Maithili Sharan did his BSc and MSc (Mathematics) from Rajasthan University, Jaipur and PhD from IIT Delhi in the multidisciplinary area of physiological fluid dynamics. He was trained in computational techniques as a Research Trainee (1979-81) at University of Technology Compiegne, France and worked as Postdoctoral Fellow (1986-87) with AS Popel, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore. He joined as Lecturer in the Centre for Atmospheric Sciences, IIT Delhi (1982), became Professor (1995) and also worked as Head there (2004-07).

Academic and Research Achievements: Maithili Sharan's notable findings relate to development of mathematical models for the transport of gases in pulmonary and systemic circulations including brain and dispersion of air pollutants in low wind conditions, numerical simulation of Bhopal gas leak; and weak wind nocturnal boundary layer. Up to 1993, his contributions mainly related to mathematical modeling of biological systems. Subsequently, his focus has been on atmospheric pollution. Over the years, he taught various courses related to mathematics and atmospheric sciences. He has mentored eight PhD students and also authored over 90 research papers in peer-reviewed journals.

Other Contributions: Professor Sharan organized an International Conference (2006) on Mesoscale Processes in Atmosphere, Ocean and Environmental Systems at IIT Delhi. He was elected Member of the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore (2005). He has been on the Editorial boards of various international/national journals: Boundary Layer Meteorology (2002-), Atmospheric Environment (2005-), Proceedings of Indian National Science Academy (2006-), etc. He edited the special issues on Advances in Atmospheric and Oceanic Processes of the journal Proceedings of Indian National Science Academy (2003). With S Raman he edited jointly special issues of the journals Pure and Applied Geophysics (2005) and Journal of Natural Hazards (2007).

Awards and Honours: Professor Sharan was conferred several awards, notably the SS Bhatnagar Prize in Mathematical Sciences (1992), Meghnad Saha Award in Theoretical Sciences (2004), and INSA Young Scientist Award (1984). He was elected Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Sciences (India), Allahabad.