Syed Mahmood Naqvi
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Syed Mahmood Naqvi (28 August 1941 — 4 September 2009) was an Indian Earth scientist specialising in
geochemistry Geochemistry is the science that uses the tools and principles of chemistry to explain the mechanisms behind major geological systems such as the Earth's crust and its oceans. The realm of geochemistry extends beyond the Earth, encompassing the e ...
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) in
Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...
. In a four-decade career, from the 1960s through 2000s, he was the recipient of numerous awards, scientific as well as humanitarian, and served as Fellow of the
Association of Applied Geochemists The Association of Applied Geochemists (AAG) is an international society that seeks to advance the study and application of geochemistry and represents scientists working in that field. History The society was founded in 1970 as the Association o ...
, Indian Geophysical Union,
Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...
Academy of Sciences and Indian National Science Academy (INSA) as well as vice-president 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 ...
, the Geological Mining and Metallurgical Society of India and the Indian Society of Applied Geochemists (ISAG).


Education

A native of the town of
Amroha Amroha is a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is located north-west of Moradabad, near the Ganga River. It is the administrative headquarters of the Amroha district. Geography Amroha is located north-west of Moradabad, near the ...
in northwestern
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 ...
, Syed Mahmood Naqvi received his school and university education in Amroha and Aligarh, and moved to Hyderabad in 1964, upon being appointed as a research scientist at NGRI on 9 November. Becoming a member of the Geochemistry group, he obtained his
Ph.D A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...
in 1969/70, upon completing his thesis on the "structure, petrology, geochemistry, gravity field and tectonics of the central part of the Chitradurga
Schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity. This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes o ...
Belt,
Dharwar Craton The Dharwar Craton is an Archean continental crust craton formed between 3.6-2.5 billion years ago ( Ga), which is located in southern India and considered as the oldest part of the Indian peninsula. Studies in the 2010s suggest that the craton c ...
".


Professional career

In his 39 years of active service with the NGRI, Mahmood Naqvi rose steadily through the cadre, serving as Acting Director of the institute from February to October 2001 and retiring with title of Scientist G in 2003. He remained loyal to 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 l ...
(CSIR) and did not leave it even when offered a professorship by his alma mater,
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). In 1964, NGRI was mostly engaged in geophysical research, and Mahmood Naqvi was initially assigned to work with a team of geophysists, led by the eminent authority on
mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...
, M. N. Qureshi, in preparing a gravity map of India. However, he soon found his own niche. With the encouragement and support of NGRI director Hari Narain, as well as that of the head of his own division, Dr. Qureshi, Mahmood Naqvi initiated, as part of his Ph.D project, the first systematic geological/geochemical studies at NGRI. Upon receiving his doctorate from AMU in 1970 and, over the following 35 years, he continued to explore the Precambrian Geology of South India by generating and interpreting diverse geochemical data. Since NGRI, during the 1960s, did not have the facilities required for such high-level research, he applied his entire efforts towards funding and building at the institute state-of-the-art geochemistry laboratories which have continued to meet analytical needs of a large number of research organizations and universities in India. He also established linkages with some leading geochemists outside the country and, among many other projects, led, with
John A. Rogers John A. Rogers (born August 24, 1967) is a physical chemist and a materials scientist. He is currently the Louis Simpson and Kimberly Querrey Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and Neurological Surgery at N ...
of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, a highly praised Indo-US collaborative programme on
Precambrian The Precambrian (or Pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pꞒ, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of the ...
s of
South India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territo ...
. Mahmood Naqvi contributed immensely to human resource development in geochemistry by guiding over two dozen Ph.D research students, most of whom have subsequently risen to occupy high positions in academic/research institutions and industry. Following superannuation in 2001, in his capacity as CSIR Emeritus as well as INSA Senior Scientist at NGRI, and despite failing health, he devoted his remaining years to research and authorship of several books, making this final period of his life one of his scientifically most productive. Syed Mahmood Naqvi died in Hyderabad one week past his 68th birthday. S.M. Naqvi Gold Medal was instituted in the name of outstanding scientist late Dr. S.M. Naqvi who contributed extensively in the field of Geology. He was associated with the Society in various capacities till his death in September 2009. Dr. S.M Naqvi Gold Medal will be awarded once in two years to a scientist below the age of 60 years for outstanding contributions in any field of Indian Geology.


Research achievements

During a research career spanning nearly 45 years, Mahmood Naqvi made many outstanding contributions to earth sciences. These include: # Recognition and early description of the oldest crustal nucleus in Dharwar Craton around the Holenarsipur schist belt; # Importance of horizontal and
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 ...
in the Meso- and Neo- Archaean; # Identification, petrogenetic and tectonic characterization of a variety of rock types from the Archaean greenstone belts of southern India such as
ultramafic 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 composed ...
komatiites Komatiite () is a type of ultramafic mantle-derived volcanic rock defined as having crystallised from a lava of at least 18 wt% MgO. Komatiites have low silicon, potassium and aluminium, and high to extremely high magnesium content. Komatiite wa ...
, high-Mg
basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
s, anorthosites,
boninite Boninite is an extrusive rock high in both magnesium and silica, thought to be usually formed in fore-arc environments, typically during the early stages of subduction. The rock is named for its occurrence in the Izu-Bonin arc south of Japan. It ...
s, adakites, Nb-rich basalts, grey-wakes, banded iron and
manganese Manganese is a chemical element with the symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a transition metal with a multifaceted array of industrial alloy use ...
formations, the distinct phases and types of the TTG
gneiss Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures an ...
es and
granitoid A granitoid is a generic term for a diverse category of coarse-grained igneous rocks that consist predominantly of quartz, plagioclase, and alkali feldspar. Granitoids range from plagioclase-rich tonalites to alkali-rich syenites and from quartz ...
es; # Evidence for Archaean life; # Studies on Precambrian
metallogeny Metallogeny is the study of the genesis and regional-to-global distribution of mineral deposits, with emphasis on their relationship in space and time to regional petrologic and tectonic features of the Earth's crust. The term metallogeny (métallo ...
such as gold mineralization in different geological environments within the
Kolar Kolar or Kolara is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Kolar district. The city is known for its milk production and gold mines. It is also known for Someshwara temple and Kolaramma temple. History The Weste ...
, Ramgiri, Hutti and Gadag fields as well as in the banded iron formations at numerous localities both in southern India and
Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
and the base metal deposits at Ingaldhal and Kalyadi. Apart from catapulting the Dharwar Craton onto the canvas of global Precambrian terranes, Mahmood Naqvi's studies contributed new dimensions and leads toward unraveling several basic problems in Precambrian geology especially the relevance of uniformitarianism and paradigms such as plate tectonics to the early geologic history of the earth. He strongly advocated an early beginning of modern-style plate tectonics as far back in time as the Neo-Archean (2700 million years). He strived relentlessly to obtain critical evidences in the rock record of southern India to demonstrate his crust evolution model. His approach in this journey was holistic encompassing a range of earth processes involving interactions among
atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A s ...
,
hydrosphere The hydrosphere () is the combined mass of water found on, under, and above the surface of a planet, minor planet, or natural satellite. Although Earth's hydrosphere has been around for about 4 billion years, it continues to change in shape. This ...
and
lithosphere A lithosphere () is the rigid, outermost rocky shell of a terrestrial planet or natural satellite. On Earth, it is composed of the crust (geology), crust and the portion of the upper mantle (geology), mantle that behaves elastically on time sca ...
in space and deep time.


Awards and honours

*Gold Medal 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 ...
(1978) *
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 science, applied or Fundamenta ...
in Earth Sciences (1983) *Andhra Pradesh State Council for Science and Technology (APCOST) Award (1986) *Taqi Hadi Award (1992) *Amroha Gavrav (1994) *Decennial Award of the Indian Geophysical Union (2001) *Roll of Honour,
Bundelkhand University Bundelkhand University is a State university based in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India. Founded in 1975, it has professional, technical and vocational study programmes along with facilities for research. Administration The chancellor of the unive ...
(2005) *Excellence Award from the Friendship Forum of India, New Delhi (2005) *Lifetime Achievement – National Mineral Award for Excellence (2006). *The S.M. Naqvi Gold Medal will be awarded biennially by 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 ...
in his honour. (2013)


References

Life, education and family.http://drs.nio.org/drs/bitstream/2264/4133/1/Biogr_Memoirs_Fellow_INSA_38_75.pdf


External links


Syed Mahmood Naqvi Biography


Notes


Sources


"Obituary"
''Journal of the Geological Society of India''. Volume 74 (Number 4) October 2009, pp. 531–2. DOI 10.1007/s12594-009-0160-3. Springer India, in co-publication with Geological Society of India. (Print) (Online. http://drs.nio.org/drs/handle/2264/4133. http://drs.nio.org/drs/bitstream/2264/4133/1/Biogr_Memoirs_Fellow_INSA_38_75.pdf {{DEFAULTSORT:Naqvi, Syed Mahmood 1941 births 2009 deaths 20th-century Indian earth scientists Indian geochemists Indian geophysicists Indian Shia Muslims Aligarh Muslim University alumni People from Amroha Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean & Planetary Sciences Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy 20th-century Indian chemists Scientists from Uttar Pradesh