Prof. Gurbax Singh Lakhina obtained his MSc (Physics) degree from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi where he also obtained his Ph.D. degree (1972) in Plasma Physics. He worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) during 1972-1973.
He joined the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism (IIG), Mumbai in 1973. Prof. Lakhina started the Space Plasma Physics group at IIG, Mumbai. He became the Director of IIG in 1998. Under his Directorship, the new campus was established in New Panvel, Navi Mumbai, and become operational as IIG headquarters from 2002.
He was the Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany (1981-1982, and May-December 1985); Visiting Scientist at Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York, USA (1988-1989); NASA Senior Resident Research Associate at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), NASA, USA (September 1996 - June 1998) and Visiting Professor at Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere (RISH), Kyoto University, Japan (February –July 2005). At present, he is a NASI-Senior Scientist Platinum Jubilee Fellow at the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism, Navi Mumbai.
He has developed theories for a nonlinear coherent cyclotron interaction between electromagnetic whistler mode chorus and energetic electrons, Generation mechanism for electrostatic solitary waves (ESWs) in terms of ion- and electron-acoustic solitons and double layers. He has investigated the interplanetary causes of intense and super-intense magnetic storms, including the classic work on the 1859 Carrington superstorm. He has contributed extensively to the modeling of the mirror mode (MM) structures occurring in planetary magnetosheaths and the magnetic decreases (MDs) that occur in the interplanetary space.
He is an elected fellow of INSA, NASI, and IGU. He served as a Member of the Executive Council of the International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy (IAGA) from 1999 to 2007. Prof. Lakhina has received Decennial Award-Gold Medal, IGU (2000), NASA Cluster Science Team Group Achievement Award (2004), Group Achievement Award from European Space Agency (2005), Prof. K. R. Ramanathan Medal from INSA (2005), COSPAR Vikram Sarabhai Medal from COSPAR and ISRO (2014) and Space Weather and Nonlinear Waves and Processes Prize from AGU (2015).
