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'{{About|the Indian botanist|the wife of [[Srinivasa Ramanujan]]|Janakiammal|the politician|K.P. Janaki Ammal}} https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/335403<nowiki/>{{EngvarB|date=September 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Janaki Ammal | caption = An older photograph of Janaki Ammal | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1897|11|4}} | birth_place = [[Tellicherry]], [[Madras Presidency]], [[British India]] | death_date = {{Death date|df=yes|1984|2|7}} (aged 86) | death_place = [[Madras]], Tamil Nadu | residence = [[India]] | nationality = Indian | field = [[Botany]], [[Cell biology|Cytology]] |Wife of = [[Srinivasava Ramanujan|Srinivasava Ramanujan]] | work_institution = [[University Botany Laboratory]], [[Madras]] [[John Innes Centre]] | alma_mater = [[University of Michigan]] | thesis_title = Chromosome Studies in Nicandra physaloides | doctoral_advisor = | doctoral_students = | known_for = | prizes = | religion = [[Hinduism]] | signature = Janaki_Ammal's_signature.png | footnotes = | image = Janaki Ammal.jpg }} '''Janaki Ammal Edavalath Kakkat''' (4 November 1897 – 7 February 1984) was an Indian [[botanist]] who conducted scientific research in [[cytogenetics]] and [[phytogeography]].<ref name=ias>{{cite web|last=C.V|first=Subramanyan|title=Janaki Ammal|url=http://www.ias.ac.in/womeninscience/Janaki.pdf|publisher=Indian Association of Scientists|accessdate=20 October 2012}}</ref> Her most notable work involves those on [[sugarcane]] and the [[eggplant]] (brinjal). She has collected various valuable plants of medicinal and economic value from the rain forests of [[Kerala]]. [[File:JanakiRHS.jpg|thumb]] ==Early life== Janaki Ammal was born in 1897 in [[Tellichery]], Kerala.<ref>{{cite webHer mother, Devi (1864-1941) was an illegitimate daughter of John Child Hannyngton and Kunchi Kurumbi. |last=Subramanian|first=C V|title=Edavaleth Kakkat Janaki Ammal&nbsp;– IAS Women in Science|url=http://www.ias.ac.in/womeninscience/Janaki.pdf|publisher=Indian Academy of Sciences|accessdate=22 December 2012}}</ref> Her father was Dewan Bahadur Edavalath Kakkat Krishnan, sub-judge of the [[Madras Presidency]]. Her mother, Devi (1864-1941) was daughter of [[John Child Hannyngton]] and Kunchi Kurumbi.<ref>{{cite journal| doi=10.1177/007327531305100302| title=Gender, Race and Science in Twentieth-Century India: E. K. Janaki Ammal and the History of Science| journal=History of Science| volume=51| issue=3| pages=283| year=2013| last1=Damodaran| first1=Vinita}}</ref> She had six brothers and five sisters. In her family, girls were encouraged to engage in intellectual pursuits veering towards fine arts, but Ammal chose to study botany. After schooling in Tellichery, she moved to Madras where she obtained her Bachelors degree from [[ Queen Mary's College, Chennai |Queen Mary's College]], and an honours degree in botany from [[Presidency College, Chennai|Presidency College]] in 1921. Encouraged by teachers at Presidency College, Janaki Ammal acquired a passion for cytogenetics<ref>{{cite web | url=https://info.umkc.edu/unews/celebrating-women-in-stem-dr-janaki-ammal/ | title=Celebrating Women in STEM: Dr. Janaki Ammal | publisher=University News | work=Madalyn Weston | date=25 April 2018 | accessdate=25 May 2018}}</ref> ==Career== After her degree, Ammal taught at [[Women's Christian College, Chennai|Women's Christian College]], [[Madras]], with a sojourn as a Barbour Scholar at the [[University of Michigan]] in the U.S.where she obtained her Masters degree in 1925. Returning to [[India]], she continued to teach at the [[Women's Christian College, Chennai|Women's Christian College]]. She returned to [[Michigan]] as the first Oriental Barbour Fellow and obtained her [[D.Sc.|DSc]] there in 1931. Janaki is mentioned among Indian Americans of the Century in an India Currents magazine article published on January 1, 2000, by S.Gopikrishna & Vandana Kumar: "In an age when most women didn't make it past high school, would it be possible for an Indian woman to obtain a PhD at one of America's finest public universities and also make seminal contributions to her field?!" The Kerala-born Ammal was arguably the first woman to obtain a PhD in botany in the U.S. (1931), and remains one of the few Asian women to be conferred a DSc (honoris causa) by her alma mater, the University of Michigan. During her time at Ann Arbor she lived in the [[Martha Cook Building]], an all-female residence hall and worked with [[Harley Harris Bartlett]], Professor at the Department of Botany. She evolved a cross known as "Janaki Brengal", brengal being the Indian name for eggplant.<ref>The Michigan Alumnus, Volume 42, Page 532, UM libraries 1935</ref><ref>E.K. Janaki Ammal. A polyploid egg plant, Solanum melongena L. Papers of Michigan Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, 15:81.</ref><ref>E. K. Janaki Ammal. Polyploidy in Solanum Melongena Linn. CYTOLOGIA. Vol. 5 (1933-1934) No. 4 P 453-459 </ref> Her PhD thesis titled "Chromosome Studies in Nicandra Physaloides" was published in 1932.<ref>Chromosome Studies in Nicandra Physaloïdes, by E. K. Janaki-Ammal. A. Uystpruyst, 1931</ref> After her doctorate Janaki returned to India to take up a post as Professor of [[Botany]] at the Maharaja's College of Science, [[Trivandrum]], and taught there from 1932 to 1934. From 1934 to 1939 she worked as a [[geneticist]] at the [[Sugarcane]] Breeding Institute, [[Coimbatore]] along with [[Charles Alfred Barber]]. Her work during these years included cytogenetic analysis of [[Saccharum spontaneum]] <ref>Janaki Ammal, E. K., 1936. Cytogenetic analysis of Saccharum spontaneum L. I. chromosome studies in some Indian forms. J. agric. Sci</ref> as well as generation of several intergeneric crosses such as [[Saccharum]] x [[Zea (plant)|Zea]],<ref>Ammal, E. K. "A Saccharum-Zea Cross." Nature 142 (1938): 618-619.</ref> Saccharum x [[Sorghum]]. <ref>Janaki Ammal, E. K., and Singh, T. S. N., " A Preliminary Note on a New Saccharum times Sorghum Hybrid", Ind. J. Agric. Sci., 6, 1105–1106 (1936)</ref> Ammal's work at the Institute on the cytogenetics of Saccharum officinarum (sugarcane) and interspecific and intergeneric hybrids involving sugarcane and related grass species and genera such as [Bamboo] (bambusa) were epochal <ref>Janaki Ammal, E. K. "Chromosome Numbers in Sugarcane× Bamboo Hybrids." Nature 141 (1938): 925.</ref> From 1940 to 1945 she worked as Assistant Cytologist at the [[John Innes Horticultural Institution]] in London, and as cytologist at the [[Royal Horticultural Society]] at [[Wisley]] from 1945 to 1951. During this period she published counts of chromosome numbers in species such as Sclerostachya fusca.<ref>Janaki-Ammal, E. K. "Chromosome Numbers in Sclerostachya fusca." Nature 145 (1940): 464. </ref> She is best remembered for co-authoring the monumental work, "Chromosome Atlas of Cultivated Plants" along with [[C. D. Darlington]]. <ref>Chromosome atlas of cultivated plants. C D Darlington; E K Janaki Ammal. London, G. Allen & Unwin Ltd 1945.</ref> The John Innes staff file notes a statement by Ellis Marks that "She smuggled a palm squirrel into the country and it was kept at J.I.I. for many years. Its name was 'Kapok'". She published chromosome counts in species of [[Rhododendron]] <ref>JANAKI AMMAL E, ENOCH I, BRIDGWATER M (1950). Chromosome numbers in species of Rhododendron. The Rhododendron Yearbook. Royal Horticultural Society: 78-91.</ref> and Nerines <ref> JANAKI AMMAL E, ENOCH I, BRIDGWATER M (1951). Chromosome numbers in hybrid nerines. J.Royal Horticultural Society: 76 </ref> On the invitation of [[Jawaharlal Nehru]], she returned to India in 1951 to reorganise the Botanical Survey of India (BSI).<ref>{{cite news|title=Seminar to remember woman scientist|url=http://www.hindu.com/2010/10/27/stories/2010102758040300.htm|accessdate=10 August 2013|newspaper=The Hindu|date=27 October 2010}}</ref> She was appointed as Officer on Special Duty to the BSI on 14 October 1952.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://164.100.52.111/briefhistory2.shtm |title=Brief History of the Botanical Survey of India |publisher=Botanical Survey of India |accessdate=10 August 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222042759/http://164.100.52.111/briefhistory2.shtm |archivedate=22 February 2014 }}</ref> She served as the Director-General of the BSI.<ref>{{cite news|title=Vice-President to open Inter-University Centre for Biosciences|url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/article496900.ece|accessdate=10 August 2013|newspaper=The Hindu|date=2 July 2010}}</ref> Ammal made several intergeneric hybrids: [[Saccharum]] x [[Zea (plant)|Zea]], Saccharum x [[Erianthus (plant)|Erianthus]], Saccharum x [[Imperata]] and Saccharum x [[Sorghum]]. From then onwards, Ammal was in the service of the [[government of India]] in various capacities including heading the Central Botanical Laboratory at [[Allahabad]], and was officer on special duty at the Regional Research Laboratory in [[Jammu]]. She worked for a brief period at the [[Bhabha Atomic Research Centre]] at [[Trombay]] before settling down in Madras in November 1970 as an Emeritus Scientist at the Centre for Advanced Study in Botany, University of Madras. She lived and worked in the Centre's Field Laboratory at [[Maduravoyal]] near [[Madras]] until her demise in February 1984. Her obituary states "She was devoted to her studies and research until the end of her life." Aptly chosen lines from the [[Rigveda|Rig Veda]] that highlight her fondness for plants mark her obituary, "The sun receive thine eye, the wind thy spirit; go as thy merit is, to earth or heaven. Go, if it be thy lot, unto water; go make thine house in plants with all thy members." ==Research== During the years (1939–1950) she spent in England, she did chromosome studies of a wide range of garden plants. Her studies on chromosome numbers and [[ploidy]] in many cases threw light on the evolution of species and varieties. ''The Chromosome Atlas of Cultivated Plants'' which she wrote jointly with C. D. Darlington in 1945 was a compilation that incorporated much of her own work on many species. Ammal also worked on the genera [[Solanum]], [[Datura]], [[Mentha]], [[Cymbopogon]] and [[Dioscorea]] besides medicinal and other plants. She attributed the higher rate of plant [[Speciation (genetic algorithm)|speciation]] in the cold and humid northeast [[Himalaya]]s as compared to the cold and dry northwest Himalayas to [[polyploidy]]. <ref>Janaki Ammal .E.K. The effect of the Himalayan uplift on the genetic composition of the flora of Asia. 1960. Indian botan. Soc., 39: 327-334</ref> Also, according to her, the confluence of Chinese and Malayan elements in the flora of northeast India led to natural hybridisation between these and the native flora in this region, contributing further to plant diversification. Following her retirement, Ammal continued to work focusing special attention on medicinal plants and [[ethnobotany]]. She continued to publish the original findings of her research. In the Centre of Advanced Study Field Laboratory where she lived and worked she developed a garden of medicinal plants. She also worked on cytology. Creating a flower-the 'Magnolia Kobus Janaki Ammal' As a geneticist working for the Royal Horticultural Society's Garden Wisley in the early 1950s, Dr. Janaki was investigating the effects of [[colchicine]] on a number of woody plants, including Magnolia, where a stock solution in water is made up and applied to the growing tip of young seedlings once the [[cotyledons]] (seed leaves) have fully expanded. Doubling of chromosomes occurs, giving the cells twice the usual number. The resulting plants have heavier textured leaves; their flowers are variable, often with thicker tepals, helping them last longer. As Magnolia kobus seeds were available in quantity, a number of seedlings were treated by Dr Janaki Ammal and ultimately planted on Battleston Hill at Wisley. ==Awards and honours== Ammal was elected Fellow of the [[Indian Academy of Sciences]] in 1935, and of the [[Indian National Science Academy]] in 1957. The University of Michigan conferred an honorary LL.D. on her in 1956 in recognition of her contributions to botany and cytogenetics said: "Blest with the ability to make painstaking and accurate observations, she and her patient endeavours stand as a model for serious and dedicated scientific workers." The Government of India conferred the [[Padma Shri]] on her in 1977.<ref name="Padma Shri">{{cite web |url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |title=Padma Shri |publisher=Padma Shri |date=2015 |accessdate=June 23, 2015 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6U68ulwpb?url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |archivedate=15 November 2014 }}</ref>The Ministry of Environment and Forestry of the Government of India instituted the National Award of Taxonomy in her name in 2000. ==Janaki Ammal National Award for Taxonomy== To promote excellent work in [[taxonomy (biology)|taxonomy]] and encourage young students and scholars to work in this field, the E.K. Janaki Ammal Award was instituted in the year 1999. Two awards, for outstanding work in Botanical and Zoological Taxonomy including work done in [[Micro-organisms]] are eligible for consideration under either of the two categories—E.K. Janaki Ammal National Award on Plant Taxonomy and E.K. Janaki Ammal National Award on Animal Taxonomy respectively. == Janaki Ammal Scholarships == The [[John Innes Centre]] offers a scholarship to PhD students from developing countries in her name. == Timeline == === Education === Schooled at Sacred Heart Girls HS, Tellicherry, Kerala Bachelors Degree, Botany, Queen Mary’s College (Originally Madras College for Women), Madras B.Sc Honors, Botany, Presidency College, Madras (1921) Barbour scholar, MS, University of Michigan (1925) First Oriental Barbour Fellow, D.Sc / Ph.D University of Michigan (1931) Honorary LLD, University of Michigan (1956) === Career === Lecturer, Women’s Christian College, Madras (1921-1923) Leaves for U.S. on a Barbour Scholarship, University of Michigan (1924). The Barbour Scholarships were endowed at the University of Michigan in 1917 by Levi Lewis Barbour for women of the highest academic and professional caliber. First woman in the U.S. to earn a Ph.D. in Botany, University of Michigan (1926) Professor, Women’s Christian College, Madras (1926-1929) First Oriental Barbour Fellow, DSc, University of Michigan (1931) Joins John Innes Institute, Merton, London (1931-1932) Professor of Botany, Maharaja’s College of Science, Trivandrum (1932–34) Geneticist, Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coimbatore (1934-1939) Participant, 7th International Congress of Genetics, Edinburgh (1939). Stays on in UK and works as Assistant cytologist to C. D. Darlington, John Innes Institute, to co-author a monumental work 'Chromosome Atlas of Cultivated Plants’-the standard reference for cytological studies (1940-1945) Continues work as Cytologist, at the Royal Horticultural Society, Wesley, and becomes their first salaried woman staff member (1945-1951) Created her first hybrid flower, the ‘Magnolia Cobus Janaki Ammal.’ Returns to India under Jawaharlal Nehru’s request, and takes post as Officer on Special Duty and In-charge for re-organization of Botanical Survey of India, BSI, Allahabad (1951) Officer on Special Duty, Chairman, Cytogenetics Discipline and Emeritus Scientist, Regional Research Laboratory, (RRL,now, Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine) Jammu. Propagates ‘Jammu Mint’. (1962) Honorary Professor of Botany, University of Kashmir. Emeritus Scientist, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay, Mumbai Emeritus Scientist at the Centre for Advanced Study of Botany, University of Madras (1970-1984). A concerned environmentalist, Janaki joins Save Silent Valley, (1970) a forward thinking campaign to stop a hydroelectric project that would flood 8.3 square kilometers of Silent Valley forest. The Valley was declared a national park on November 15, 1984. Janaki couldn’t savour that moment, having passed away nine months earlier on February 7, at 87 and still working, in her laboratory at Maduravoyal, Madras. == Awards & Appointments == Barbour Scholar, University of Michigan (1924) First woman in the U.S. to earn a Ph.D. in Botany, University of Michigan (1926) Secretary, Botanical Society of India (1935-38) Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences (1935), the year it was founded by Sir C V Raman Fellow/Member, Linnaean Society (London), Royal Geographical Society (London), Genetical Society of England, Genetical Society of America, Royal Horticultural Society (London) (1939-1951) Honorary LLD from the University of Michigan (1956) President, Botanical Society of India (1960) Birbal Sahmi award (1961) Vice President, Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore (1961-64), President, Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding (1961), Sigma Xi (USA) and British Association for the Advancement of Science. The Padmashree award by the Government of India (1977) == In her name == <br /> [[File:Janaki Rose.jpg|thumb|Created for her by Girija & Vinu Viraraghavan]] The E.K. Janaki Ammal National Award on Taxonomy (1999) by the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, with a cash prize of Rs. 5 lakh and Research Grants of Rs. 5 Lakh. The Janaki Ammal Herbarium (1994)at IIIM Jammu (Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, formerly RRL Regional Research Laboratory ) where she was Officer on Special Duty. It houses more than 21,500 specimens representing 3,254 species, 1,152 genera and 218 families of Angiosperms, Gymnosperms and Pteridophytes besides a precious collection of plant specimens from all over India. The John Innes Centre Dr.Janaki Ammal Scholarships for postgraduate students from developing countries (2018) A rose (2018)- To celebrate her remarkable career and contribution to plant science, two Indian plant breeders, Girija and Viru Viraraghavan bred a new rose, which they have named ‘E.K. Janaki Ammal’. <br /> ==References== {{reflist}} ==Other sources== *S Kedharnath, Edavaleth Kakkat Janaki Ammal (1897–1984), ''Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy'', 13, pp.&nbsp;90–101, with portrait (1988). *P Maheshwari and R N Kapil, ''Fifty Years of Science in India. Progress of Botany'', Indian Science Congress Association, Calcutta, pp.&nbsp;110, 118 (1963). *Damodaran, Vinita (2017). "Janaki Ammal, C. D. Darlington and J. B. S. Haldane: Scientific Encounters at the End of Empire", Journal of Genetics, 96 (5), 827-836. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12041-017-0844-1 ==External links== * http://envfor.nic.in/content/e-k-janaki-ammal-national-award-taxonomy * http://scroll.in/article/730186/remembering-dr-janaki-ammal-pioneering-botanist-cytogeneticist-and-passionate-gandhian * http://www.oneindia.com/2006/10/09/janaki-ammal-award-to-osmania-and-punjabi-university-scientists-1160406282.html * http://www.iisc.ernet.in/currsci/jan252007/260.pdf * http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/wahidulrehman-2252516-life-work-janaki-ammal-powerpoint-presentation/ * https://www.jic.ac.uk/training-careers/postgraduate-opportunities/janaki-ammal-scholarships/ {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Ammal, E. K. Janaki}} [[Category:1897 births]] [[Category:1984 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century Indian biologists]] [[Category:Indian women botanists]] [[Category:Indian geneticists]] [[Category:Women geneticists]] [[Category:Phytogeographers]] [[Category:Scientists from Kerala]] [[Category:University of Michigan alumni]] [[Category:19th-century Indian women]] [[Category:People from Thalassery]] [[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in science & engineering]] [[Category:Indian women biologists]] [[Category:20th-century Indian women scientists]] [[Category:20th-century Indian scientists]] [[Category:Women scientists from Kerala]]'