Navalpakkam Parthasarthy | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1900-04-08)8 April 1900 India |
| Died | 4 January 1993(1993-01-04) (aged 92) |
| Awards | Padma Shri Rural Development Agency, South Korea Gold Medal |
Navalpakkam Parthasarthy, (1900–1993) was an Indian geneticist,[1] executive secretary ofInternational Rice Commission and Rice Advisor to the governments ofLiberia andThailand.[2] TheGovernment of India honoured him in 1958, with the award ofPadma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award for his services to the nation.[3]
Navalpakkam Parthasarathy was born on 8 April 1900.[2] He graduated (BA) fromMadras University and continued studies to specialize in Agriculture to secure the degree of BSc from the same university.[4][5] His career started in 1923 as a rice breeding assistant at the Paddy Breeding Station inCoimbatore and later, worked at other stations inAduthurai andPattambi.[4][5] He moved to London in 1936 to secure his doctoral degree (PhD) from theUniversity of London and returned to India in 1938 to resume his work.[4][5]
He worked in various capacities with the state and central governments in India as the Geneticist and Second Cane Breeding Officer, Sugarcane Breeding Institute,Coimbatore, a research station of theIndian Institute of Sugarcane Research (1940–47), as the Geneticist and Division Head of theIndian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi (1947–52) and as the Director of theCentral Rice Research Institute,Cuttack (1952–58) from where he retired from government service.[4][5] In 1958, he worked forFood and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as a Rice Expert based in Indonesia for a year and moved toInternational Rice Research Institute as the Rice Improvement Specialist for the Far East (1959–68). He also served as a board member of theIRRI (1966–69).[1] Subsequently, he was appointed as the Executive Secretary of theInternational Rice Commission and also worked as the Rice Adviser to the Government of Liberia and the Government of Thailand.[2]
Parthasarathy was known to have engaged in extensive research in the fields of cytology and genetics of sugar cane and rice and was credited with induction of mutations inX-radiation for the first time.[2] The team led by him were successful in isolatinghaploids andPolyploids in rice and their studies were reported to have obtainedtwin plants with differentchromosome numbers.[2] AtCentral Rice Research Institute, he was instrumental in establishing interdisciplinary research programs and conducted two rice breeding courses at the institute with assistance fromFood and Agriculture Organization.[1] He attended many seminars and conferences to deliver key note addresses[6][7] and published many articles.[8][9]
He was an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy (INSA) and the Tamil Nadu Academy of Sciences and served as a member of INSA council during 1978–79[2] He also served as the president of Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding for two terms (1952 and 1970), the agricultural section of theIndian Science Congress (1953)[1] and the Madras Science Foundation.[2][4][5] A recipient of the Gold Medal from the Rural Development Agency under theMinistry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, South Korea,[2] Parthasarathy was awarded the fourth highest Indian civilian honour ofPadma Shri by theGovernment of India in 1958.[1][4][5][3]
Parthasarathy died, aged 93, on 4 January 1993.[2]
