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{{short description|Indian earth scientist and seismologist (born 1942)}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Harsh Gupta
| image = Harsh Gupta.jpg
| caption = Harsh Gupta at IIT Roorkee, 24 July 2005
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1942|6|28|df=y}}
| birth_place = India
| death_date =
| death_place =
| occupation = Geophysicist [[Seismologist]]
| children =
| parents =
| awards = [[Padma Shri]] [[Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology|Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize]] ''100 Years of International Geophysics'' Memorial Medal National Mineral Award Professor K. Naha Memorial Award Nayudamma Memorial Gold Medal Award [[Waldo E. Smith Award]]
| website =
| imagesize =
| restingplace =
| restingplacecoordinates =
| othername =
| yearsactive =
| known for = [[Seismology]]
| spouse =
| domesticpartner =
}}
'''Harsh Kumar Gupta''' (born 1942) is an Indian [[Earth science|earth scientist]] and seismologist, known for his pioneering work on estimation of reservoir-induced earthquakes.<ref name="Indian Fellow">{{cite web | url=http://insaindia.org.in/detail.php?id=N89-1019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160812211750/http://insaindia.org.in/detail.php?id=N89-1019 | url-status=usurped | archive-date=12 August 2016 | title=Indian Fellow | publisher=Indian National Science Academy | date=2015 | access-date=6 December 2015}}</ref> He is a former vice chancellor of the [[Cochin University of Science and Technology]] (CUSAT) and a Raja Ramanna Fellow at the [[National Geophysical Research Institute]] (NGRI), [[Hyderabad]].<ref name="Prof Harsh Gupta">{{cite web | url=http://www.asiaoceania.org/aogs2009/doc/election/Resume_Harsh%20GUPTA.pdf | title=Prof Harsh Gupta | publisher=Asia Oceania Geosciences Society | date=2015 | access-date=6 December 2015}}</ref> A recipient of the 1983 [[Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize|Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology]],<ref name="Brief Profile of the Awardee">{{cite web | url=http://ssbprize.gov.in/Content/Detail.aspx?AID=475 | title=Brief Profile of the Awardee | publisher=CSIR | date=2015 | access-date=6 December 2015}}</ref> the highest Indian award in the science and technology category, and the 2008 [[Waldo E. Smith Award]],<ref name="Waldo E Smith Award recipients">{{cite web | url=http://honors.agu.org/medals-awards/waldo-e-smith-medal-2/?sub=recipients | title=Waldo E Smith Award recipients | publisher=American Geophysical Union | date=2015 | access-date=6 December 2015}}</ref> Gupta was awarded the fourth highest Indian civilian honour of the [[Padma Shri]] in 2006.<ref name="Padma Awards">{{cite web | url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf | title=Padma Awards | publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India | date=2015 | access-date=21 July 2015 | archive-date=15 October 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015193758/http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Most Illustrious Alumni of ISM">{{cite web | url=http://ismdhanbad.ac.in/collaboration/IRAA/ism_alumni.html | title=Most Illustrious Alumni of ISM | publisher=Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad | date=2015 | access-date=6 December 2015 | archive-date=14 December 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151214201757/http://ismdhanbad.ac.in/collaboration/IRAA/ism_alumni.html | url-status=dead }}</ref>

== Biography ==
Gupta Ji, born on 28 July 1942, did his Schooling in St.George's College, Mussoorie ( Batch of 1957) and graduate studies (BSc Hons) at the [[Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad]], from where he also secured his master's degree (MSc) in Applied Geophysics.<ref name="Biography on ISM alumni association website">{{cite web |url=http://www.ismaa.in/harsh.html |title=Biography on ISM alumni association website |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150419080940/http://www.ismaa.in/harsh.html |archive-date=19 April 2015 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Later, he obtained a doctoral degree (PhD) from the [[Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee|Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee]] and pursued advanced studies in [[Seismology]] at the International Institute of Seismology and Earthquake Engineering, Tokyo, on a two-year [[UNESCO]] fellowship.<ref name="Career highlights in brief">{{cite web | url=http://www.iugg.org/administration/2007vitaes/Gupta.pdf | title=Career highlights in brief | publisher=International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics | date=2015 | access-date=6 December 2015}}</ref> Moving to the US, he joined the [[University of Texas at Dallas]] (UTD) as a research scientist in 1972, a post he held till 1977. In 1982, he became the director of the [[Centre for Earth Science Studies]], [[Thiruvananthapuram]] and worked there till 1987. He also served as the project director of the Kerala Mineral Development and Exploration Project (KMDEP) during the same period.<ref name="Prof Harsh Gupta" /> He was appointed as the vice chancellor of the [[Cochin University of Science and Technology]] (CUSAT) in 1987 and stayed at the post till he was offered the position of the Advisor of the [[Department of Science and Technology (India)|Department of Science and Technology]] in 1990 for a two-year stint. In 1992, he took up the responsibility of the director of the [[National Geophysical Research Institute]] (NGRI), [[Hyderabad]]. He served the institution for nine years and, in 2001, he was appointed as the Secretary at the [[Department of Ocean Development]] of the Government of India from where he superannuated in 2005.<ref name="Prof Harsh Gupta" />

Gupta, after returning from the US, continued his association with the [[University of Texas at Dallas]] as an adjunct professor till 2001. He is a former member of the [[National Disaster Management Authority (India)|National Disaster Management Authority]] (NDMA), a post which had the rank of a Union Minister, during 2011–14. He has served as the president of many scientific societies such as [[International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics]] (IUGG), Asia Oceania Geosciences Society, and [[Geological Society of India]]. He is the founder president of the Asian Seismological Commission and presided over the commission from 1996 to 2000. He has served as an advisor and consultant to the Commonwealth Science Council, [[UNESCO]], [[International Atomic Energy Agency]] (IAEA) and the [[International Council for Science]] (ICSU).<ref name="NGRI Hyderabad previous directors">{{cite web | url=http://www.ngri.org.in/pdir.html | title=NGRI Hyderabad previous directors | publisher=National Geophysical Research Institute | date=2015 | access-date=6 December 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150414223831/http://ngri.org.in/pdir.html | archive-date=14 April 2015 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

== Legacy ==
Gupta's researches have been focused on the study of earthquakes and he is known to have developed methodology for discriminating normal earthquakes from reservoir-induced ones.<ref name="Indian Fellow" /> He has developed procedures to estimate the potential of ''reservoir-triggered earthquakes at a given site''. His later studies are reported to have assisted in understanding the genesis of ''stable continental region earthquakes''. He has conducted investigative studies on the structure of the regional crust of the [[Arabian Sea]] and the [[Bay of Bengal]]. His studies have been documented by way of over 200 scientific papers in national and international journals<ref name="NGRI Hyderabad previous directors" /> and five books,<ref name="Amazon profile">{{cite web | url=https://www.amazon.in/s?rh=n%3A976389031%2Cp_27%3AHarsh+Gupta | title=Amazon profile | publisher=Amazon | date=2015 | access-date=7 December 2015}}</ref> namely, ''Disaster Management'',<ref name="Disaster Management">{{cite book | title=Disaster Management | publisher=Orient Blackswan | author=Harsh K. Gupta | year=2003 | pages=188 | isbn=9788173714566}}</ref> ''Oceanology'',<ref name="Oceanology">{{cite book | title=Oceanology | publisher=Universities Press | author=Harsh K. Gupta | year=2005 | pages=232 | isbn=9788173715297 }}</ref> ''Geothermal Energy: An Alternative Resource for the 21st Century'',<ref name="Geothermal Energy: An Alternative Resource for the 21st Century">{{cite book | url=https://www.amazon.in/dp/B000WOM32C | title=Geothermal Energy: An Alternative Resource for the 21st Century | publisher=Elsevier Science |author1=Harsh K. Gupta |author2=Sukanta Roy | year=2006 | pages=292 | asin=B000WOM32C}}</ref> ''Reservoir Induced Earthquakes (Developments in Geotechnical Engineering)'',<ref name="Reservoir Induced Earthquakes (Developments in Geotechnical Engineering)">{{cite book | title=Reservoir Induced Earthquakes (Developments in Geotechnical Engineering) | publisher=Elsevier Science | author=Harsh K. Gupta | year=1992 | pages=382 | isbn=9780444889065 }}</ref> and ''Three Great Tsunamis''.<ref name="Three Great Tsunamis">{{cite book | title=Three Great Tsunamis | publisher=Springer |author1=Harsh K. Gupta |author2=Vineet K. Gahalaut | year=2013 | pages=89 | isbn=9789400765757 }}</ref> He has also edited 15 books,<ref name="Indian Fellow" /> which included the ''Encyclopedia of Solid Earth Geophysics''.<ref name="Encyclopedia of Solid Earth Geophysics">{{cite book | title=Encyclopedia of Solid Earth Geophysics | publisher=Springer |author1=Harsh K. Gupta |author2=Kusumita Arora |author3=A. Cazenave |author4=Eric Robert Engdahl |author5=Rainer Kind |author6=Ajay Manglik |author7=Sukanta Roy |author8=Kalachand Sain |author9=Seiya Uyeda | year=2011 | pages=1539 | isbn=9789048187010 }}</ref>

Gupta headed the team which set up the [[Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System|Indian Tsunami Warning System]].<ref name="NGRI Hyderabad previous directors" /> He was the leader of the III [[Indian Antarctic Program|Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica]] and his team established [[Dakshin Gangotri]], a permanent Indian station at [[Antarctica]] during 1983–84,<ref name="Third Indian Expedition to Antarctica - Scientific Report">{{cite web | url=http://14.139.119.23:8080/dspace/bitstream/123456789/202/3/INTRODUCTION.pdf | title=Third Indian Expedition to Antarctica – Scientific Report | publisher=Department of Ocean Development | date=1986 | access-date=7 December 2015}}</ref> reportedly in record time.<ref name="Career highlights in brief" /> It was during his tenure as the Government Secretary, the [[Department of Ocean Development]] implemented programmes such as [[bathymetry]] surveys of the Indian [[Exclusive economic zone]], the establishment of an Indo-Russian Gas Hydrate Centre at Chennai and a 1 MLD low temperature thermal desalination plant at [[Kavaratti]].<ref name="Indian Fellow" /> He also worked for presenting the Indian claim for [[Convention on the Continental Shelf|Legal Continental Shelf]] and developing technologies for detecting water resources, [[Rain Harvesting|rain harvesting]], and assessing earthquake hazards.<ref name="Indian Fellow" />

== Awards and honours ==
Gupta, a Raja Ramanna Fellow of the [[National Geophysical Research Institute]], received the [[Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology]] in 1983, for his work in [[Seismology]].<ref name="Brief Profile of the Awardee" /> The [[National Academy of Sciences, India]] (NASI) elected him as their Fellow in 1986<ref name="NASI Fellow">{{cite web | url=http://www.nasi.org.in/fellows.asp?RsFilter=G | title=NASI Fellow | publisher=National Academy of Sciences, India | date=2015 | access-date=6 December 2015 | archive-date=21 October 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141021102942/http://www.nasi.org.in/fellows.asp?RsFilter=G | url-status=dead }}</ref> and he received the ''100 Years of International Geophysics'' Memorial Medal of the [[USSR Academy of Sciences]] in 1985.<ref name="Indian Fellow" /> He became an elected Fellow of the [[Indian National Science Academy]] (INSA) in 1989, and two years later, he was selected for the 1991 National Mineral Award. The year 2000 brought him two awards, Indian Geophysical Union Millennium Award and Indian Society of Applied Geochemists Millennium Award.<ref name="Indian Fellow" />

Gupta received the National Mineral Award for a second time in 2002 and the Professor K. Naha Memorial Award of the [[Indian National Science Academy]] in 2004. The Government of India included him in the [[Indian honours system|Republic Day Honours]] list for the civilian award of the [[Padma Shri]] in 2006. He is also a recipient of the 2003 Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Centenary visiting Fellowship and 2008 Nayudamma Memorial Gold Medal Award.<ref name="Indian Fellow" /> The same year, the [[American Geophysical Union]] honoured him with the [[Waldo E. Smith Award]].<ref name="Waldo E Smith Award recipients" />

== Selected bibliography ==
* {{cite book | title=Reservoir Induced Earthquakes (Developments in Geotechnical Engineering) | publisher=Elsevier Science | author=Harsh K. Gupta | year=1992 | pages=382 | isbn=9780444889065}}
* {{cite book | title=Disaster Management | publisher=Orient Blackswan | author=Harsh K. Gupta | year=2003 | pages=188 | isbn=9788173714566}}
* {{cite book | title=Oceanology | publisher=Universities Press | author=Harsh K. Gupta | year=2005 | pages=232 | isbn=9788173715297}}
* {{cite book | title=Geothermal Energy: An Alternative Resource for the 21st Century | publisher=Elsevier Science |author1=Harsh K. Gupta |author2=Sukanta Roy | year=2006 | pages=292 | asin=B000WOM32C}}
* {{cite book | title=Encyclopedia of Solid Earth Geophysics | publisher=Springer |author1=Harsh K. Gupta |author2=Kusumita Arora |author3=A. Cazenave |author4=Eric Robert Engdahl |author5=Rainer Kind |author6=Ajay Manglik |author7=Sukanta Roy |author8=Kalachand Sain |author9=Seiya Uyeda | year=2011 | pages=1539 | isbn=9789048187010}}
* {{cite book | title=Three Great Tsunamis | publisher=Springer |author1=Harsh K. Gupta |author2=Vineet K. Gahalaut | year=2013 | pages=89 | isbn=9789400765757}}

== See also ==
{{portal|India|Geology}}
* [[Dakshin Gangotri]]
* [[Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad]]
* [[Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System]]
* [[List of geophysicists]]
* [[List of University of Texas at Dallas people]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

{{2000s Padma Shri Award Recipients in Science & Engineering}}
{{SSBPST recipients in Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean & Planetary Sciences}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gupta, Harsh}}
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in science & engineering]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy]]
[[Category:Fellows of the National Academy of Sciences, India]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean & Planetary Sciences]]
[[Category:Indian seismologists]]
[[Category:Heads of universities and colleges in India]]
[[Category:IIT Roorkee alumni]]
[[Category:University of Texas at Dallas faculty]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:1942 births]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian physicists]]
[[Category:Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad alumni]]
[[Category:Presidents of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics]]

Harsh Gupta - Revision history

imported>TaylaGnn3143080 at 23:17, 24 September 2025