Source:From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Meet India’s first woman PhD in Botany-She is the reason Your Sugar Tastes Sweeter! A women who comes from the era where the education of women was considered a great splendour, Janaki Ammal Edavaleth Kakkat name is the one written with golden letters in history of India. She became the first Indian woman to receive D.Sc. (honorary doctorate) from the Michigan University.
The famous botanist was born in the year 1897 in state of Tellichery, Kerala. She completed her elementary education in Tellichery and then moved to Madras where she obtained the undergraduate degree from Queen Mary's College and achieved botany honours degree from the Presidency College in the year 1921.
She was the co-author of few of the renowned books like ‘The Chromosome Atlas of Cultivated Plants’ and was also known for her contribution with the Sugar Breeding Station located in Coimbatore. Her contribution are also remarkable in creating sugarcane hybrids that yielded much sweeter sugar. Also the very famous flower Magnolia kobus Janaki Ammal was named in her honour and contribution to the field of Indian Science.
She conducted research in cytogenetics and phytogeography. Her most notable work involves those on eggplant and sugarcane. Janaki Ammal was an iconic woman who represented our country across the ocean at a time when patriarchy was dominating.
She was a women with ambition and always curious about the flora in her surroundings.A women like her will always be remembered for her passion, courage and contributions in enhancement of the Indian Science and brought it into spotlight even overseas.
Contributions
The famous botanist returned to India and worked as Professor of Botany at the Maharaja's College of Science, Trivandrum, in the year 1932 She completed her research in polyploidy which helped to understand the nature of sugarcane ploidy. She acted as an important instrument in creating a firm scientific basis for crossing and hybrids, and helped in choosing plant varieties for cross-breeding.
She worked at the institute till 1939. She then travelled to England in 1940 to work as Assistant Cytologist at the John Innes Horticultural Institution in London. There she worked on chromosome studies on a wide range of garden plants, and her studies on chromosome numbers and ploidy led to new results in the study of the evolution of species and varieties.
Major Works
Some of her pioneer works include the contribution in cytogenetics in India and the development of sweeter hybrid varieties of sugarcane has been incredible. Being a member of the Sugarcane Breeding Institute, she was instrumental in not only in the analyses of the geographical area of sugarcane across pan India, but also in selecting good quality for cross-breeding.
Awards & Achievements
She was made the Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences in 1935 and was elected a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy in 1957 by Professor C.V.Raman. She was also awarded an honorary LL.D. from the University of Michigan in the year 1956. In the year 1977, she was honoured by the Government of India with one of the prestigious awards that is Padma Shri.
Written By - Nidhi Verma
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