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C. V. Subramanian

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C. V. Subramanian
Born(1924-08-11)11 August 1924
Ernakulam,Kerala India
Died5 February 2016(2016-02-05)(aged 91)
Bangkok,Thailand
NationalityIndian
Alma mater
Known forStudies onFungi imperfecti
Awards1944UoMPulney Andi Gold Medal
1965Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize
1973Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award
1972IBSBirbal Sahni Medal
2000Janaki Ammal National Award[broken anchor]
2009IBSLifetime Achievement Award
Scientific career
FieldsMycology
Plant pathology
Institutions
Doctoral advisorT. S. Sadasivan

Chirayathumadom Venkatachalier Subramanian(11 August 1924 – 5 February 2016), popularly known asCVS,was an Indianmycologist,taxonomistandplant pathologist,known for his work on the classification ofFungi imperfecti,a group of fungi classified separately due to lack of specifictaxonomiccharacteristics.[1]He authored one monograph,Hyphomycetes: An Account of Indian Species, Except Cercosporae[2]and three books,Hyphomycetes, taxonomy and biology,[3]Moulds, Mushrooms and Men[4]andSoil microfungi of Israel,[5]besides several articles published in peer-reviewed journals. He was a recipient of many honours including theRafi Ahmed Kidwai Awardof theIndian Council of Agricultural Research,theJanaki Ammal National Award[broken anchor]of the Government of India[6]and seven species of fungi have been named after him.[7]TheCouncil of Scientific and Industrial Research,the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him theShanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology,one of the highest Indian science awards, in 1965, for his contributions to biological sciences.[8]

Biography

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C. V. Subramanian was born on 11 August 1924 atKochiinErnakulam district,the commercial capital[9]of the south Indian state ofKerala,to T. D. Parvathi Ammal and C. M. Venkatachalier, a lawyer.[10]He did his schooling atSree Rama Varma High School,a government-run school in the city and did his early college studies atMaharaja's Collegeafter which he joined thePresidency College, Chennaifrom where he graduated (BSc Hons) with first rank in 1941. It was during this period he had the opportunity to meetM. O. P. Iyengar,the renownedalgologist,who was known to have fostered Subramanian's interest inphycology.Before completing his master's degree (MA) inmycologyin 1944, he prepared his first dissertation onAcanthus ilicifolius,ahalophytefound in the saline waters of western coastal India. Subsequently, he joinedToppur Seethapathy Sadasivan[note 1]as the first research student of theplant pathologistwho also headed theCentre for Advanced Studies in Botanyof theUniversity of Madrasduring that time. He received his doctoral degree (PhD) in 1948 for his thesis,Soil conditions and wilt diseases in plants with special reference toFusariumvasinfectum Atk. on cottonafter which he continued his research on mycology and did post-doctoral research, on an ICS fellowship of theIndian National Science Academy(then known as the National Institute of Sciences of India) at the Botany School ofCambridge Universityand, later atCommonwealth Mycological Institute,UK where he was associated with known mycologists, Stephen Denis Garrett and E. W. Mason.[10]

Subramanian started his academic career in 1951 when he joined theUniversity of Madrasas a senior lecturer where he rose to the position of a reader in 1953.[11]During this period, he continued his researches and his published work,Floristic and taxonomic studies onFungi Imperfecti,earned him the degree of DSc in 1957 from the University of Madras. A year later, theIndian Agricultural Research Institutecreated a newChair in Plant Pathologyand invited Subramanian to hold the position which he did till his move to theUniversity of Rajasthanin 1960. There, he established the Department of Botany and headed the department as its founder professor till his return to Madras University in 1964 as a professor of Botany. In 1973, he succeeded his mentor,T. S. Sadasivanas the head of theCentre for Advanced Study in Botany,a position he held till his superannuation in 1985.[10]He continued his academic career past his official retirement and worked as a visiting professor at such institutions as theNational University of Singapore,theUniversity of Western Australiaand theNational Taiwan University.[6]

Subramanian was married to Subbalakshmi and the couple lived inNungambakkam,Chennai.[10]It was during one of his trips to Thailand, he died inBangkokon 5 February 2016, at the age of 91, survived by his wife and two sons, C. S. Venkatachalam and C. S. Seshadri, both engineers by profession.[11]

Legacy

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Professional contributions

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Subramanian was involved with a number of science academies and societies in India, starting with his membership of theIndian Academy of Sciencesat the age of 32, reportedly chosen personally byC. V. Raman,the renowned physicist,[6]where he would later serve as the vice-president from 1977 to 1985.[12]He served as a member of theIndian National Science Academy,International Union of Biological Sciences,Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of BelgiumandBritish Mycological Society.He was the president of theInternational Mycological Associationin 1977 and presided over its annual congress held in Tokyo in 1983.[6]In 1973, he led a group of mycologists who founded theMycological Society of Indiafor promoting mycological researches.[13]The society has since grown to be a national organisation with 400 members and interest in studies related to taxonomy, ecology, pathology, genetics, molecular biology and physiology. The society also publishes a journal,Kavakaand he was its founder editor, holding the position till 1998. He was also a member of theUniversity Grants Commissionfrom 1977 to 1982.[6]It was reported that Subramanian personally appealed toIndira Gandhi,the then Indian prime minister, to abandon the proposed hydro-electric project in theSilent Valley,abio-reservearea in his home state ofKerala,eventually leading to its declaration as a national park in 1985.[10]

Scientific contributions

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While serving as a senior lecturer at Madras University, Subramanian published a two-volume work in 1956 under the title,List of Indian Fungi,which listed the known species of fungi in India.[14]Major focus of his research was onFungi imperfecti.[15]He was known to have conducted extensive research onHyphomycetesand his work has been detailed in a monograph,Hyphomycetes: An Account of Indian Species, Except Cercosporae,published in 1971[2]and another book,Hyphomycetes, taxonomy and biology,published in 1983,[3]where he proposed a classification based onconidiumontogenesis.He also proposed a new nomenclature protocol based onSanskritterminology;[11]MycoBank,an online repository managed by theInternational Mycological Associationhas listed 384 genera of fungi named by him and Angulimaya,[16]Dwayabeeja,[17]Kutilakesa,Nalalanthamala, and Tharoopama[18]are some of them.[19]He worked on the re-assessment of Dematiaceous hyphomycetes and his work assisted in reclassifying the genus by attempting to disprove that Sporidesmium had a different ancestral species (monophyletic).[10]Aspergillus,a genus of moulds, was another subject of his developmental taxonomical studies and his research on itsteleomorphshelped in the better understanding of the fungi. His researches also explained thesystematics, distribution and ecological behaviourofFusariumandDrechslera,two plant pathogens.[15]He documented his researches in several articles and books besides the ones noted above;Moulds, Mushrooms and Men[4]andSoil microfungi of Israel[5]are two such works.

Awards and honours

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TheUniversity of Madrasawarded Subramanian the Pulney Andi Gold Medal in 1944 for academic excellence on his completion of the master's degree.[10]TheIndian Academy of Scienceselected him as their fellow in 1955[12]andIndian National Science Academyfollowed suit with their fellowship in 1960.[20]He received theShanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize,one of the highest Indian science awards, from theCouncil of Scientific and Industrial Researchin 1965.[1]The Birbal Sahni Medal of theIndian Botanical Societyreached him in 1972; the society would again honour him in 2009 with their Lifetime Achievement Award.[11]TheIndian Council of Agricultural Researchawarded him theRafi Ahmed Kidwai Awardin 1973 and he held theJawaharlal Nehru Fellowshipfrom 1976 to 1978.[21]TheMycological Society of Americaselected him as their honorary member in 1983[22]and the Government of India awarded him theE. K. Janaki Ammal National Award[broken anchor]for Taxonomy in 2000.[10]The scientific community honoured Subramanian for his work;Subramaniula,Subramanianospora, Subramaniomyces, Subramania, Ceeveesubramaniomyces, Civisubramaniana andAscosubramaniaare seven species of fungi named after him.[7]

Selected bibliography

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  • C. V. Subramanian; K. Ramakrishnan (1956).List of Indian Fungi.Emkay Publications.OCLC858868381.
  • Chirayathumadom Venkatachalier Subramanian (1971).Hyphomycetes: An Account of Indian Species, Except Cercosporae.Indian Council of Agricultural Research.
  • C. V. Subramanian (1973).Taxonomy of fungi: proceedings of the International Symposium on Taxonomy of Fungi (2 volumes).University of Madras.OCLC5281883.
  • Chirayathumadom Venkatachalier Subramanian (1976).Moulds, Mushrooms and Men.Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleobotany.
  • C. V. Subramanian (April 1982). "Tropical Mycology: Future Needs and Development".Current Science.51(7).
  • Chirayathumadom Venkatachalier Subramanian (1983).Hyphomycetes, taxonomy and biology.Academic Press.ISBN978-0-12-675620-3.
  • C. V. Subramanian (April 1988)."A new species ofSpegazziniafrom Western Australia ".Proc. Indian Acad. Sci. (Plant Sci.).98(2): 67–69.doi:10.1007/BF03053392.S2CID134920625.
  • Chirayathumadom Venkatachalier Subramanian; Solomon Pavlovich Vasser (2001).Soil microfungi of Israel.A.R.A. Gantner.ISBN978-3-904144-76-6.

The standardauthor abbreviationSubram.is used to indicate this person as the author whencitingabotanical name.[23]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^Toppur Seethapathy Sadasivanwas the first recipient of theShanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prizefor Bialogical Sciences.[8]

References

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  1. ^ab"Brief Profile of the Awardee".Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize. 2016.Retrieved4 September2016.
  2. ^abChirayathumadom Venkatachalier Subramanian (1971).Hyphomycetes: An Account of Indian Species, Except Cercosporae.Indian Council of Agricultural Research.
  3. ^abChirayathumadom Venkatachalier Subramanian (1983).Hyphomycetes, taxonomy and biology.Academic Press.ISBN978-0-12-675620-3.
  4. ^abChirayathumadom Venkatachalier Subramanian (1976).Moulds, Mushrooms and Men.Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleobotany.
  5. ^abChirayathumadom Venkatachalier Subramanian; Solomon Pavlovich Vasser (2001).Soil microfungi of Israel.A.R.A. Gantner.ISBN978-3-904144-76-6.
  6. ^abcde"Professor C.V. Subramanian – 1924 – 2016".British Mycological Society. 2016.Retrieved4 September2016.
  7. ^ab"C. V. Subramanian on Neglected Science".Neglected Science. 2016.Retrieved4 September2016.
  8. ^ab"View Bhatnagar Awardees".Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize. 2016.Retrieved4 September2016.
  9. ^"About".Kerala.me. 2016.Retrieved4 September2016.
  10. ^abcdefghD. Jayarama Bhat, J. Muthumary, C. Rajendran, S. Raghu Kumar and B. P. R. Vittal (May 2014)."Living Legends in Indian Science"(PDF).Current Science.106(10).{{cite journal}}:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. ^abcdH. Y. Mohan Ram (March 2016)."Personal News – Chirayathumadom Venkatachalier Subramanian"(PDF).Current Science.110(5). Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 11 September 2016.
  12. ^ab"Fellow Profile".Indian Academy of Sciences. 2016.Retrieved5 September2016.
  13. ^"Welcome".Mycological Society of India. 2016.Retrieved5 September2016.
  14. ^C. V. Subramanian; K. Ramakrishnan (1956).List of Indian Fungi.Emkay Publications.OCLC858868381.
  15. ^ab"Handbook of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize Winners"(PDF).Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. 1999. p. 36. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 4 March 2016.Retrieved4 September2016.
  16. ^"Angulimaya".Catalogue of Life. 2016.Retrieved5 September2016.
  17. ^"Dwayabeeja".MycoBank. 2016.Retrieved5 September2016.
  18. ^"Tharoopama".MycoBank. 2016.Retrieved5 September2016.
  19. ^"Search on: Mycobank".MycoBank. 2016.Retrieved5 September2016.
  20. ^"Deceased Fellow".Indian National Science Academy. 2016.Retrieved5 September2016.
  21. ^"List of Jawaharlal Nehru Fellows".Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund. 2016.Retrieved5 September2016.
  22. ^"Current MSA Honorary Members".Mycological Society of America. 2016. Archived fromthe originalon 2 February 2016.Retrieved5 September2016.
  23. ^International Plant Names Index.Subram.
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Further reading

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