B. L. K. Somayajulu

Bhamidipati Lakshmidhara Kanakadri Somayajulu (5 March 1937 – 19 December 2016) was an Indian geochemist and a CSIR Emeritus Scientist at Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad. He is known for his studies on ancient and contemporary marine processes and is an elected fellow of several science societies such as the National Academy of Sciences, India, Geological Society of India, Indian Geophysical Union, American Geophysical Union, European Association for Geochemistry, 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 1978.

Biography

B. L. K. Somayajulu, born on 5 March 1937 in the port city of Visakhapatanam in the south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, completed his graduate studies (BSc hons) from Andhra University in 1956. Subsequently, he joined BARC Training School, simultaneously enrolling at Bombay University for pursuing his doctoral studies. During the course of his PhD studies, he moved to Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) and had a three-year stint at Scripps Institution of Oceanography before securing a PhD in 1969 from Bombay University. His post-doctoral work was also at Scripps Institution and on his return to India, he joined Oceanography and Climate Studies Area, Earth Sciences and Solar System Division of Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in 1972. He conducted beryllium-10 studies on manganese nodules which helped establish the slow rate of growth of the nodules. and as several peer-reviewed articles, the article repository of the Indian Academy of Sciences has listed 100 of them. He has also edited a book, From Mantle to Meteorites: A Garland of Perspectives - A Festschrift for Devendra Lal, published by Indian Academy of Sciences in 1990 and his work has been cited by several authors.

Somayajulu served as the chief scientist for many studies conducted in the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal and was a part of the Antipode expedition to the South Pacific and the GEOSECS Indian Ocean Expedition. He was among the scientists who established the Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Facility at the Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar. served as a member of the Indian National Science Academy during 1988–90 and has mentored 7 doctoral scholars in their studies.

Awards and honors The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research awarded Somayajulu the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 1978. He received the Hari Om Ashram Prerit Award in Oceanology in 1981 The Indian Academy of Sciences also elected him as a fellow in 1980 and the Prof. K. R. Ramanathan Memorial Lecture of Physical Research Laboratory in 2001.

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