Sudipta Sengupta | |
|---|---|
| Born | 20 August 1946 |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Education | Jadavpur University |
| Alma mater | Jadavpur University |
| Awards | Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, 1991 |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Structural geology Precambrian Geology |
| Institutions | Jadavpur University |
| Doctoral advisor | Subir Kumar Ghosh |
| Other academic advisors | Janet Watson John Ramsay Hans Ramberg |
Sudipta Sengupta (born 20 August 1946) is a professor in structural geology in Jadavpur University, Calcutta, India, and a trained mountaineer. She is one of the first Indian women (along with Aditi Pant) to set foot on Antarctica. [1] She is also popularly known in India for her book Antarctica in Bengali and numerous articles and television interviews on geosciences. [2] She has published extensively in international peer-reviewed journals of structural geology. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded her the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards for her contributions to Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean and Planetary Sciences in 1991.
 | This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources .(September 2024) |
Sengupta was the youngest daughter of three, born to Jyoti Ranjan Sengupta and Pushpa Sengupta in Calcutta, India. Her father was a meteorologist and their family spent a lot of time in both India and Nepal.
She says she "comes from the land of Durga. We worship Durga and as a child, I believed that she lived in Kailash. Now, I know that Durga lives in us, in all women."
Sudipta Sengupta graduated from Jadavpur University with top honors in both the B.Sc. and M.Sc. examinations. She obtained her Ph.D. degree from Jadavpur University in 1972 under the supervision of Dr. Subir Kumar Ghosh. She worked as a geologist in the Geological Survey of India between 1970 and 1973. In 1973, she received the prestigious scholarship of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 from U.K. and carried out post-doctoral research work for the next three years at the Imperial College, London. In 1977 she joined the Institute of Geology of Uppsala University, Sweden as a docent for six months and thereafter carried out research as a visiting scientist in connection with the International Geodynamics Project which was supervised by Professor Hans Ramberg. On her return to India in 1979, she joined the Geological Survey of India as a Senior Geologist. In 1982, she joined Jadavpur University as a lecturer and retired as a Professor. [2]
Sengupta recounts that "for the first 15 years of my life, there were hardly any women in the class - in most of the years none." She talks about the fact that the university wasn't prepared to accommodate women during field-trips. Conditions didn't improve until 1996, Sengupta says "In our times, it was terrible. We stayed in dharamshalas and sometimes huts." Sengupta also talks about the fact that in some ways it was better in her days. She went on her PhD studied alone and traveled to remote places with "bad roads and no communication, but never felt unsafe" but that these days she "wouldn't dare to send a girl alone for field work." [3] [4] [5]
Sudipta Sengupta is an expert mountaineer and was trained in Advanced Mountaineering by Tenzing Norgay in the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute. Tenzing Norgay was one of the first two men to scale Mt Everest in 1953. She has participated in numerous mountaineering expeditions in India and Europe, including an unnamed virgin peak in the Lahaul Region, which they later named Mount Lalona.
Sengupta remembers that her field work taught her much. She says "people are the same everywhere. They are basically good and helpful" even if "to seen an Indian girl moving around with a hammer was very new for them." [4]
In 1983, Sudipta Sengupta was selected as a member of the Third Indian Expedition to Antarctica and conducted pioneering geological studies in the Schirmacher Hills of East Antarctica. Sudipta and Dr. Aditi Pant, a Marine Biologist were the first women scientist from India to take part in Antarctic Expedition. [6] [7] In 1989 she visited Antarctica for the second time as a member of the Ninth Indian Expedition to Antarctica. Her work in the Schirmacher Hills is of fundamental importance as it became the basis of further research in that area. In the major part of her research in structural geology, Professor Sudipta Sengupta has combined geological field studies with laboratory experiments and theoretical analyses. Apart from doing structural field studies in varied terrain, including the Precambrian structures of Peninsular India, the Scottish Highlands, the Scandinavian Caledonides and East Antarctica.
She talks about her experience in Antarctica and says that the Geology prejudices extended to that land as well. She says "Antarctica was also a male bastion, women scientists weren't allowed there before 1956." She remembers men joking that a woman couldn't go without a beauty parlor in Antarctica. In 1982 she applied to join an Indian Expedition to Antarctica but her application was rejected because she was a woman. She was later taken on expeditions in 1982 and 1989. [4]
On both expeditions, she traveled on ships taking a month to get there. Once they were on land, the crew had to work during blizzards and a Sun that never set. In the days that she went to Antarctica, India only had one base station — Dakshin Gangotri, which now is not in function and is fully submerged in ice. The Maitri station was already up and running by then in Schirmacher Oasis in East Antarctica and is still an active research base. [3]
| This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources .(September 2024) |
Professor Sengupta has published numerous papers in Indian as well as international journals. She has edited a book with contributions by renowned structural geologists and also authored a book on her travels and work in Antarctica which has become a best seller in West Bengal. She was awarded the Bhatnagar Award for excellence in science by the Government of India. She is a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy. Professor Sengupta also received the National Mineral Award and the Antarctica Award from the Government of India, along with numerous other awards like the Profession and Career Award of the Lady Study Group.
Professor Sengupta was part of a forum titled 'Women in Science and Technology' at the India Internation Centre in New Delhi. It was acknowledged that Sengupta was a geologist during the 80s, a time when women were discouraged from taking part in any field work. Sengupta was a guest speaker during the event and began by quoting Eleanor Roosevelt: "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."
Dakshin Gangotri was the first scientific base station of India situated in Antarctica, part of the Indian Antarctic Programme. It is located at a distance of 2,500 kilometres (1,600 mi) from the South Pole. It is currently being used as a supply base and transit camp. The base is named after Dakshin Gangotri Glacier.
Maitri also known as Friendship Research Centre, is India's second permanent research station in Antarctica as part of the Indian Antarctic Programme. The name was suggested by then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Work on the station was first started by the Indian Expedition which arrived the end of December 1984, with a team led by Dr. B. B. Bhattacharya. Squadron Leader D. P. Joshi, the surgeon of the team, was the first camp commander of the tentage at camp Maitri. The first huts were started by the IV Antarctica Expedition and completed in 1989, shortly before the first station, Dakshin Gangotri, was buried in ice and abandoned in 1990–91. Maitri is situated in the rocky mountainous region called Schirmacher Oasis. It is only 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) away from the Russian Novolazarevskaya Station.
The Indian Antarctic Programme is a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional programme under the control of the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India. It was initiated in 1981 with the first Indian expedition to Antarctica. The programme gained global acceptance with India's signing of the Antarctic Treaty and subsequent construction of the Dakshin Gangotri Antarctic research base in 1983, superseded by the Maitri base from 1989. The newest base commissioned in 2012 is Bharati, constructed out of 134 shipping containers. Under the programme, atmospheric, biological, earth, chemical, and medical sciences are studied by India, which has carried out 40 scientific expeditions to the Antarctic.
Jasodhara Bagchi was a leading Indian feminist professor, author, critic and activist. She was the founder and director of the School of Women's Studies at Jadavpur University. Her books include Loved and Unloved – The Girl Child and Trauma and Triumph – Gender and Partition in Eastern India. She also founded the women's rights organization Sachetana.
Women in geology concerns the history and contributions of women to the field of geology. There has been a long history of women in the field, but they have tended to be under-represented. In the era before the eighteenth century, science and geological science had not been as formalized as they would become later. Hence early geologists tended to be informal observers and collectors, whether they were male or female. Notable examples of this period include Hildegard of Bingen who wrote works concerning stones and Barbara Uthmann who supervised her husband's mining operations after his death. Mrs. Uthmann was also a relative of Georg Agricola. In addition to these names varied aristocratic women had scientific collections of rocks or minerals.
Maria Vasilyevna Klenova was a Russian and Soviet marine geologist and one of the founders of Russian marine science and contributor to the first Soviet Antarctic atlas.
The Schirmacher Oasis is a 25 km (16 mi) long and up to 3 km (1.9 mi) wide ice-free plateau with more than 100 freshwater lakes. It is situated in the Schirmacher Hills on the Princess Astrid Coast in Queen Maud Land in East Antarctica and is, on average, 100 m (330 ft) above sea level. With an area of 34 km2 (13 sq mi), the Schirmacher Oasis ranks among the smallest Antarctic oases and is a typical polar desert.
Reena Kaushal Dharmshaktu is the first Indian woman to ski from coast of Antarctica to South Pole covering a distance of 900 kilometers.
Aditi Pant, is an Indian oceanographer. She was the first Indian woman to visit Antarctica, alongside geologist Sudipta Sengupta in 1983 as part of the Indian Antarctic Program. She has held prominent positions at institutions including the National Institute of Oceanography, National Chemical Laboratory, University of Pune, and Maharashtra Academy of Sciences.
Lois M. Jones was an American geochemist who led the first all-woman science team to Antarctica in 1969. They were also the first women to reach the South Pole. Jones was well regarded for her contribution to geological research in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, one of the few ice-free areas of Antarctica, and published many papers and abstracts.
Sophie Warny is a Belgian Antarctic researcher, best known for her work on palynology. As an associate professor at Louisiana State University in the Department of Geology and Geophysics and one of the curators at the Museum of Natural Science, Warny studies past climate change patterns by examining fossilized pollen and spores. She is currently the vice president of the Gulf Coast Section of the Society for Sedimentary Geology (GCSSEPM).
Laura Crispini is an Italian geologist and an Antarctic researcher. Her areas of expertise are for the Tectonics, Geodynamics and Geological Mapping including the Geology of Antarctica. She has been nominated among 150 International representative of female Antarctic researchers for the SCAR "Celebration of Women in Antarctic Research" wikibomb event. At present she is Professor at the University of Genoa at the Department for Earth Sciences, Envinronment and life (DISTAV).
This is a Timeline ofwomen in Antarctica. This article describes many of the firsts and accomplishments that women from various countries have accomplished in different fields of endeavor on the continent of Antarctica.
Kshitindramohan Naha (1932–1996) was an Indian geologist and a professor and CSIR Emeritus scientist at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. He was known for his studies on structural geology of Precambrian era and was an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, and the Indian Academy of Sciences. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards for his contributions to Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean and Planetary Sciences in 1972.
Subir Kumar Ghosh was an Indian structural geologist and an emeritus professor at Jadavpur University. He was known for his studies on theoretical and experimental structural geology and was an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, and the Indian Academy of Sciences. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards for his contributions to Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean, and Planetary Sciences in 1977.
Hassan Nasiem Siddique was an Indian marine geologist and the director of the National Institute of Oceanography. He was the deputy leader of the first Indian expedition to the Antarctica during 1981–82. He was known for his geological studies on Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea and was an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, Geological Society of India, Association of Exploration Geophysicists and the National Academy of Sciences, India. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards for his contributions to Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean and Planetary Sciences in 1978. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest Indian civilian honour of Padma Shri in 1983.
Nibir Mandal is an Indian structural geologist and a professor of Geological Sciences at Jadavpur University. He is known for his studies on the evolution of geological structures and is an elected fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences, and the Indian National Science Academy. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards for his contributions to Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean and Planetary Sciences in 2005.
Aparna Kumar is an Indian mountaineer. She was awarded the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award in 2018 for land adventure by the President of India.
