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Dr.
Amitabha Ghosh is a Planetary Geologist working on Mars Missions. He
serves on the Science Team for the Mars Exploration Rover mission and the
Mars Odyssey Mission. In 1997, as a member of the Mars Pathfinder Mission,
he conducted chemical analysis of rocks and soil at the landing site. He
analyzed the first ever-Martian rock, and received the NASA Mars
Pathfinder Achievement Award for work during the mission. In the ongoing
Mars Exploration Rovers mission, two rovers (.Spirit. and .Opportunity.)
landed at different locations (Gusev Crater and Meridiani Planum,
respectively) on Mars in Jan 2004 and have been carrying out scientific
studies ever since. In this mission, Dr. Ghosh is involved in atmospheric
science as well as geologic data interpretation of the landing sites and
has served as the Chair of the Atmospheric Science Theme Group: one of the
four Science Theme Groups that decide on Science experiments (that are
carried out each day by each of the rovers on Mars). He is also interested
in the physics of Solar System formation and works on the thermal
evolution of asteroids and planets. He currently lives in the suburbs of
Washington DC, with his wife Anuradha and son Ayan.
Miscellaneous:
* Born in 1970, and grew
up in Calcutta
* School: Don Bosco, Park Circus, Calcutta
* M. Sc. (Applied Geology, IIT, Kharagpur): 1993
* Ph. D. (Planetary Science, University of Tennessee, USA): 1997
* M. S. (Supercomputing, University of Tennessee, USA): 2003
* One of 15 IITians showcased for exceptional achievement in 50 years of the
setup of the IIT system, at the golden jubilee celebrations in Santa Clara,
California
* Promoted and served as a spokesperson for "Mission Mars": a documentary by
National Geographic Channel, India
* Invited to
address a plenary session at the Pravasi Diwas,
2005 (other invitees from the US were Sam
Pitroda, Shashi Tharoor, Vijay Amritraj and
a few others)
* Named a rock ("Jedi") in the Pathfinder landing site
* Presented Pathfinder and Mars Exploration Rover results at major
international conferences (e.g. Geological Society of America Conference, Lunar
and Planetary Sciences Conference, The Meteoritical Society Conference,
American Geophysical Union Conference) and in major scientific journals
(Science, Nature, Journal of Geophysical Research, etc.)
* NASA Mars Pathfinder Group Achievement Award (1997)
* NASA Mars Exploration Rover Group Achievement Award (2004)
* Popular Media: Featured by BBC, NDTV, Headlines Today, Aaj Tak, Zee TV, Good
Morning India, India Today, Indian Express, Times of India, etc.
* Named 3 rocks on the Spirit landing site in June 2005 (Nalanda, Pongal and
Kohinoor)
Jan
18, 2004. The Week People: He is from Mars
January
13, 2005. Rediff - Mumbai,India: The Rediff
Interview/Dr Amitabha Ghosh: IITians don't rule
the world
Jan 13, 2004. The Telegraph (Kolkata-Metro)
Walk tall beyond the clouds
Jan 13, 2004. Times of India (Delhi) Interview:
Post card from Mars
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