Department of Earth Science

The Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee was established in 1960. During six decades, the department has become one of the foremost centers of research, post-graduate training, research, and consultancy in Earth Sciences. The legacy of geological studies in the department dates back to the mid-19th Century when Colonel Sir Proby Cautley (responsible for establishing the Thomason Engineering College) was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society, London, for his pioneering work on the vertebrate fossils of the Siwalik Ranges. Later Henry Benedict Medlicot, who was also admitted as the Fellow of the Royal Society in 1877, occupied the Chair in Geology and Experimental Sciences at Thomason College in the year 1954. The department faculty is engaged in quality teaching and a number of research and consultancy projects sponsored by various industries and government agencies. The department has the S. S. Bhatnagar prize, Fellowship of National Science Academies, and National Geoscience Awards on its record with its alumni serving in prestigious positions both at national and international levels. The institution is located in a picturesque foothill of the Himalayas and is well connected via rail, road and air with the nearest airport located at Jolly Grant, Dehradun.