A SCIENTIFIC LIFE
By Vinita Damodaran | 6:30 PM IST | 25 August 2020
This talk addresses the gaps in the history of science in India by focusing on the life and scientific contribution of E.K. Janaki Ammal, eminent cytologist and botanist through her letters. It also attempts to trace the obstacles faced by a woman who wanted to make a mark in a traditionally male dominated field.
Janaki Ammal’s career started as a botanist and cytologist when she worked with Cyril Dean Darlington at the John Innes Horticultural Institute in London from 1940-45. It was here that she studied the origin and evolution of cultivated plants resulting in the Chromosome Atlas of Cultivated Plants which she co-authored with Cyril Dean Darlington and which became an important source for cytological work on the economic plants of the world.
On her return to India in 1948 she became a leading scientist of the nation who wanted to create a national system of generic science. She was able to do this as the first director of the Central Botanical Laboratory of the Government of India at Lucknow. She received several accolades becoming Fellow of the Linnean society of London, the Royal Geographical Society, the Asiatic Society of Bengal, the Royal Asiatic Society, London and the Indian Academy of Sciences.
The discussion with Vinita Damodaran will premier on Youtube at 6:30 PM IST on 25 August 2020, which will be followed by a live Q&A session with the speakers on Zoom at 7:30 PM IST.
About the Speaker
Vinita Damodaran is a historian of modern India, interested in sustainable development dialogues in the global South. Her work ranges from the social and political history of Bihar to the environmental history of South Asia, including using historical records to understand climate change in the Indian Ocean World.
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