G. S. Venkataraman

G. S Venkataraman
Born	Gopalasamudram Saetharama Venkataraman 1 February 1930 Tenkasi,Tirunalveli district,Tamil Nadu,India
Died	October 3, 1998(1998-10-03)(aged 68)
Occupation(s)	Botanist Phycologist
Years active	1956–1998
Known for	Algology
Parent(s)	G. R. Sitaraman Lokanayaki
Awards	Padma Shri Alagappa Gold Medal VASVIK Industrial Research Award Sanjay Gandhi Award UGCNational Lecturer Award Om Prakash Bhasin Award

Gopalasamudram Sitaraman Venkataraman(1930–1998) was an Indian botanist,academic and the director of theIndian Agricultural Research Institute(IARI), New Delhi.He was also a director of theDBT Centre for Blue-Green AlgaeatMadurai Kamaraj Universityand a recipient of theVASVIK Industrial Research AwardandOm Prakash Bhasin Award.The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of thePadma Shriin 1992.

Biography

Venkataraman was born on 1 February 1930 to Lokanayaki and G. R. Sitaraman, a freedom fighter, at a small hamlet inTirunelveli districtby name,Tenkasi,in the south Indian state ofTamil Nadu.His early education was at the local village school after which he did his intermediate (higher secondary) fromSt. Xavier's College, Palayamkottai.At Alagappa Chettiar College, Karaikudi, where he joined for his graduate studies, he had the opportunity to learn under S. Doraisamy, analgologistand a protégé ofM. O. P. Iyengar,a renownedphycologist.His master's degree came fromBanaras Hindu Universityand, on getting a Government of India fellowship, he pursued doctoral studies under the guidance of Y. Bharadwaja and secured a PhD and DSc from the same university.

His career started as an Assistant Botanist at theIndian Agricultural Research Institutein 1956. With the guidance ofM. S. Randhawa,then Vice-President of theIndian Council of Agricultural Research,he established an algal research centre at the institute which is known to have conducted research on Algae and published several research papers and books on the subject.Through his researches, he established the role of algae in agriculture as a nitrogen fixing agent which was accepted byFood and Agriculture Organization(FAO), among others. He also initiated master's and doctoral courses in AgriculturalPhycologyat the institute to foster research and for training manpower. Supported by a grant from theDepartment of Biotechnology,he also established a national facility for the collection and distribution ofBlue-green algae(BGA) cultures.

When theDepartment of Science and Technologyinitiated a national level project onAlgae for fertilizer, feed and fuelin 1976, Venkataraman was selected to head the project as its director.The project, which had state and central participation, is reported to have been successful in the dissemination knowledge onBGAbio-fertilizers among Indian farming community. His studies revealed the importance of rice strain selection as he maintained that different strains have differing ability and adaptability vis-à-vis soil conditions, resistance to pesticides and insensitivity to sources of nitrogen likenitratesandAmmonium.He demonstratedthe transfer of fixed nitrogen from algae to rice plants using15N.He also developed a method for thein situproduction of the BGA bio-fertilizer which he later improved by growing pure cultures of BGA on solid organic substrates, an achievement during his days at the School of Biological Sciences ofMadurai Kamaraj University.

Venkataraman's book,The Cultivation of Algae,published by theIndian Council of Agricultural Research(ICAR) in 1969, is amonographon the culture and cultivation of algae while the 1974 publication,Algae: form and function,andVaucheriaceae,deal with the scientific aspects of Algae.Two other books,Algal biofertilizers and rice cultivationandBlue-green algae for rice production: a manual for its promotiondetail the algal applications in agriculture and one of the books he edited,Plant protection in the year 2000 ADcovers the papers and proceedings of the conference held at New Delhi in December 1984.He was the editor of another book,Cyanobacterial biotechnology,a presentation of selected papers from theInternational Symposium onCyanobacterialBiotechnology,held inTiruchirappalliin September 1996.He also published over 170 articles on the subject.

Venkataraman served as the Editor-in-Chief of theJournal of Phycologyand was a member of the editorial boards ofBiological WastesandMIRCEN Journal of Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology.He was the Editor of the INSA scientific publications from 1983 to 1986 and a member of the sectional committee and the council of theIndian National Science Academy.He was associated with theInternational Rice Research Instituteas a member of itsPolicy Advisory Committee on Microbiological Nitrogen Fixationand was a director of theIndo-US Science and Technology Collaborative Programme in Agriculture.He served as the visiting professor at Japan Agriculture Society and was a consultant to theFood and Agriculture Organization.

Venkataraman died on 3 October 1998, at the age of 68.

Awards and honours

Venkitaraman's memoirs have been included in the 24th volume ofBiographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy,a compendium periodically published by theIndian National Science Academy,featuring its deceased and living fellows.TheIndian Academy of Scienceselected him as their fellow in 1974and theIndian National Science Academyfollowed suit in 1984.He was also an elected fellow of theNational Academy of Sciences, Indiaand a fellow of theNational Geographical SocietyandPhycological Society of India.He received theVASVIK Industrial Research Awardin 1978,Sanjay Gandhi Award for Science and Technology, four years later and the National Lecturer Award of theUniversity Grants Commissionin 1986.In 1988, he was awarded theOm Prakash Bhasin Awardby the Om Prakash Bhasin Foundation for his contributions to Agriculture and Allied Sciences.The Government of India included him in the 1992Republic Day honourslist for the civilian award of thePadma Shri.

Venkataraman, who was a holder of Humboldt Research Fellowship, delivered several award lectures including the Professor Panchanan Maheshwari Memorial Award Lecture of the Indian National Science Academy.He was also a recipient of theAlagappa Gold medalfor his academic excellence from his alma mater, Alagappa Chettiyar College and the Australian Bicentennial International Medal in 1988 from Melbourne Poetry Society for his poem anthology,Reactions,published in 1986.He was one of the 56 Tamil personalities covered inArunthondu Aatriya Tamizhaga Andhanargal,a compilation of biographies, published inTamil language.