Darashaw Nosherwan Wadia

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Darashaw Nosherwan Wadia (October 25, 1863 – 1969) was a geologist for the Geological Survey of India. He was born at Surat in Gujarat. He helped establish geological studies and investigations in India ^[1], specifically including the Institute of Himalayan Geology, which was renamed the Wadia Instituate of Himalayan Geology after him in 1976.

Dr.V.C.Thakur, former director of the WIHG, in his Resonance article of Feb 2003, 65-75 ^[2], writes

D N Wadia was one among the great geologists in the Geological Survey of India who laid the foundation of the geological investigations in India by their pioneering work. Not only was his a pioneering work in a little known territory but also a signal contribution to the understanding of the geological evolution of a spectacular but unique feature in the mountain arcs of the world. The elucidation and explanation he offered won him universal approbation. Most of his observations and interpretations in those early days of Indian geology still hold good. The remoteness and arduous nature of the terrain did not deter him from carrying out extensive and prolonged field work in Kashmir, Hazara, Nanga Parbat and Gilgit regions of northwestern Himalaya. He explained the abnormal sequence of rock formations of varied ages in northwestern Kashmir, analysed the structure of the unique knee-bend of the mountain chains around the knot called Nanga Parbat and gave an in-depth geological account of the terra-incognito that Chilas, Astor-Deosai and Hazara districts then were. His book, "The Geology of India", written in 1919 and published by MacMillan, became the source book for students for a long period of time. It made six editions – the last one in 1966.