Archana Sharma | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Statue of Archana Sharma inside Birla Industrial & Technological Museum campus, Kolkata, West Bengal, India | |
| Born | (1932-02-16)16 February 1932 Pune,Maharashtra, India |
| Died | 14 January 2008(2008-01-14) (aged 75) |
| Occupation(s) | Botanist · Cytogeneticist · Cell biologist · Cytotechnologist |
| Spouse | Arun Kumar Sharma |
Archana Sharma was a renowned Indianbotanist,cytogeneticist,cell biologist, and cytotoxicologist.[1] Her widely recognized contributions include the study of speciation in vegetatively reproducing plants, induction of cell division in adult nuclei, the cause of polyteny in differentiated tissues in plants, cytotaxonomy of flowering plants, and the effect of arsenic in water.[2]
Archana Sharma was born on 16 February 1932 inPune to a family of academicians, including Professor N.P. Mookherjee, a professor of chemistry at Bikaner.[3] Her early education was in Rajasthan. She then went on to do herB.Sc. fromBikaner and later pursued herM.Sc. in the Department of Botany at theUniversity of Calcutta in 1951. Sharma completed herPh.D. in 1955 andD.Sc. in 1960, specialising in Cytogenetics, Human Genetics and Environmental Mutagenesis. As a result, she became the second woman to have been awarded a D.Sc. by theUniversity of Calcutta.
In 1967, Sharma joined theUniversity of Calcutta as faculty, later becoming a professor of genetics in 1972 in the Centre of Advanced Studies in Cell and Chromosome Research atUniversity of Calcutta. In 1981, she was promoted to Head of the Department of Botany, succeeding Prof. A.K.Sharma until 1983.
During her academic career, she supervised over 70 Ph.D. students in the areas ofcytogenetics,human genetics, and environmentalmutagenesis.[3]
Sharma's research led to breakthroughs in botanical science. Among her notable findings are topics related to speciation in vegetatively reproducing plants, induction of cell division in adult nuclei, the cause of polyteny in differentiated tissues in plants, cytotaxonomy of flowering plants, and the effect of arsenic in water. Her research and findings on chromosomal study onflowering plants led to a new set of perceptions on their classification.[3] Sharma also worked extensively in human genetics, specifically genetic polymorphism in normal human populations.[3]
Sharma was a member of organizations such as the University Grants Commission, National Commission for Women, Science and Engineering Research Council, Department of Environment, Overseas Scientific Advisory Committee, among various others. Sharma also served as chairperson on the Task Force on Integrated Manpower Development of the Department of Biotechnology.[3]
Sharma was actively involved with prominent policy-making bodies, including Science and Engineering Research Council of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India; Environmental Research Council of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India; the Panel for Co-operation with UNESCO, the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India; and various technical committees of University Grants Commission, Department of Science and Technology, and the Department of Biotechnology.[4]
During her career, Sharma published 10 books and between 300 and 400 research papers. She published the bookChromosome Techniques - Theory and Practice in 1965 with her husband, fellow professorArun Kumar Sharma.[3] She was also the founder ofNucleus, an international journal ofcytology and allied topics, and continued to be its editor until 2007.[5] She served on the Editorial boards ofIndian Journal of Experimental Biology, Proceedings of the Indian National Science Academy.[6]
Sharma also edited multiple scientific volumes for publishers such as CRC Press, Oxford, IBH, Kluwer Academic (Netherlands), and Gordon and Beach UK.
Sharma was married toArun Kumar Sharma,[7] considered by many as theFather of Indian Cytology.[8][9]
She died on January 14, 2008.[4]
