Calamur Mahadevan
Calamur Mahadevan FNA FASc FNASc FNI FISC FGS F.Pb.S FPSI MAIME FGMMSI (May 6, 1901 – 8 April 1962), sometimes known as C. Mahadevan, was an Indian specialist in economic geology, marine geology, and nuclear geology, and 1934 Founding Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, elected for Earth and Planetary Sciences, serving on the Council of the Indian Academy of Sciences from 1948 until his 1962 death. Chosen as a Fulbright scholar, with aid from the United States National Research Council, he taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Appointed to the first Professorship of Geology at Andhra University after fourteen years as Superintendent Geologist at the Geological Survey of Hyderabad, he was known as a doyen or foundational figure in the field of Indian geology.
Calamur Mahadevan | |
|---|---|
| Occupation(s) | Geologist, Principal of Andhra University |
| Relatives | Sir C. V. Kumaraswami Sastri Sir C.P. Ramaswami Iyer |
| Awards | Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences (FASc) Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India (FNASc) |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | University of Madras (M.A.) Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (D.Sc) |
| Doctoral advisor | Sir C.V. Raman |
| Other advisors | Sir K.S. Krishnan M. O. Parathasarathy Iyengar |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Geology |
| Sub-discipline | Economic geology Marine geology Nuclear geology Ore dressing |
| Institutions | Andhra University Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Notable students | U. Aswathanarayana Bunjan Edmund Vijayam T. C. Rao Narayana Rao T.V.V.G.R.K. Murthy B. P. Radhakrishna J.S.R. Krishna Rao K. Padmanabhaiah, Home Secretary |
At Andhra University, where he was further appointed Principal, he introduced the subjects of Oceanography, Marine geology, Marine biology, Mineral processing, and Nuclear geology as firsts in India, which some scholars trace to his time at MIT.
He was a major contributor to the Geological and Mineralogical Research Committee of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, and to the Nuclear Research Board of the Atomic Energy Committee, of which his cousin-in-law, M. R. Srinivasan was Chairman. He was additionally UNESCO's designated Expert in Geology, in relation to which he spent 1956-7 in Brazil. The Mahadevan International Centre for Water Resources Management was named in his honour, as was the Calamur Mahadevan Endowment Lecture of the Geological Society of India.