Sourindra Mohan Sircar (1908-1978) was one of the greatest

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 ...

s of India, specializing in plant physiology and anatomy.

Birth and early life

Sourindra Mohan Sircar was born in a

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

Mahishya Mahishya (IAST: Māhiṣya) is a Bengali Hindu traditionally agrarian caste, and formed the largest caste in undivided Bengal. Mahisyas were, and still are, an extremely diverse caste consisting of all possible classes in terms of material con ...

family of Paikpara village,

Nadia district Nadia () is a district in the state of West Bengal, India. It borders Bangladesh to the east, North 24 Parganas and Hooghly districts to the south, Purba Bardhaman to the west, and Murshidabad to the north. Nadia district is highly influe ...

on March 1, 1908. His father was Gourkrishna Sircar and mother Kusumkamini Debi. Sourindra was the youngest of seven siblings. He studied in Krishnagar CMS School and Alamdanga High School. Then he obtained a bachelor of science in Botany from Presidency College and a masters in Botany from the

University of Calcutta 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 ...

. He moved to UK to do his doctoral study.

Career

Sircar worked with Professor F. G. Gregory at the

Imperial College of Science and Technology Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a cultural district in South Kensington that included museums, ...

(London), on the relationship between respiration and nitrogen metabolism in potato tuber. He returned to India and was professor of department of Botany at Calcutta University between 1937–45 and 1947–49. He then took over as Acting Head of the Department of Biology at Dacca University (1945–47) before a brief stay at the Central College of Agriculture at IARI, 1949-51 (then affiliated to

Delhi University The Delhi University (DU, ISO 15919, ISO: ), also and officially known as the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate research university, research Central university (India), central university located in Delhi, India. It ...

). Sircar again returned to Calcutta in 1951 and later became the Head of the Botany Department 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 ...

, 1960–65. Toward the later part of his career, he became the Director of the

Bose Institute Bose Institute (or Basu Bigyan Mandir) is a premier public research institute of India for biological sciences and also one of its oldest. The Bose Institute Kolkata is a Tier 1 Natural Science Research Institute in India, sharing the podium wit ...

, 1967–75. He founded the school of Plant Physiology, which has made significant contributions to plant science research and teaching in India. Sircar was elected as a fellow of German Academy of Natural Scientists in 1974.

General Presidents of ISCA

He was appointed the General President of Indian Science Congress Association from 1977 to 78, which is a professional body under the Ministry of Science and Technology. Before that he had been the general secretary of ISCA between 1973 and 1976.

Work

He was one of the pioneers of plant physiological research in India. His work was centered around the indica cultivars f rice plants. The discoveries of germination and growth inhibitors, as also isolation of new gibberellins were remarkable contributions. His contributions on nutrition, lodging and the relationship between translocation, photosynthesis and yield of rice paved the way for understanding the lower yield potential of rice varieties. Double cropping of rice was his important contribution, which has found practical applications. The integration of physiological phenomena characterized his research activities. Sircar and his students and assisted by his son P. K. Sircar, were among the first to embark on isolation and identification of plant growth substances (gibberellins and

cytokinins Cytokinins (CK) are a class of plant hormones that promote cell division, or cytokinesis, in plant roots and shoots. They are involved primarily in cell growth and differentiation, but also affect apical dominance, axillary bud growth, and leaf ...

) from plants growing in and around Calcutta, including mangrove plants. They managed to extract a novel gibberellin type from a mangrove plant, of the Sonneratia apetala species. His team investigated the basic and applied problems related to rice such as anatomical changes in the growing point accompanying a transition from the vegetative to the reproductive state, germination and viability of rice varieties, and their mineral nutrition,

photoperiodism Photoperiod is the change of day length around the seasons. The rotation of the earth around its axis produces 24 hour changes in light (day) and dark (night) cycles on earth. The length of the light and dark in each phase varies across the season ...

and vernalization. His other interests included biochemical changes in rice and

mungbean The mung bean or green gram (''Vigna radiata'') is a plant species in the Fabaceae, legume family.Brief Introduction of Mung Bean. Vigna Radiata Extract Green Mung Bean Extract Powder Phaseolus aureus Roxb Vigna radiata L R Wilczek. MDidea-E ...

seed germination and their control mechanism. In 1971, he published his book ''Plant Hormone Research in India'', ICAR, New Delhi.

References

External links

Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sircar, Sourindra Mohan 20th-century Indian botanists 1978 deaths 1908 births Scientists from West Bengal Academic staff of the University of Calcutta Presidency University, Kolkata alumni University of Calcutta alumni University of Calcutta people Imperial College London