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10/20/2015 10 Indian women scientists you should be proud of
http://www.thealternative.in/society/10indianwomenscientistsyoushouldbeproudof/ 1/15
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10 Indian women scientists you should be proud ofA Wikipedia editathon last week exposed how little we know about our own women scientists. Here’s a list ofillustrious ones you should start with.
Ierene Francis Oct 24, 2014
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One of the most talked about images from India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) was that of women scientists inISRO celebrating the success of the mission. The image of sariclad, floweradorned, ladynextdoor scientists gavemost of us that immensely warm, fuzzy feeling. The most ironic thing – it was the very first time we were seeing avisual of women in science in India.
10/20/2015 10 Indian women scientists you should be proud of
http://www.thealternative.in/society/10indianwomenscientistsyoushouldbeproudof/ 2/15
The picture that spoke a 1000 words recently at the Mars MOM mission.
Ask anyone to name an Indian scientist and you can probably bet that most names will be male. IndiaBioScience, anonprofit initiative within the Life Science sector organised a Wikipedia Editathon in Bangalore last week, tocoincide with the Ada Lovelace Day on October 14, 2014. Over 40 entries and edits to pages were made to pages onwomen scientists from India, to plug the woefully inadequate representation of women’s contribution to science inIndia.
Karthik Ramaswamy, visiting scientist at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and a participant in the editathon,quoted to The Hindu that science in India has a ‘diversity problem’ with Indian women and minoritiesrepresented inadequately.
“There are very few women scientists among faculty of science institutions because they have no rolemodels. Hopefully, this (presence on Wikipedia) will provide them with role models,” he added.
The good news is that there is an increasing number of women receiving an education in the sciences in India.Working in science has not been easy for women, with its long hours, societal biases, and the need to get marriedand have children in between. Let’s look at some of these women, often forgotten heroes, who have made greatcontributions to science and paved the way for others.
1. Anandibai Joshee (1865 – 1887)
10/20/2015 10 Indian women scientists you should be proud of
http://www.thealternative.in/society/10indianwomenscientistsyoushouldbeproudof/ 3/15
This list has to start with a mention of Anandibai Joshee, (she along with Kadambini Ganguly was one of the firstIndian women doctors qualified to practice western medicine).
Dr. Joshee’s short life was full of hardships; her family used to be rich landlords in Kalyan, Mahasrashtra, but theylost all their riches, and she was married at age 9 to a widower 20 years her senior. She gave birth at age 14 to a sonwho died shortly afterwards, and she herself suffered from poor health with an undiagnosed condition that often lefther exhausted with shortness of breath and constant headaches.
The death of her newborn son due to inadequate medical care is what inspired her to become a physician. She wasalso encouraged by her husband to study medicine abroad. Dr. Joshee, MD was in the class of 1886 at the Women’sMedical College of Pennsylvania (which was the first women’s medical program in the world).
On her return to India, she was appointed as the physicianincharge of the female ward of the local Albert EdwardHospital in the princely state of Kolhapur.
2. Janaki Ammal (18971984)
10/20/2015 10 Indian women scientists you should be proud of
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While most girls at the time were studying fine arts and literature, Janaki Ammal decided to pursue Botany, and later scientific research incytogenetics and phytogeography. She worked briefly in the UK, but returned to India in 1951 to reorganise the Botanical Survey of India(BSI). She served as the DirectorGeneral of the Botanical Survey of India (BSI). She also did work on medically important andeconomically valuable plants.
3. Kamala Sohonie (1912–1998)
Dr. Sohonie was the first Indian woman to get a Ph.D in a scientific discipline. She applied to the IISc for a researchfellowship and met with rejection merely because she was a woman! Prof. CV Raman, then IISc Director was deadagainst having women students. She then became the first of his female students, and performed so well that Prof.Raman gave her permission to pursue further research.
While at Cambridge, she found that every cell of a plant tissue contained the enzyme ‘cytochrome C’ which wasinvolved in the oxidation of all plant cells. In fact, her 40 page PhD thesis was based on this. The subjects of herresearch were often on food items consumed by the poorest people. She started her pioneering work on thenutritional value of Neera.
4. Anna Mani (19182001)
10/20/2015 10 Indian women scientists you should be proud of
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Anna Mani was an Indian physicist and meteorologist. She also worked under Prof CV Raman and eventually became a meteorologist andretired as the Deputy Director General of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD). She published several research papers and madesignificant contributions in the field of meteorological instrumentation.
5. Asima Chatterjee (1917 – 2006)
Asima Chatterjee was an Indian chemist noted for her work in the fields of organic chemistry and phytochemistry(chemicals derived from plants). Her most notable work includes research on vinca alkaloids (derived from theperiwinkle that is known for its anticancer properties), and the development of antiepileptic and antimalarialdrugs. She also authored a considerable volume of work on medicinal plants of the Indian subcontinent.
6. Rajeshwari Chatterjee (19222010)
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Rajeshwari Chatterjee was the first woman engineer from Karnataka. In 1946, she was given a scholarship by the(then) Govt of Delhi to study abroad, and studied at th University of Michigan where she obtained her Master’sdegree from the Department of Electrical Engineering. After obtaining a Ph.D degree, she returned to India andjoined the Department of Electrical Communication Engineering at IISc as a faculty member where she along withher husband set up a microwave research laboratory where they did pioneering work on Microwave Engineering.
7. Darshan Ranganathan (1941 –2001)
She was an organic chemist from India who was known for her work in bioorganic chemistry, including“pioneering work in protein folding” and “supramolecular assemblies, molecular design, chemical simulation of keybiological processes, synthesis of functional hybrid peptides and synthesis of nanotubes.”
Her husband was also a professor of chemistry at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and due to an unwrittenrule that forbids spouses from simultaneously holding faculty positions in the same department, she languished as aresearch associate.
She eventually joined IICT, Hyderabad in 1998, where she became Deputy Director. After her death from breastcancer in 2001, her husband instituted the biennial “Professor Darshan Ranganathan Memorial Lecture”, which is tobe “delivered by a woman scientist who has made outstanding contributions in any field of Science andTechnology”.
8. Maharani Chakravorty (b. 1937)
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10/20/2015 10 Indian women scientists you should be proud of
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Maharani Chakravorty is a molecular biologist. She organized the first laboratory course on recombinant DNAtechniques in Asia and the Far East in 1981. After her postdoctoral studies in the USA, she returned to the BoseInstitute in Kolkata.
Maharani Chakravorty recalls taking her infant along to her workplace.
“The poor child used to sit on the rubber sheet spread on the floor of the laboratory playing with testtube stands, right there in front of my working bench.”
Among her many accolades, she also received the Professor Darshan Ranganathan Memorial Award in 2007.
9. Charusita Chakravarty (b. 1964)
Charusita Chakravarty has been a professor of Chemistry at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi since 1999. Born in the USA, sherelinquished her U.S. citizenship and now works in India. She has won several awards for her work, most notably, the Shanti SwarupBhatnagar Prize. She is an Associate Member of the Centre for Computational Material Science, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for AdvancedScientific Research, Bangalore.
10. Mangala Narlikar
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One of the few female mathematics researchers in India, Mangala Narlikar describes herself as a parttime scientist. She finished a Ph.D. inmathematics 16 years after she got married, putting household responsibilities before her career. She has taught at University of Mumbaiand University of Pune and finds joy in making mathematics interesting for students who dread the subject. Switching between complexmathematics and simple arithmetic is not possible for many, yet you can find her sitting on the lawn of her house, teaching maths to theirservant’s children.
Read more about women scientists in India. Here is a Wikipedia list of pages on women scientists in India.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ierene Francismore
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Best RegardsDr. ArikaLike · Reply · Oct 6, 2015 10:41am
Dayamoy Mondal · Works at ICARIn comparison to Western Women Scientists it is very negligible. But still they are doing well.Like · Reply · Sep 23, 2015 1:24pm
Meryn Selvanayagam · Works at Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institutewow! Didnt know about their contribution so long! quite encouraging.Women too can achieve and reachgreater heights! Good news!Like · Reply · Sep 19, 2015 9:04pm
Kartik Singhquite encouragingLike · Reply · Aug 20, 2015 6:48pm
Alen RayenniceeLike · Reply · Aug 16, 2015 1:08pm
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Anna Philipose · Bangalore, IndiaMiss Anna Mani was also a pioneer in the field of solar energy and wind energy and its applications withinIndia especially. She studied under Sir C.V.Raman and was later a trustee of the Raman Research Institute,BangaloreLike · Reply · Nov 13, 2014 6:10pm
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Jay Man • a year agoI have it from reliable sources who worked in ISRO that the picture is of the admin staff. They no doubt hada part to play, but portraying them as scientists is just intellectual dishonesty and inspiration pr0n.
Scientists should be known for their work, not for their gender.
• Reply •
Hari • a year agoIerene How could you ignore Tessy Thomas of ISRO? She was the first woman scientist to head aMissile Program in India. She head Agni IV missile program and is a Project Director at ISRO
• Reply •
InspiringIndia • 7 months ago> Hari
Yes, even I felt the same after reading it. She should have definitely been in the list
• Reply •
Meera Sathyamurthy • a year agoWhat happened to Karnataka's Nalini Murthy from IISC
• Reply •
aditya menon • a year agoThanks a lot, this was a really cool read :) I did not know about C. V. Raman's opinions before.
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Mimi Deb • a year agoThis is what u call amazing journalism! Awesome read Ierene! :)
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Asadulla Mallick • a year agoit is great to see my teacher Dr. Charusita Chakravarty in the list. I will never forget what she told me in theclass "if you learn some thing that is not going to harm you"
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