The journey called..... Science

  “In an age when most Indian women didn’t make it past high school, Janaki Ammal didn’t just obtain a PhD at one of America’s finest public universities, she went on to make seminal contributions to her field.” A true statement for Indian scenario in early 1900, but the determination of this scientist was much stronger than this truth. We are talking about Dr. Edavaleth Kakkat Janaki Ammal whose life and work still, and will always be, a great source of inspiration for Indian women. Janaki Ammal was born on November 4 th , 1897 in Kerala (India). She obtained her bachelor’s degree from Queen Mary’s College and honours in Botany from Presidency College Madras (now Chennai) in 1921. She went on to obtain her master’s (1925) and doctoral degree (1931) from the prestigious University of Michigan, USA. She was the first Oriental Barbour Fellow at the university. She was the first Indian to obtain a PhD in botany, that too from one of the most prestigious universities of that time. ...

  "You've probably never heard of Dr. Yellapragada SubbaRow. Yet, because he lived, you may be alive and well today" (Doron K. Antrim wrote in Argosy in April 1950.) These were the words of a writer about an Indian scientists who remains unsung even today in his own country. Dr. Yellapragada SubbaRow was born on January 12, 1895 in a village Bhimavaram in West Godavari (erstwhile Madras Province) in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. His initial years of schooling passed traumatized as he witnessed deaths of his close relatives. He passed his matriculation in his third attempt (exact source unknown). After passing intermediate, he joined Madras medical college. Motivated by the call of Mahatma Gandhi to boycott British goods, he started wearing khadi-made surgical dress that was not accepted by his professors. Consequently, though he passed his examination well, he was not awarded Licentiate of Medicine and Surgery (LMS) certificate. He, therefore, could not obtain fu...

  Note: Many things presented here are either anecdotal evidences or media reports.   Birth of India’s beautiful mind Dr. Vashishtha Narayan Singh was born in 1942 in Basantpur village of district Arrah (Bhojpur) in Bihar. After completing his secondary school from Netarhat Residential School (erstwhile Bihar, now Jharkhand), he moved to Patna Science College to complete his higher secondary school in 1963. In school days, as his batchmates remember, he was way ahead of anyone in school in mathematics. In college days, it is said that he used to correct his mathematics professor in the class. Annoyed by this, he was once sent to the Principal of the college. As a punishment and to test the brilliance, Principal asked him some tough mathematical questions that were beyond the level he was studying. Not only did he solve them easily, he described multiple ways to solve each problem. The Principal, Sri N. S. Nagendra Nath was so impressed that the approached Mr. George Jac...

Considered as the most prestigious award in science, the Nobel Prize for the year 2010 was awarded to Prof. Robert Edward for his pioneering work on In-Vitro Fertilization (a technique that helped many with infertility issues) through which Louise Brown was born in July, 1978. I read the article in a reputed magazine in 2010 while travelling to my home. In the article, a very short mention of Dr. Subhas Mukerji (aka Dr. Subhas Mukhopadhyay) struck my sense and I decided to go through his life upon reaching home. Though I collected a lot of his life events through various sources, I could never collate the life of this “forgotten hero” at a place.             I am not sure where to begin with, but will start from start. Dr. Subhas Mukerji was born in Hazaribagh district in erstwhile state of Bihar (now Jharkhand, India) on 16 th January 1931. He completed his MBBS from National Medical College, Calcutta (now Kolkata). Having in...