elected fellow of the

Geological Survey of India The Geological Survey of India (GSI) is a scientific agency of India. It was founded in 1851, as a Government of India organization under the Ministry of Mines, one of the oldest of such organisations in the world and the second oldest survey ...

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 1976.

Biography

Born on 1 September 1933 in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

, in the present day Indian state of

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...

, Mihir Kumar Bose graduated in science (BSc hons) from

University of Kolkata 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, C ...

and after completing a master's degree from the same institution, he joined

as a member of faculty at their department of geology in 1956. Simultaneously, he pursued his doctoral studies under the guidance of S. Ray and on securing a PhD in 1965, he did his post-doctoral work at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

under Tom F. W. Barth, a renowned

petrologist Petrology () is the branch of geology that studies rocks and the conditions under which they form. Petrology has three subdivisions: igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary petrology. Igneous and metamorphic petrology are commonly taught together ...

, focusing on petrological-mineralogical research. On his return to India, he resumed his duties at Presidency College and served as the reader of geology and a professor till his superannuation from service in 1993. Post-retirement he continued his researches as an emeritus scientist of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and as an honorary scientist of the Indian National Science Academy during (1993–97) and (2001–04) respectively. he died on 1 October 2009, at the age of 76.

Legacy

Bose was known to have studied the alkaline rocks and

anorthosite Anorthosite () is a phaneritic, intrusive igneous rock characterized by its composition: mostly plagioclase feldspar (90–100%), with a minimal mafic component (0–10%). Pyroxene, ilmenite, magnetite, and olivine are the mafic minerals most ...

s in India with emphasis on their chemical petrology using rock forming minerals collected from different chemical milieus and differing pressure-temperature conditions. His studies assisted in widening the understanding of magmatic differentiation and his use of geochemical criteria for identifying the difference between various

ultramafic rocks Ultramafic rocks (also referred to as ultrabasic rocks, although the terms are not wholly equivalent) are igneous and meta-igneous rocks with a very low silica content (less than 45%), generally >18% MgO, high FeO, low potassium, and are compos ...

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 ...

region in Jharkhand state as well as his contributions in petrologic nomenclature and classification have been reportedly notable. His researches have been documented as one book, ''Igneous Petrology'' and several peer-reviewed articles; the article repository of the Indian Academy of Sciences has listed a number of them. He sat in the subcommission on Systematics and Nomenclature of Igneous Rocks constituted by the International Union of Geological Sciences and the National Committee on Science and Technology of the Government of India. He presided the Geological Mining and Metallurgical Society of India during 2004–06 and served as the vice president of the Indian Association of Geochemists and as an editor of the ''Indian Journal of Earth Sciences'' (1972–79).

Awards and honors

Bose received the National Mineral Award in 1972 and the P. N. Bose Memorial Gold 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 2006. In between, 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 1976. 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

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 ...

Selected bibliography

Books

Articles

* * * * *

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bose, Mihir Kumar Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean & Planetary Sciences 1933 births Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy 2009 deaths Scientists from Kolkata Bengali scientists University of Calcutta alumni 20th-century Indian geologists Academic staff of Presidency University, Kolkata University of Oslo alumni Council of Scientific and Industrial Research