Sahay Ram Bose (; 15 February 1888 – 1970) was an Indian

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

. He was known for his pioneering work in the study of bracket

fungi A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one ...

and the discovery of

antibiotics An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria. It is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting pathogenic bacteria, bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the therapy ...

Polysporin and Campestrin. In a research career spanning more than half a century, Bose published 120 papers on various aspects of fungi in an array of academic journals across

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, and

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

. Bose is credited for pioneering work on

mycology Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungus, fungi, including their Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, genetics, biochemistry, biochemical properties, and ethnomycology, use by humans. Fungi can be a source of tinder, Edible ...

and the antibacterial properties of fungi.

Biography

Early years

Sahay Ram Bose was born on 15 February 1888; his father Benimadhab was a civil servant and Sahay Ram Bose studied Law at the University of Calcutta before moving to science.

Career

Bose was Professor of Botany in

Bangabasi College Bangabasi College is a Kolkata-based liberal arts, commerce and sciences college. It offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses of the University of Calcutta. It was founded by Girish Chandra Bose, an educationist, social reformer and agric ...

in 1909, and Carmichael Medical College in 1916. In 1918 he went to Ceylon (now

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

) on a deputation to the Royal Botanical Gardens, Perudeniya for training in systematic of Bengal

Polyporaceae The Polyporaceae () are a family (biology), family of polypore, poroid fungi belonging to the Basidiomycota. The trama (mycology), flesh of their basidiocarp, fruit bodies varies from soft (as in the case of the dryad's saddle illustrated) to v ...

(bracket fungi) under the famous mycologist

Tom Petch Thomas Petch (born Hornsea, Yorkshire, 11 March 1870; died King's Lynn, Norfolk, 24 December 1948) was a prolific English mycologist and plant pathologist best remembered for his work on the interaction between fungi and insects. Biography Pe ...

. Polyporaceae became the subject for his lifetime study. Bose published his findings in Polyporaceae of Bengal, a

monograph A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...

in 11 parts with photo-prints, between 1918 and 1947. Bose's work on ‘Golgi Bodies’ in the basidia of ''Polypraceae'' attracted criticism from renowned Botanist J. B. Gatenby. The debate that ensued was covered in several issues of ‘'Nature'’ between 1927 and 1929. Ultimately Bose's views prevailed. Bose's paper on "the spore- forming bacterium on rice grains" in ''Lancet'' in May 1924 refuted the old "rice-toxin" theory of Knowles, Acton and Chopra. Bose's comments on the problem of wheat rust were published in issues of ‘'Nature'’ (1950) and ‘'Science’' (1953). He investigated luminous fungi and ant-hill fungi from termite nests. He proved with the help of P.W.Wilson of Wisconsin University that, contrary to prevailing view, ''Phoma casuarinae'' did not fix nitrogen directly from the air. Bose studied edible fungi in India and advised widely on their cultivation. One of the crowning achievements of Bose was his discovery of two

obtained from higher fungi, polyporin from ''Polistictus sanguineus'' and campestrin from ''Psalliota campestris,'' which were not concentrated. He studied the effects of radiation on some polypores in culture in 1938. Bose worked as a Director of Research under the C.N.R.S of the government of France from 1957 to 1959, for which he studied the movement of chemicals from the host trees with isotope P32 that induced the formation of bracket fungi on the tree. Bose built up over the years a

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant biological specimen, specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sh ...

for bracket fungi by collections from different parts of the world. The herbarium, containing about 4000 specimens of ''Polyporaceae'', was entered in the list of World Herberia, Index Herbarium, Utrecht, Netherlands. It includes one specimen contributed by

Emperor Hirohito , Posthumous name, posthumously honored as , was the 124th emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, from 25 December 1926 until Death and state funeral of Hirohito, his death in 1989. He remains Japan's longest-reigni ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, who was an amateur Botanist. The herbarium is now housed in the Presidency College, now Presidency University, of which Bose is an alumnus. His collection of local and foreign reprints of about 1000 packages is also located at the college.

Awards

* Three-time winner of the Griffith Memorial Prize of

Calcutta University The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

in 1925, 1927 and 1929 for studies on higher fungi. * Winner of Bruhl Memorial Medal & Barclay Memorial Medal of

Asiatic Society The Asiatic Society is an organisation founded during the Company rule in India to enhance and further the cause of " Oriental research" (in this case, research into India and the surrounding regions). It was founded by the philologist Will ...

in 1947 and 1953, respectively. * Bose was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1925. * Honorary Member of Societa Internationale di Microbiologia of Italy in 1930. * Elected fellow of National Institute of Sciences of India at the first year of its election of Fellows in 1935. * President of the Botany section of the Indian Science Congress in 1937. * Twice President of the Botanical Society of India for 1937 and 1938. * Elected Honorary Member and Fellow of the Bengal Botanical Society in 1965 and of the Indian Phytopathological Society in 1964.

Publications

* ''Polyporaceae of Bengal'' (1918) * ''Sexuality of Polyporus Ostreiformis and Polystictus Hirsutus'' (1934) Google Books website, ''Sexuality of Polyporus Ostreiformis and Polystictus Hirsutus''’
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Personal life

Bose was married to Annapurna Debi and they had eight children. Indian National Science Academy Digital Repository website, ''Biographical Memoirs of INSA Fellows: Sahay Ram Bose (1888-1970)'', by P. N. Nandi, page 224
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Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bose, Sahay Ram 1888 births 1970 deaths 20th-century Indian botanists University of Calcutta alumni Academic staff of the University of Calcutta