Narinder Kumar Gupta

Narinder Kumar Gupta
Born	(1942-08-22) 22 August 1942 Mirpur, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Nationality	Indian
Fields	Solid mechanics, Plasticity, Impact (mechanics)
Institutions	Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, University of Cambridge, Ruhr University Bochum, RWTH Aachen University
Alma mater	Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
Doctoral advisor	Professor B. Karunes
Known for	Applied mechanics, Plasticity, Impact (mechanics)
Notable awards	J.C.Bose Memorial Award, O.P. Bhasin Award, Alexander von Humboldt Research Award, Doctor Honoris Causa by the Russian Academy of Sciences, Mercator Professorship, supported by DFG. Padma Shri

Narinder Kumar Gupta, also known as N. K. Gupta was born on 22 August 1942 in Mirpur, Jammu and Kashmir, India, (now in POK). He is Professor of Mechanics at the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi. Prof. Gupta works in the area of large deformations of metals and composites at low, medium and high rates of loading. His researches stimulate the development of constitutive behaviour of materials, understanding of the basic mechanics of large deformation, design for crashworthiness of road and air vehicles, design for safety in defence applications and in design of metal forming processes.

Education

He received his Bachelor of Science from the Jammu and Kashmir University in 1960, his Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from the Regional Engineering College, Srinagar in 1966 and his PhD from the IIT Delhi under Prof. B. Karunes in 1973.
He did his Post-doctoral studies in Cambridge University under Professor W. Johnson (1977) and as Alexander von Humboldt fellow at Ruhr University Bochum under Professor Th. J. Lehmann (1981).

Profession

Professor Gupta has been serving as faculty member in the Department of Applied Mechanics at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi^[1][2] since 1971 and has been full Professor since 1987. He was Henry Ford Chair Emeritus Professor from 2005 to 2010, and continued there as Emeritus Professor till 2011, when he was invited as Mercator Guest Professor at RWTH Aachen, supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Germany for one year (2011–2012).

Prof. Gupta is currently working as “INSA Senior Scientist” at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi since 2012. He was also associated for a period (2013-14) with Supercomputer Education and Research Center, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

Activity fields

Professor Gupta works in the area of large deformations of metals and composites at low, medium and high rates of loading. His researches find application in development of constitutive behaviour of materials, understanding of the basic mechanics of large deformation, design for crashworthiness of road and air vehicles, design for safety in defence applications and in design of metal forming processes. He has published over 300 scientific papers in peer reviewed national and international journals and conference proceedings,^{[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]} edited eight books,^[12] mentored nearly twenty five PhD and sixty five MTech students, and undertaken national and international research and consultancy projects. He has been visiting Professor / fellow / invited to deliver guest lectures in universities in Armenia, Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Malaysia, Norway, Poland, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates (UAE), United Kingdom (UK), and United States (USA).

He was invited to deliver a keynote lecture at the world congress of the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (ICTAM, 2008) held at Adelaide, Australia. German National Academy of Sciences, Leopoldina, invited him to deliver a lecture on an annual event in 2012 along with the German Scientist Prof. M. Kleiner, who was then the President of DFG. Prof. Gupta delivered “K S Krishnan memorial lecture” during the annual meeting of the INSA at Lucknow in 2013. In 2014, he is delivered plenary lecture to the 39th Solid Mechanics Conference held in Poland. He has been invited to deliver national lectures, which include Taylor Memorial, Seth memorial, Bhatnagar memorial, Karunes memorial and Joga Rao memorial, and also numerous inaugural/ keynote/ invited lectures in major conferences and reputed institutions in India.

He has been serving on the Editorial advisory boards of International Journal of Mechanical Sciences (1981–1985), International Journal of Impact Engineering, International Journal of Crashworthiness (1996–2007), Latin American Journal of Solids and Structures, Thin Walled Structures, Fatigue & Fracture of Engineering Materials & Structures (2006–2011), Journal of Aeronautics Society of India, Proceedings of the Indian National Science Academy, Sadhana, Defence Science Journal, and Everyman's Science. He is President of the Indian Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics, past President of the Indian Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics and past President of the Indian Society of Mechanical Engineers. He was Vice-President of the Indian National Science Academy and Chairman of the National Committee of the Academy for IUTAM and IMU. He is member of IUTAM Bureau^[13] and Congress Committee. He is member / chairman of several other national and international academic bodies. He is Fellow of Indian National Science Academy,^[14] Indian National Academy of Engineering,^[15] National Academy of Sciences, India,^[16] Aeronautical Society of India, Institution of Engineers, India and The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS).^[17]

Prof. Gupta’s expertise in mechanics of large deformation of metals and composites under impact loading has greatly augmenting the nation’s advancement in technology, in particular, Indian defense, and aerospace researches. His extraordinary leadership abilities and his international recognition are reflected in his capability to bring experts from all over the world together in conferences such as IMPLAST, which he fathered. IMPLAST is a unique Indian event, which by now is an important international event held with regular periodicity in India and countries across the world. This Indian event has been held in Australia (2000), Germany (2007) and USA (2010). He also initiated a series of Indo- Russian workshops in “Theoretical and Applied Mechanics”, being held in both India and Russia. He has edited nearly a dozen volumes of IMPLAST and Indo-Russian workshops, which the scientific community has very well received. These events provide a valuable forum for the Indian scientists to interact with several known international scientists. Importantly, he has been a voice of India in international forums in articulating the country’s long-term vision on key scientific and technical issues. He has represented India in forums like International Council of Scientific Unions, Third world Academy of Sciences, Associations of Asian Academies, International Unions of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, International Mathematics Union, International Council of Industrial and Applied Mathematics, and The World Innovation Foundation. As a chairman/member of a number of national committees, Prof. Gupta has contributed to the growth of science in the country and its visibility across the world.

Honors

Professor Gupta is recipient of J.C.Bose Memorial Award,^[18] O. P. Bhasin Award, Millenium Plaques of Honour (ISCA) Award,^[19] Erskine (New Zealand) award, Alexander von Humboldt (Germany) Research Award, and several other honours and awards. He has been conferred Doctor Honoris Causa by the Russian Academy of Sciences and Mercator Professorship of DFG.
Prof. Gupta is Fellow of the Science and Engineering Academies of India and of the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS).

Prof. Gupta was conferred Padma Shri by the President of India in 1991.^[20]

The esteem that Prof. Gupta enjoys nationally and internationally is borne by the fact that conferences were held in India in 2002 and 2012, in Bochum, Germany in 2007, and in Singapore in 2012, to honour his contributions. Special issues of International Journal of Impact Engineering, Proceedings of the Indian National Science Academy and Defence Science journal were devoted to his birthdays. These issues received contributions from highly regarded international scientists. A special issue to honour his contributions has again been announced by the Int journal of Impact Engineering, due to appear in 2017.

Prof. Gupta is invited as one of the five Honorary Members - honoured as one of the top five world scientists in the area of Impact Mechanics - by the International Society of Impact Engineering.

Personal

Professor Narinder Kumar Gupta and his wife Rashmi Gupta have two sons, Shivanshu and Shalav.

References