Aditi Pant

Aditi Pant
Citizenship	India
Nationality	Indian
Fields	Oceanography
Institutions	National Institute of Oceanography
Alma mater	University of Pune

Aditi Pant is an Indian oceanographer.^[1] She was a part of the Indian expedition to Antarctica in 1983 and became the first Indian woman to visit Antarctica (along with Sudipta Sengupta).^[2]

Contents

• 1 Early life and education
• 2 Career
• 3 Awards
• 4 References

Early life and education

Aditi was inspired to take up oceanography as a profession when she came across the book The Open Sea, authored by Alister Hardy while doing her B.Sc at the University of Pune. She got a US government scholarship to study MS in marine sciences in the University of Hawaii.^[3] She did her PhD in Westfield college, London University.^[3] Her PhD thesis was about the physiology of marine algae. After completing her studies, she returned to India to join the National Institute of Oceanography in Goa.

Career

Dr. Aditi started her research career at the National Institute of Oceanography, Goa after being inspired by the founder of the institute, Prof. N.K Panikkar. From 1973-76, she got involved in coastal studies and toured the whole of west coast of India. She participated in the third and fifth Indian expedition to Antarctica to research about oceanography and geology.^[4] She was the first Indian woman to participate in an Antarctic expedition.

Awards

Dr. Aditi was honored with the Antarctica award with Dr. Jaya Naithani and Dr. Kanwal Vilku by the government of India for her contributions to the Antarctic program.^[4]

References

1. "Lilavati's Daughters" (PDF). www.ias.ac.in. Indian Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
2. Sharma, Sathya (January 2001). Breaking the ice in Antarctica: The first Indian wintering in Antarctica. New Age International. p. 38. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
3. Umashanker, Sudha (21 April 2009). "The coolest one". The Hindu. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
4. Chaturvedi, Arun. "Indian women in Antarctic expeditions : A historical perspective" (PDF). www.ias.ac.in. Indian Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 11 October 2014.