Birbal Sahni Biography 
Birbal Sahni was an Indian paleobotanist who studied the fossils of the Indian subcontinent. He was also an archeologist and geologist. He founded the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany in Lucknow. He was Fellow of the Royal Society of London (FRS) in 1936, the highest British scientific honor and the first Indian botanist to receive this honour. He was an Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1948. General President of the Indian Science Congress in 1940 and President of National Academy of Sciences in two terms and Honorary President of the International Botanical Congress, Stockholm in 1950 are the top positions held by Sahni. He was a "Pioneer of palaeobotany" in India.
Birbal was born in Punjab as the third son of Ishwar Devi and Lala Ruchi Ram Sahni on 14 November 1891. His family had close relationship with Motilal Nehru, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Sarojini Naidu, and Madan Mohan Malaviya, who used to visit his home. He was influenced into science by his grandfather who conducted amateur research in chemistry. His college life was completed at Government College University, Lahore and Punjab University (1911). Later he learnt Botany from S. R. Kashyap. He graduated from Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 1914 and got D.Sc. degree of the University of London in 1919.
In 1917, Sahni joined Professor Seward to work on a 'Revision of Indian Gondwana plants', under who he has studied earlier to earn D.Sc. In 1920, he got married to Savitri Suri. Sahni returned to India and served as Professor of Botany at several universities. He was appointed the first Professor and Head of the Botany Department of the Lucknow University in 1921. He received degree of Sc. D. in 1929 by Cambridge University for his valuable researches. In 1932 Palaeontologica Indica included his account of the Bennettitalean plant that he named Williamsonia Sewardi.
Published: N/A
Updated: February 18, 2014
