Narinder Kumar Gupta obtained his BE (Mech Eng) from Regional Engineering College, Srinagar (1966) and joined the faculty of Mechanical Engineering there. From 1968 to 1971, as a research scholar at IIT Delhi, he worked in the area of large deformation and proposed dynamic solution (based on stress waves) to the so-called quasi-static large deformation problem of necking. He was awarded PhD (1973) under the supervision of B Karunes. Following post-doctoral work at the University of Cambridge with W Johnson (1977) and the Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship (1981) with Th Lehman, Gupta joined the Department of Applied Mechanics, IIT Delhi (1971) as Lecturer, and was promoted to full Professor in 1987. He retired in 2004, and continues there as Henry Ford Chair Emeritus Professor.

Academic and Research Achievements: Dr Gupta's researches have been focused on large deformation of metals and composites at low, medium and high velocities of impact and devoted to the problems of wave propagation, crashworthiness, constitutive equations and yield behaviour, and impact loading. His studies have helped in improving the understanding of the basic mechanics of the complex large deformation phenomena. He has published over two hundred research articles, edited several books and mentored about twenty PhD and sixty MTech students.

Other Contributions: Gupta has been instrumental in setting up the India's first and internationally recognized low and medium velocity impact testing laboratory in the Department of Applied Mechanics at IIT Delhi, and has fostered and nurtured this area in India. He was elected the President of Indian Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics and Indian Society of Mechanical Engineers. He is or has been on the Editorial Boards of several journals like Int J Impact Engineering, Int J Crashworthiness, Thin Walled Structures, Int J Mech Sciences, Int J Fatigue and Fracture, J Aero Soc of India, Proc of Indian National Science Academy, etc.

Awards and Honours: Dr Gupta was awarded Padma Shri (1991) and He is the recipient of Alexander von Humboldt Research Award (Germany) and Doctor Honoris Causa of the Russian Academy of Sciences.He is a Fellow of Indian National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Sciences (India),Allahabad and The Academy of Sciences of the Developing World. He is also Vice-President (2008-10) of INSA.