Toppur Seethapathy Sadasivan (May 22, 1913 – August 18, 2001) was an Indian plant pathologist, academic and the director of the ''Centre for Advanced Studies in Botany'' of the

University of Madras The University of Madras is a public university, public State university (India), state university in Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and most prominent universities in India, incorporated by an ...

. He was the founder of the ''School of Physiological Plant Pathology'' at Madras University and was a recipient of the

Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize Shanti or Shanthi may refer to: In Sanskrit * Inner peace, a state of being mentally and spiritually at peace, with enough knowledge and understanding to keep oneself strong in the face of discord or stress * Kshanti, one of the paramitas of B ...

, the highest Indian award in the science category. He was an elected fellow of the

Indian Academy of Sciences The Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore was founded by Indian Physicist and List of Nobel laureates, Nobel Laureate Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, C. V. Raman, and was registered as a society on 27 April 1934. Inaugurated on 31 July 1934, it ...

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 ...

and

Indian Botanical Society The Indian Botanical Society (IBS) is the national learned society for botany, botanists of India. It was founded in 1920. The Society's activities include lectures, symposia, field excursions, field projects and an annual society meeting for exch ...

and an elected member of the

Academy of Sciences Leopoldina The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (), in short Leopoldina, is the national academy of Germany, and is located in Halle (Saale). Founded on 1 January 1652, based on academic models in Italy, it was originally named the ''Academi ...

. The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of the

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan (IAST: ''Padma Bhūṣaṇa'', lit. 'Lotus Decoration') is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 Januar ...

, in 1974, for his contributions to science.

Biography

Toppur Sadasivan was born on 22 May 1913, at

Saidapet Saidapet, also known as Saidai, is a neighbourhood in Chennai, India, situated in the northern banks of the Adyar River and serves as an entry point to Central Chennai. It is surrounded by West Mambalam in the North, C.I.T Nagar in the North-Ea ...

, a satellite town in

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency or Madras Province, officially called the Presidency of Fort St. George until 1937, was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India and later the Dominion of India. At its greatest extent, the presidency i ...

, to Kanakammal and her physician husband, Seethapathy, who was the first Indian director of the

King Institute of Preventive Medicine and Research King Institute of Preventive Medicine and Research is a medicine research institute located in Guindy, Chennai, India. It was established on 7 November 1899 with the aim of protecting against scourging infections and was named after Lt. Col. W. ...

. His schooling was at P. S. Senior Secondary School after which he graduated in Botany from the

Presidency College, Chennai Presidency College is an art, commerce, and science college in the city of Chennai in Tamil Nadu, India. On 16 October 1840, this school was established as the Madras Preparatory School before being repurposed as a high school, and then a gra ...

in 1934. Moving to

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 ...

, he secured his master's degree from

Lucknow University University of Lucknow (informally known as Lucknow University, and LU) is one of the oldest public state university based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. LU's main campus is located at Badshah Bagh, University Road area of the city with a second ...

, studying under the tutelage of

Birbal Sahni Birbal Sahni FRS (14 November 1891 – 10 April 1949) was an Indian paleobotanist who studied the fossils of the Indian subcontinent. He also took an interest in geology and archaeology. He founded what is now the Birbal Sahni Institute of Pal ...

, a known

paleobotanist Paleobotany or palaeobotany, also known as paleophytology, is the branch of botany dealing with the recovery and identification of plant fossils from geological contexts, and their use for the biological reconstruction of past environments (pale ...

, and started his doctoral research under S. N. Das Gupta. However, he continued his research at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

under the guidance of F. C. Bauwden and S. D. Garret, to secure a PhD in 1940 and worked at the Rothamsted Experiment Station (present-day

Rothamsted Research Rothamsted Research, previously known as the Rothamsted Experimental Station and then the Institute of Arable Crops Research, is one of the oldest agricultural experiment station, agricultural research institutions in the world, having been founde ...

Harpenden Harpenden () is a town and civil parish in the City and District of St Albans in the county of Hertfordshire, England. The population of the built-up area was 30,674 in the 2021 census, while the population of the civil parish was 31,128. Harpe ...

on plant virology and soil mycology for a while before returning to Punjab Agricultural College,

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 ...

(present-day

University of Agriculture, Faisalabad The University of Agriculture (UAF) is a public research university in Faisalabad, Pakistan. It is the largest university of Pakistan by area, with a covered area of 2,550 acres. It is ranked as a top university of Pakistan for Agriculture/Vete ...

) to start his career as a microbiologist, in 1941. Soon, he shifted to the University Botany Laboratory (UBL) of the

, and took up the position of a Reader, to eventually succeed M. O. P. Iyengar as its Director in 1944, . At UBL, Sadasivan formed a research group to pursue studies soil-borne diseases affecting

cash crops A cash crop, also called profit crop, is an agricultural crop which is grown to sell for profit. It is typically purchased by parties separate from a farm. The term is used to differentiate a marketed crop from a staple crop ("subsistence crop") ...

like cotton,

pigeonpea The pigeon pea (''Cajanus cajan'') or toor dal is a perennial legume from the family Fabaceae native to the Eastern Hemisphere. The pigeon pea is widely cultivated in tropical and semitropical regions around the world, being commonly consumed in ...

and rice which is reported to have assisted in the better understanding of the soil-borne

pathogens In biology, a pathogen (, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of"), in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a germ. The term ...

. He developed several concepts such as ''competitive

saprophytic Saprotrophic nutrition or lysotrophic nutrition is a process of chemoheterotrophic extracellular digestion involved in the processing of decayed (dead or waste) organic matter. It occurs in saprotrophs, and is most often associated with fungi ...

ability'' and ''Rhizosphere effect'' and these studies were utilized by the Indian

taxonomist In biology, taxonomy () is the science, scientific study of naming, defining (Circumscription (taxonomy), circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxon, taxa (si ...

, C. V. Subramanian, in his classification of

Hyphomycetes Hyphomycetes are a form classification of fungi, part of what has often been referred to as fungi imperfecti, Deuteromycota, or anamorphic fungi. Hyphomycetes lack closed fruit bodies, and are often referred to as moulds (or molds). Most hypho ...

. His group collectively published over 600 articles to document their research findings. Under his directorship, UBL became a University Grants Commission-accredited ''Centre for Advanced Study'' and he mentored 52 doctoral research scholars, including C. V. Subramanian, a

recipient, who would later succeed him as the head of the ''Centre for Advanced Study''. He also established the ''School of Physiological Plant Pathology'' at Madras University and served as a consultant to the

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR; IAST: ''vaigyanik tathā audyogik anusandhāna pariṣada'') is a research and development (R&D) organisation in India to promote scientific, industrial and economic growth. Headquarter ...

(CSIR) on plant-based laboratories. Sadasivan served as the President of the

(IAS) from 1971 to 1973 and held other positions at the academy such as Vice-president (1965–70), Secretary (1956–58) and council member (1946–49 and 1956–76). He also sat in the council of the

during various terms (1958–59, 1962–64, 1971–73) and was the chairman of the governing council of the

Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany The Birbal Sahni institution of Palaeosciences (BSIP), formerly known as the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, is an autonomous institution established by the Government of India under the Department of Science and Technology. The Birbal ...

, also serving the institute as the ''Birbal Sahni Professor'' from 1977 to 1980. He was the editor of the journal published by the

and served as a member of the editorial board of ''Journal of Phytopathology'' (Phytopathology Zeitschrift) published from Berlin. He chaired the Botany section of the

Indian Science Congress Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA) is a premier scientific organisation of India with headquarters at Kolkata, West Bengal. The association started in the year 1914 in Calcutta and it meets annually in the first week of January. It h ...

of 1958 and was the vice president of the

International Botanical Congress International Botanical Congress (IBC) is an international meeting of Botany, botanists in all scientific fields, authorized by the International Association of Botanical and Mycological Societies (IABMS) and held every six years, with the locatio ...

(1959, 1964, 1969 and 1975). When the first International Plant Pathology Congress held in London in 1966, he chaired the convention. He also served as the president of the Indian Phytopathological Society for the year 1964. Sadasivan was married to Radha and the couple had three daughters. He died on 18 August 2001, at the age of 88, at ''Gokulam'', his residence along Mundagakanniamman Koil Street in

Mylapore Mylapore (also spelt Mayilapur), or Thirumayilai, is a neighbourhood in the central part of the city of Chennai, India. It is one of the oldest residential parts of the city. The locality is claimed to be the birthplace of the celebrated Tamil ...

Awards and honors

The

(IAS) elected him as its fellow in 1945 and the

(INSA) followed suit a decade later. In 1960, he was elected as a member of the

, the same year as he received the

, the highest Indian award in the science and technology category, making him the first recipient of the award in the Biological Sciences category. He was also an elected fellow of the

and the Indian Phytopathological Society while the

conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Science (DSc) in 1955. He received the Birbal Sahni Medal of the

in 1962, followed by the

Jubilee Medal in 1971. The

awarded him the Sunder Lal Hora Medal in 1973 and the Birbal Sahni Birth Centenary Medal reached him two years before his death in 1999. The

has instituted an annual oration, ''Professor T. S. Sadasivan Endowment Lecture'' in his honor.

Trivia

Sadasivan was reported to have donated a part of his property in

Kodaikanal Kodaikanal () (English: ) is a municipality and hill station in Dindigul district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is situated at an altitude of in the Palani hills of the Western Ghats. Kodaikanal was established in 1845 to serve as a r ...

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan is an Indian educational trust. It was founded on 7 November 1938 by K.M Munshi, with the support of Mahatma Gandhi. The trust programmes through its 119 centres in India, 7 centres abroad and 367 constituent institut ...

for establishing a school where he served as the chairman for nearly fifteen years. He was known to have had a fascination for photography. He wore

Khadi Khadi (, ), derived from khaddar, is a hand-spun and woven natural fibre cloth promoted by Mahatma Gandhi, Gandhi as Swadeshi movement, ''swadeshi (of homeland)'' for the freedom struggle of India and the term is used throughout the Indian sub ...

and used to wash his own clothes till his health failed a month before his death.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sadasivan, Toppur Seethapathy 1913 births 2001 deaths Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in science & engineering Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Biological Science Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy Members of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina People from Chennai district Scientists from Chennai Indian Tamil people 20th-century Indian botanists Indian phytopathologists Presidency College, Chennai alumni University of Madras alumni University of Lucknow alumni Academic staff of the University of Lucknow Academic staff of the University of Madras Alumni of the University of London Academic staff of the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Scholars from Chennai

Biography

Awards and honors

Trivia

See also

References