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Fossil discovery a challenging job: Misra

LUCKNOW: Earth scientist S.B. Misra, who discovered a fossil 565 million years of age in Mistaken Point in the Avalon Peninsula in Newfoundland (Canada) 40 yeas ago, says he was the first person who conducted geological mapping of the remote area.

The fossil has been named after him, Fractofusus misrai.Talking to The Hindu at his Gomtinagar residence here, the retired earth scientist recalled that the discovery of the fossil was a challenging job entrusted to him by W.D. Brueckner, Head of Department at the Memorial University, Newfoundland, St John’s. “The Avalon Peninsula was a remote area and the Mistaken Point area juts out into the Atlantic Ocean. Around 50 ships were said to have crashed into Mistaken Point.”

It was during the course of mapping that Dr. Misra discovered in 1967 imprints of “organisms” 565 million years old. “This was the first convincing and oldest discovery from North America, although a similar discovery had been made in England in 1958,” he said.

Dr. Misra, who retired after teaching in Kumaon University, Nainital (Uttarakhand), has settled down in Lucknow. He runs a school in his village, Kunaura, about 40 km from here. It is now being managed by his wife. It was his love for promoting rural education that led him to open the school in 1972, shortly after he returned from Canada.

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