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

Jadavpur University Jadavpur University is a public state university located in Jadavpur, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It was established in 1905 as ''Bengal Technical Institute'' and was converted into Jadavpur University in 1955. In 2022, it was ranked fourth am ...

. 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 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 1977.

Biography

Born on 1 March 1932 in the 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 ...

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

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 (Pron: puruliːaː) 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- ...

. Subsequently, he moved to

Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. The university rose to significance during ...

where he worked under

Hans Ramberg Hans Ramberg (15 March 1917 – 7 June 1998) was a Norwegian- Swedish geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes t ...

, a renowned geologist who would later lend his name to

Rambergite Rambergite is a manganese sulfide mineral with formula . It has been found in anoxic marine sediments, rich in organic matter of the Gotland Deep, Baltic Sea and also in skarn in the Garpenberg area, Dalarna, Sweden. It was named after the mine ...

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 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 ...

. He served as a National professor of the

University Grants Commission of India University Grants Commission (UGC) is a statutory body set up by the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Government of India in accordance to the UGC Act 1956 and is charged with coordination, determination and maintenanc ...

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 university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been 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. The field encompasses the spatial patterns of stress, strain, and differing rheologies in the lithosphere and asthenosphere of th ...

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

, besides mentoring thirteen doctoral scholars in their studies.

Awards and honors

The

awarded Ghosh 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 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 Indian scientific authors 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