Nitya Anand (1 January 1925 – 27 January 2024) was an Indian medicinal chemist who was the director of

Central Drug Research Institute Central Drug Research Institute is a multidisciplinary research laboratory in Lucknow, India, employing scientific personnel from various areas of biomedical sciences. History The Central Drug Research Institute was one of the first laborato ...

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

from 1974 to 1984. In 2005, Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC) appointed him chairman of its scientific committee. In 2012, he was awarded the

Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

by the Indian government.

Early life and education

Nitya Anand was born in

Lyallpur Faisalabad, formerly known as Lyallpur, is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, second-largest city and primary List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, industrial center of the Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan ...

, Punjab Province,

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

on 1 January 1925. He earned his Bachelor's of Science degree from the Government College University Lahore in 1943 and his Master's degree in chemistry from St. Stephen's College in 1945. In 1948, Anand was awarded a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the

Institute of Chemical Technology An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

. He received his second Ph.D. from St. John's College at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. He was a post-doctoral researcher at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...

in 1958.

Career

Anand joined

in Medicinal Chemistry Division in 1951 and later became director of the Institute. Anand was chairman of Ranbaxy Science Foundation (RSF). His overall research interest has always been in the design, discovery and development of new drugs using synthetic chemistry approaches. This mainly involved consideration of factors such as drug-receptor interaction and metabolism in drug design. He published over 400 research articles and held over 130 patents. He was joint author with Jasjit S. Bindra Ph.D. of the book "Art in Organic Synthesis" which was published in 1969. Anand was also a Fellow of the

Indian National Science Academy The Indian National Science Academy (INSA) is a national academy in New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three b ...

Death

Anand died on 27 January 2024, at the age of 99.

References

1925 births 2024 deaths Indian pathologists Scientists from Lucknow Recipients of the Padma Shri in medicine Fellows of the National Academy of Sciences, India Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy 20th-century Indian medical doctors Medical doctors from Uttar Pradesh People from Faisalabad Government College University, Lahore alumni Institute of Chemical Technology alumni Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge {{India-scientist-stub