Calamur Mahadevan

Calamur Mahadevan FNA FASc FNASc FNI FISC FGS F.Pb.S FPSI MAIME FGMMSI (6 May 1901 – 8 April 1962), sometimes known as C. Mahadevan, was an Indian specialist in economic geology, marine geology, and nuclear geology,^[1] and 1934 Founding Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences,^[1] 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.^[2] 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.^[3]

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.^[2]

He was a major contributor to the Geological and Mineralogical Research Committee of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research,^[4] and to the Nuclear Research Board of the Atomic Energy Committee, of which his cousin-in-law, M. R. Srinivasan was Chairman.^[2] He was additionally UNESCO's designated Expert in Geology, in relation to which he spent 1956-7 in Brazil.^[5] 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.