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LAL, DEVENDRA

Professor of Nuclear Physics

Degrees:

• B.S., Banaras Hindu University
• M.S., Banaras Hindu University
• D.Sc., Banaras Hindu University, India
• D.Sc., Bombay University, India

Research Interests:

• Utilization of natural nuclear processes to understand planetary physical and chemical processes and their rate constants
• Cosmic ray-produced radioisotopes in diverse terrestrial environments, atmosphere, lakes, oceans, and sediments, and of nuclear tracks in moon, meteorites, and terrestrial samples
• Development of quantitative methods for the study of process geomorphology including continental weathering and erosion processes, evolutionary history of diamonds, and phosphorus biodynamics in oceans using cosmogenic 32P, 33P, and 7Be radionuclides
• Studies of nuclear reactions in the solar photosphere from examination of radionuclides in solar wind
• Studies of past accumulation and ablation rates of polar ice using in situ produced cosmogenic 14C

Courses Recently Taught:

• SIO144: Intro to Isotope Geochemistry
• SIO252A: Intro to Isotope Geochemistry
• SIO252B: Advanced Isotope GeochemistryI

Honors and Awards:

• American Geophysical Union, 2005
• V.M. Goldschmidt Medal, 1997
• Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1997
• K.R. Ramanathan Memorial Lecture, 1997
• Fellow, The Geochemical Society, USA, 1997
• Fellow, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bombay, India, 1996
• Sir C.V. Raman Birth Centenary Award, 1996-97
• Hon. Fellow, Geological Society of India, 1992
• Fellow, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, India, 1991
• Hans Petterson medal from Royal Swedish Academy, 1989
• Foreign Hon. Member American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1989
• Fellow, National Academy of Sciences, India, 1988
• H. Burr Steinbach Visiting Scholar, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 1988
• NASA Group Achievement Award, Skylab III, 1986
• Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Award for Sciences, 1986
• Member, International Academy of Astronautics, 1985
• Associate, Royal Astronomical Society of London, 1984
• Founder member, Third World Academy of Sciences, 1983
• K.S. Krishnan Memorial Lectureship, 1981
• D.Sc. (Hon. Causa) Banaras Hindu University, 1981
• Fellow, Royal Society of London, 1979
• NASA Special Recognition Award for Principal Investigators, Lunar Program, 1979
• Foreign Associate, National Academy of Sciences, USA, 1975
• Fellow, Meteoritical Society, 1975
• Outstanding Scientist, Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Award in Science and Technology, 1974
• Fellow, Indian National Science Academy, 1971
• Padma Shri Award, Government of India, 1971
• S.S. Bhatnagar Memorial Award for Physics, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Government of India, 1967
• Krishnan Medal for Geochemistry, 1965
• Fellow, Indian Academy of Sciences, 1964
• Fellow, Indian Geophysical Union, 1963

Mentoring:

• Athanassopoulos, Joanna (Undergrad; 1992-1992)
• Gu, Zhayoan (Graduate; 1992-1992)
• Barg, Eunjoo (Graduate; 1986-1992)
• Lee, Tongsup (Graduate; 1986-1991)
• Macdougall, John (Graduate; 1968-1972)
• Wilkening, Laurel (Undergrad; 1966-1970)

1998. Cosmogenic isotopes in the solar system. Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Earth and Planetary Sciences 107(4):241-249.

1999. An overview of five decades of studies of cosmic ray produced nuclides in oceans. The Science of the Total Environment 237/238:3-13.

2000. Cosmogenic 10Be: A critical view on its widespread dominion in geosciences. Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Earth and Planetary Sciences 109:181-186.

2000. On the characteristics of cosmogenic in-situ 14C in GISP2 Holocene ice samples. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B 172:623-631.

2001. Cosmogenic isotopes. Encyclopedia of Ocean Sciences, J. Steele, S. Thorpe, and K. Turekian Eds., San Diego, California, Academic Press 550-560.

2001. In-situ cosmogenic 14C: Production and examples of its unique applications in studies of terrestrial and extra-terrestrial processes. Radiocarbon 43(2B):731-742.

2005. Lal, D, A. J. T. Jull and D. Pollard. Evidence for a large century time-scale changes in solar activity in the past 32 Kyr, based on in-situ 14C in ice at Summit, Greenland. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 234, 335-349, 2005.

2005. Lal, D and A. J. T. Jull. On the fluxes and fates of 3He accreted by the Earth with extraterrestrial particles. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 235, 375-390, 2005.

2005. Lal, D. and 8 authors. Records of cosmogenic radionuclides, 10Be, 26Al and 36Cl in corals: first studies on coral erosion rates and potential of dating very old corals. Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta, 69 (No. 24), 5711-5728, 2005.

2005. Lal, D., C. Charles and 5 authors. Paleo-ocean chemistry records in marine opal: implications to aeolian fluxes of suite elements and cosmogenic nuclides, 10Be and 26Al, and to biological productivity. Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta, 70, 3275-3289, 2005.

2007. Lal, D., Large, W. G. and S. G. Walker. Climatic forcing before, during and after the 8.2 Kyr. B.P. global cooling event. J. Earth System Sci. 116, No. 3,171-177, 2007.

2007. Jull, A. J. T., Lal, D., Taylor, S., Weiler, R., Grimberg, A., Vacher, L., McHargue, L. R., Freeman, S. P. H.. T., Maden, C., Schnabel, C., Finkel, R. C., Kim, K. J. and Marti, K. 3He, 20,21,22Ne, 14C, 10Be, 26Al, and 36Cl in magnetic fractions of cosmic dust from Greenland and Antarctica. Meteoritics and Planetary Sci. 42 (#10), 1831-840, 2007.

2007. Lal, D., Recycling of cosmogenic nuclides after their removal from the atmosphere; special case of appreciable transport of 10Be to polar regions by Aeolian dust. Earth and Planetary Sci. Lett. 264, 177-187, 2007.