Michael Lobo is an Indian scientist, writer, and genealogist. He is the author of three self-published books on the Catholic community in Mangalore.
Michael Lobo was born in Mangalore. Lobo’s father was a British Army soldier who served during World War II. He studied at Montfort High School in Yercaud, Tamil Nadu, and graduated from St. Aloysius College. In 1975, he was one of the “National-A” level chess players in the country, which put him among India’s top 20 chess players. In 1982, he obtained a PhD from IISc Bangalore, with a degree in applied mathematics. His doctoral thesis on Transonic Aerodynamics earned him the “Young Scientist Award” from the Indian National Science Academy (INSA). In 1982, he earned a PhD in aerodynamics mathematics from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, receiving the 1983 Young Scientist Award from the Indian National Science Academy.
In 1984, Lobo moved to England where he entered the Cranfield Institute of Technology on a Commonwealth Scholarship, eventually becoming a faculty member. He returned to Mangalore in 1993.
Lobo’s interest in genealogy began in 1992, upon his discovery of an antique baptismal register belonging to the period 1810–80 at Milagres Church. While browsing through this register, he discovered the birth record of his great-grandfather, Anthony Peter Lobo. The record traced his parentage to Lawrence Lobo.
This register became the nucleus of his first genealogical project—a biographical compilation of all the descendants of Lawrence Lobo From late 1992 to late 1993, Lobo began working during his spare time on this project, and by the end of 1993, had completed the first draft of his genealogical work. At this point, Lobo decided to give up his mathematical career and pursue a personal project to write the history and genealogy of the Mangalorean Catholic families.
He moved to Mangalore in 1994 and settled down in his family manor. During 1994–95, Lobo was involved, on a full-time basis, on a research project on the history and genealogy of the Catholic community of Mangalore. He copied almost every 19th-century baptismal, marriage, and death record he could locate at Rosario Cathedral and Milagres Church, cataloging them according to surnames.
The project took shape as A Genealogical Encyclopaedia of Mangalorean Catholic Families. Lobo also conducted and still conducts personal interviews with many Mangalorean Catholics, who have settled in Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi and various other parts of India and abroad.
Although his work is unfinished, Lobo has self-published three offshoots on the subject: Mangaloreans Worldwide – An International Directory (1999), Distinguished Mangalorean Catholics 1800–2000 – A Historico-Biographical Survey of the Mangalorean Catholic Community (2000), and The Mangalorean Catholic Community – A Professional History / Directory (2002). His encyclopedia covers more than a thousand families and is being continually updated with names and records of new families. He claims that the Mangalorean Catholic community has the distinction of being the only community in the world to possess its genealogical encyclopedia.
Lobo has also authored two books on music entitled A Hundred Pages of Classics, Opera and Popular Instrumental Pieces – A Thousand Pages of Songs with Historical Notes and its companion edition Popular Music – A Historical and Thematic Analysis, both of which were released in 2011. (Collected from the public domain)
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