Maharajapuram Seetaraman Krishnan (born on 24th august 1898), awardee of the prestigeous Padma Bhushan from Government of India, was the moving force behind the beginning of NGRI, was the Director of the Institute during 1961-1964. He was the President of the Geology Section of the then prestigious Indian Science Congress. He was the first Indian to head the Geological Survey of India and served the nation by being the Director of the Indian Bureau of Mines (New Delhi), Indian School of Mines (Dhanbad), Head of the Geology and Geophysics in Andhra University, Waltair before joining NGRI. The classic text book authored by Dr.Krishnan titled "Geology of India Burma" is a bible for every geology student in India

                          Dr. M.S. KRISHNAN

                      (October 1961-March 1964)

                       Dr. HARI NARAIN 
                   (April 1964-March 1983) 

HARI NARIAN:

Born on 21^st September 1922, earned his B. Sc. (Hons),     M. Sc. (Physics) and D. Phil at Allahabad University (1950) under supervision of Professor K. S. Krishnan., PhD (Geophysics) at Sydney University (1954). Superintending Geophysicist, Oil and Natural Gas commission (ONGC), Dehra Dun (1957-62) ; Director, Institute of Petroleum Exploration, ONGC, Dehra Dun (UNSF Project) (1962-64), Director National Geophysical Research Institute (1964-78; 1981-1983), Concurrently Surveyor-General of India (1972-76) ; Vice Chancellor, Banaras Hindu University, Varnasi (1978-81) ; Chief Coordinator, UNDP Project, NGRI (1983-86) ; Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Institute of Technology Warangal (2001-2009) member of the Advisory Council of the Directorate General Hydrocarbons, Government of India (2001-09) .

Dr. Hari Narian has carried out extensive gravity and magnetic surveys in Austraila and his pioneering work the eastern and central parts of Australia has thrown new light on the tectonics and subsurface geological and crustal structures. As the first Director of Research and Training Institute, now known as Keshava Deva Malaviya Institute of Petrolum Exploration, ONGC, Dehra Dun, Dr. Narian established research facilities in petroleum, geology, basin studies, geophysical interpretation and carried out extensive integrative studies for petroleum exploration. As the Director of NGRI Dr. Hari Narian has established several new research groups like seismology, exploration geophysics, airborne magnetic surveys, geophysical instrumentation, rock mechanics, high-pressure physical properties of rocks and minerals, paleomagnetic laboratory, magnetic observatory, geochemistry, geochronology and geological studies division.  

Dr. Hari Narian has published over 200 research papers and articles in Indian and foreign journals, and supervised about 30 students for their PhD. Degree. His work in seismology has established new criteria for reservoir associated earthquakes and has determined upper mantle structures in and around Indian subcontinent. He has prepared quantitative seismicity maps, heat flow map of India. The research and development work in indigenous airborne surveys and results obtained in Mysore and Madhya Pradesh States have thrown new light on mineral exploration. Under his stewardship the project team of UNDP has brought out many publications on the mineral resources of Cudappah region of Andhra Pradesh. The most exciting achievement was the finding of a new Kimberlite with maximum gem quality diamond production in Southern India. The methodology of stream sampling was further handed over to GSI.

Awards and Honours:

Among the various awards and honours received by him, mention must be made of the President, Geology and Geography Section, Indian Science Congress Association (1972) ; First UGC National Lecturer in Earth Sciences (1973) ; President of Indian Geophysical Union (1973-1975) ; Padma Shri, Government of India (1974) ; Decennial Award of Indian Geophysical Union (1976), Honorary professorship of Andhra University (1977), DSc, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad (1978) ; President of the National Academy of Sciences, India (1979-80) ; Fellowship of Indian National Science Academy (1981) ; M. N. Saha Birth Centenary Award, Indian Science Congress (1994) ; First Petrotech Life time Achievement Award (1999) ; National Mineral Award of Excellence, Ministry of Mines, Government of India (2002) ; General President Medal, Indian Science Congress Association, from the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh (2007)

Prof. V.K. GAUR    

Vinod K Gaur  Distinguished Professor Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore-560 034

Also Adjunct Professor Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research (IISER),  Kolkata

  Vinod Gaur studied Geophysics at Banaras University and at Imperial College where he discovered the hitherto unsuspected ‘host rock effect’ in geo-electromagnetics. For this discovery in 1959, he earned the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from the University of London. His academic career began, immediately thereafter, as a Scientist at the National Physical Laboratory, UK. 

                                  Prof. V.K. GAUR                
                         (April 1983-September 1989)

Later in 1966, he joined the University of Roorkee as Professor where he initiated a modern academic programme in Geophysics incorporating the insightful contents of signal analysis, inverse theory and computational geophysics. These were subsequently propagated by the UGC to other universities by sponsoring short- term intensive courses that were organized by Gaur at Roorkee. In 1983, he moved to Hyderabad as Director of the National Geophysical Research Institute and set about restructuring the Institute’s research programmes with scientific rigour, guided by hypothesis formulation and experiment design (Nature, April 12, 1984)

Gaur’s landmark contributions to science include: i) discovery and explanation of the host-rock effect in the electromagnetic response of subsurface geological conductors (1959), ii) experimental confirmation of the hypothesis that the Indian plate under-thrusts the Asian plate @ ~ 1 cm /year, along the Main Himalayan Fault (1971) by direct measurement of slow deformation across a tunnel in the Tons valley, Uttaranchal , iii) discovery of the thick Deccan lithosphere, using the first seismic tomography experiments in India (1986) , iv) the first quantitative measurement of the Indian plate velocity with respect to the Eurasian, using Global Positioning System (GPS) Geodesy and an upper bound for the strain rate in the Southern Peninsula (1995), v) the first high resolution crustal images using broadband seismology, of the south Indian shield (1996) and of northeastern India (2005), and vi) the first Indian experiment to constrain global Carbon fluxes (2007) , over India and Central Asia, through inversion of ultra-high precision atmospheric concentration data (0.1 ppm), generated at the WMO accredited CO2 laboratory established by him at the Indian Astronomical Observatory, Hanle, Ladakh.

His contributions (PHYSICS TODAY, 2001) to advancing Scientific endeavours include: i) design of modern Geophysics curricula (UGC,1970s), ii) restructuring of NGRI research programmes, iii) integrated design and writing of CBSE VIII and X class Science books (1990), design and implementation of Marine Satellite and Ocean Information Services, and modern Antarctic Research (1989-92), as Secretary to the Government of India, and v) founding of a Science to People programme in Hyderabad (1984), now matured in a vibrant State- wide movement.

                           Prof. D. GUPTASARMA 
                          (October 1989-July 1992)

Prof. D. GUPTASARMA

Dharmajit Guptasarma was born on 16 July, 1932, in Serajgunj, Dt. Pabna (now in Bangladesh). He obtained BSc with Physics Honours in 1950, and MSc in Radiophysics & Electronics in 1952, from Calcutta University, securing first rank in the university in both. He was awarded a Scientific Manpower Committee research fellowship of the Govt. of India, and worked as a research scholar for about 2 years under Prof Arun K. Chaudhury at the Inst. of Radiophysics & Electronics (RPE), and was then appointed a lecturer at the RPE without completing a PhD. He worked in the Geological Survey of India (GSI), Calcutta, from 1956 to 1965, and then joined the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), Hyderabad, under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), from where he retired as Director in July 1992. 

OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS: He showed the need, and importance, of Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) measurements of the relative motion of the Indian tectonic Plate with respect to the Eurasian tectonic Plate for the proper understanding of the nature of the ongoing continent-continent convergence. He computed the sensitivity of missile launch systems to the gravity field of the earth structures. He showed that the seismic risk is not the same everywhere along the Himalayan collision belt.

AWARDS: Elected to fellowship of INSA (1987); Council Member (1991-93). Elected fellow of IASc, Bangalore (1987). Among the various other fellowships, awards and honours he received are: Father La Font Gold Medal (1950), Ganga Prasad Gold Medal (1952), Tripundeshwar Mitra Gold Medal (1952), Calcutta University Gold medal for MSc (1952), Krishnan Gold Medal (1972), UGC National Lecturer (1985-86), Decennial Award of IGU (1986), National Mineral Award (1986-87), Adjunct Professor in IIT, Kharagpur (1989).

 Dr. HARSH K. GUPTA

Padamashri Dr.Harsh Gupta (born in 1942) served as the Director of the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) Hyderabad for nearly a decade from 1992. Under his stewardship, NGRI rose to be the top geosciences research institute in India. His visionary leadership led NGRI to use the pool of basic research capabilities to address the country’s needs in hydrocarbons, minerals, and groundwater resources, a crucial question for agriculture in India. Later, serving as Secretary to the Government of India in the Department of Ocean Development, he implemented several new programs, in particular, gas hydrate exploration, detailed mapping of the entire exclusive economic zone of India—hence preparing India’s legal claim for the continental shelf—and tapping the energy of the oceans for power generation as well as production of potable water for remote island communities. After the 2004 Sumatra earthquake, he was responsible for designing and implementing a unique tsunami warning system for the Indian Ocean within a record time.

                          Dr. HARSH K. GUPTA
                        (July 1992-Febraury 2001)

Earlier, Dr.Gupta was responsible for building the Centre for Earth Science Studies at Trivandrum (India), before taking over as the vice- chancellor of the Cochin University of Science and Technology. In 1983, he led the Indian scientific expedition to Antarctica and established the first permanent Indian base, “Dakshin Gangotri.”. In the early 1990s, he served as Advisor to the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, and took several national research initiatives to enable the Indian science community to participate in international programs.

In recognition of Dr.Gupta’s scientific contributions and leadership in the field of geophysics, he was honored with several national and international awards, notable being, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science & Technology in Earth Sciences, USSR Academy of Sciences “100 Years of International Geophysics” Memorial Medal, National Mineral Award, Government of India, National Mineral Award for Excellence-2002, Second outstanding performance Award by the 11th International Kharazmi Festival of Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology, Teheran, Iran, 22nd G.P. Chatterjee Memorial Award, Indian Science Congress Association, ‘Padmashri’, (one of the highest civilian award of India) Government of India, The first “Prof. Anil Kumar Ganguli” Memorial Oration Award, BARC, Bombay, The Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India “C.V. Raman Lectureship, Indian Geophysical Union Decennial Award, Jawaharlal Nehru Visiting Fellowship 2003, Indian National Science Academy, Prof. K. Naha Memorial Medal (2004) of INSA, Indian Geophysical Union Millennium Award, General President, Indian Science Congress Association, Prof.Y. Nayudamma Memorial Gold Medal, Waldo. E. Smith Medal Award for 2008 from American Geophysical Union. He is a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, National Academy of Sciences, India and a Fellow of the Third World Academy of Sciences, Italy.

                                       Dr. V.P. Dimri
                          (October 2001-Febraury 2010)

Dr. V.P.  Dimri 

Dr. Vijay Prasad Dimri served as the Director of the Institute from October 2001 to February 2010. Under his leadership, NGRI's achievements were significant in geosciences. NGRI is ranked No.1 in the research output among the geosciences institutions in the country (June 2006, NISCAIR, New Delhi). During 2005-06 NGRI was no.1 among all CSIR laboratories in earning external cash flow from the sponsored projects. Also NGRI was placed among the top 1% institutions in the world in term of citation according to the analysis carried out by the SCOPUS 2007.

Earlier, Dr. Dimri joined theoretical geophysics group at NGRI in 1970 as a Junior Research Fellow, after his post graduation in applied geophysics from Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad in 1969. Dr. Dimri reformulated the problems of geophysics for realistic geology after careful analysis of physical properties such as density, susceptibility, reflectivity etc from several deep boreholes including German Continental Deep Drilling Project (KTB), which follow fractal distribution rather than hitherto assumed random distribution for mathematical simplicity. His theoretical work established a relation between potential field and their sources and thus developed a new technique of scaling spectral analysis to delineate subsurface complex geological structures for hydrocarbon exploration. A new way for modelling of any complex object lying beneath the earth surface by using fractal geometry, has been granted as US patent and has many applications like Enhanced Oil Recovery, Aquifer Modelling etc.

Earlier Dr. Dimri established a parallelism between deconvolution and inversion, two important tools of signal processing, and thus results and concepts of one can be applied to another and vice versa. The Wiener filter which is commonly used in seismic deconvolution procedure was modified to apply in inversion of gravity & magnetic measurements to map the subsurface density and susceptibility respectively. One of the significant findings of Dr. Dimri was to show that a single channel time varying filter is equivalent to multi-channel time invariant filter so that the well developed algorithms for processing of the stationary data could be easily applied to non-stationary geophysical data. Dr. Dimri extended the well known maximum entropy method to nonstationary and complex geophysical data analysis. All these new findings he wrote in form of a book entitled “Deconvolution and Inverse Theory” published by Elsevier, 1992 and Prof. M. Koch declared the book as a didactical master piece and reference book in the field of Inverse theory. Dr. Dimri has edited two books on “Applications of fractal in Geosciences, Balkema, USA, 2000” and “Fractal Behaviour in Earth Science System, Springer, 2005”.

Dr. Dimri was the first person to quantify the well known ambiguity of gravity interpretation in terms of number of false gravity anomalies associated with gravity measurement using the concept of entropy and channel capacity of Information theory, which is a part of his PhD work. Later he hypothesized covariance gravity model for the Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean.

Dr. Dimri made significant contributions in geophysical data analysis and interpretation for a variety of applications to Indian earthquakes and exploration of hydrocarbons and groundwater. His significant finding is self organized fractal seismicity of reservoir triggered earthquakes in Koyna-Warna, India. Currently Dr. Dimri along with others is modelling Tsunami Wave Propagation from sea earth quakes originated from Sumatra and Makran subduction regions.

Dr. Dimri, with more than 4 and 1/2 years of R&D experience in Norway and Germany, has designed major scientific programmes in sectors of ‘Energy security’, ‘Water security’, ‘Risk assessment’ ‘Ocean studies’ and ‘Frontier research areas of international repute’.

Awards & Honours

• Padma Shri award by the Govt. of India in 2010. 

• First Asian to get Lorenz Award Lecturer in American Geophysical Union in the field of non-linear geophysics in December, 2007.

• G.P.Chatterjee Award of Indian Science Congress Association, presented by the Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh in 2007.

• Outstanding Scientist award of FAPCCI, presented by the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh in 2008.

• Department of Ocean Development Award, Govt. of India, 2004.

• Fellow, Third World Academy of Sciences, Italy

• Fellow, Indian National Science Academy (INSA), New Delhi

• Fellow, National Academy of Sciences, Allahabad

• Fellow, AP Akademy of Sciences, Andhra Pradesh

• President, AP Academy of Sciences (2010-Continued)

• Indian Geophysical Union, 2006-2010

• Sectional President, Earth Science section of Indian Science Congress Association, 2007

• Chairman, member of several governing council and research advisory council of many earth science institutions in the country. Served as member of several national and international committees such as Chair, National Committee on International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (2005-07).

Currently, he is the Director, (in the grade of Vice Chancellor of the Central University) Gujarat Energy Research and Management Institute, R & I Center, Gandhinagar, Gujarat.