The Women Scientists of India
Biographical and Autobiographical Essays
Biographical Essays
E K Janaki Ammal (1897-1984)
D.Sc. (1931, Michigan), Founder Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences. Winner of Padmashri Award. Was a renowned botanist and plant cytologist who made significant contributions to genetics, evolution, phytogeography and ethnobotany.
(By C V Subramanian)
B Vijayalakshmi (1952-1985)
Ph.D (1982, Madras). For her research she studied relativistic wave equations and their proportions. She expired on 12th May 1985 at the age of 33 due to cancer. She had 11 papers to her credit in international journals.
(By T R Govindarajan)
A Chatterjee (1917-2006)
First woman D.Sc. (1944, Calcutta), FASc, FNA, Khaira Professor of Chemistry, Calcutta University. Recipient of the Padma Bhushan. The numerous awards she won include S S Bhatnagar award, C V Raman award of the UGC, P C Ray award, Sisir K Mitra Lectureship and Dr G P Chatterjee Lectureship. First lady president of the Indian Science Congress, member of Rajya Sabha. Her area of interest was natural products with special reference to the medicinal chemistry.
(By S C Prakashi)
Anandibai Joshi (1865-1887)
Medicine (1885, Philadelphia), Anandibai Joshi, the first Hindu woman to obtain a medical degree in the Western hemisphere, was born Yamuna Joshi on March 31, 1865 in Poona, India. She was the first lady to complete medical eduacation in the USA. She died in Poona at an early age of 22.
(By Pooja Thakar)
Iravati Karve (1905-1970)
Ph.D. (1930, Berlin). This renowned anthropologist was the Head of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Deccan College. She presided over the Anthropology division of the National Science Congress in 1947. She wrote extensively on a wide variety of academic subjects and otherwise. Her writings include the highly acclaimed book 'Yuganta' which won the Sahitya Academy Award.
(By Jai Nimbkar and Varsha Kelkar-Mane)
Anna Mani (1918-2001)
FASc, FNA, Ph.D. (submitted 1945, Madras). The only woman scientist to work with C.V. Raman, is well known for her work in atmospheric physics and instrumentation. She contributed to the study of radiation, ozone and atmospheric electricity, both on the surface and in the upper air using special sounding techniques. Joining the India Meteorological Department in 1948 she rose to become the Deputy Director General of Observatories in Delhi.
(By Abha Sur)
Kamal Ranadive (1917-2001)
Ph.D. (1949, Bombay), FNA. This recipient of the Padmabhushan established the first tissue culture laboratory in India at the Indian Cancer Research Centre (presently Cancer Research Institute). She got Watumal Foundation Award for her work in the field of leprosy. She founded the Indian Women Scientist Association (IWSA).
(By Rajani Bhisey)
Darshan Ranganathan (1941-2001)
Ph.D. (1967, Delhi), FASc, FNA. Her honors include a Senior Research Scholarship of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, A.V. Rama Rao Foundation Award, Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Centenary Visiting Fellowship, Third World Academy of Sciences Award in Chemistry and Sukh Dev Endowment Lectureship. Was Deputy Director, IICT, Hyderabad. She passed away from metastasis of cancer.
(By S Ranganathan)
Kamala Sohonie (1911-1996)
Ph.D. (1939, Cambridge). Recipient of the Rastra-pati award for best scientific research. Life time achievement felicitation by ICMR. Assistant Director, NRI, Cunnoor, India. Retired as First Lady Director, Institute of Science, Mumbai.
(By Vasumathi Dhuru)
Autobiographical Essays
Radha Balakrishnan
Ph.D. (1970, Brandeis). She is a Fullbright Awardee, a Senior Associate of the ICTP, Trieste, and has received the Tamil Nadu Scientists Award, the Darshan Ranganathan Memorial Lecture Award (INSA) and a CNRS Visiting Professorship. She works at the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai in the area of nonlinear dynamics and applications in physics.
Email: radha@imsc.res.in
Bindu A Bambah
Ph.D. (1983, Chicago), of the School of Physics, University of Hyderabad, is a recipient of the UNESCO Young Scientists Award and the P M S Blackett Scholarship. She works in the areas of theoretical high energy physics and dynamical systems.
Email: bbsp@uohyd.ernet.in
Meenakshi Banerjee
Ph.D. (1988, Banaras), Fellow of the Academy of Environmental Biology and the National Environmental Science Academy. Life member of NASI. Her numerous awards include Albert Schweitzer International Gold Medal for Science, as well as UGC career award. She currently teaches at Barkatullah University, Bhopal.
Email: meenakshi_banerjee@indiatimes.com
Manju Bansal
Ph.D. (1977, IISc), FASc, FNASc. She was a von Humboldt Fellow at EMBI, Heidelberg, and joined the Faculty of IISc in 1981. She was the founder-Director of the Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology, Bangalore.
Email: mb@mbu.iisc.ernet.in
Sudha Bhattacharya
Ph.D. (1977, New Delhi), FASc. She is a recipient of the Rockfeller Biotechnology Career Development Award. She is Associate Professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Her areas of interest are molecular biology, molecular parasitology and genomics.
Email: sb@mail.jnu.ac.in
Archana Bhattacharyya
Ph.D. (1975, Northwestern University), FASc, FNASc, FNA and is presently Director of the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism, Navi Mumbai. Her areas of specialization are ionospheric physics, geomagnetism, and space weather.
Email: abh@iigs.iigm.res.in
Rajani A Bhisey
Ph.D. (1974, Bombay), FASc, FNA. She works in the area of environmental cancer and epidemiology.
Email: rajanibhisey@yahoo.co.in
Renee M Borges
Ph.D. (1989, Miami), received the Sunderlal Baghai Gold Medal for Science. She works in the areas of chemical ecology, planta-animal interactions, behavioural ecology, and evolutionary biology.
Email: renee@ces.iisc.ernet.in
Bimla Buti
Ph.D. (1962, Chicago), FNA, FNASc, FTWAS. Fellow American Physical Society. She is a past Director, Plasma Physics, ICTP, Trieste and was President, Commission C49 of IAU. She worked in Physical Research Laboratory. She received the Sarabhai Award for Planetary Sciences. She is a theoretical plasma physicist.
Email: bimlabuti@gmail.com; butib@butifoundation.org
Anju Chadha
Ph. D. (1984, IISc), works in the Department of Biotechnology, IIT Chennai. She is a recipient of the Fogarty award of the NIH, USA and is an Alexander von Humboldt awardee. She works in the areas of bioorganic chemistry, enzyme mechanisms, and green chemistry.
Email: anjuc@iitm.ac.in
Charusita Chakravarty
Ph.D. (1990, Cambridge), FASc, is a recipient of S S Bhatnagar Award, Swarnajayanti Fellowship of the DST, the Bronze Medal of the Chemical Research Society of India, the B.M. Birla Science Award in Chemistry, and the INSA Medal for Young Scientists. She works in the areas of physical and theoretical chemistry, and chemical and computational physics.
Email: charus@chemistry.iitd.ernet.in
Maharani Chakravorty
Ph.D. (1961, Calcutta), D.Sc., FNA, FAMS, FNASc, retired from the Institute of Medical Science of BHU. Along with her husband she built MBU at BHU. She is a recipient of the Kshanika Oration Award (ICMR), the Hari Om Ashram Alembic Research Award and J.C. Sengupta Memorial award of INSA, the Darshan Ranganathan Memorial Award, etc.
Email: maharani37@gmail.com
Prabha Chatterji
Ph.D. (1977, IISc), currently with GE Technology Centre, Bangalore, is a recipient of Vasvik Award for industrial research and the MRSI Lecture award. She is involved in policies of scientific and technical education in India.
Email: Prabha.Chatterji@ge.com
Rajeshwari Chatterjee
Ph.D. (1953, Ann Arbor), her awards include Mountbatten prize for the best paper from the Institute of Electrical and Radio Engineering, UK, the J C Bose Memorial prize for the best research paper from the Institution of Engineers. First woman faculty member at IISc, she retired as a Professor in 1982. Specialized in the field of microwave engineering and antennae engineering.
(by K Shashikala)
Shubhada Chiplunkar
Ph.D. (1983, Bombay), was awarded the Senior Scientist Oration Award by Indian Immunology Society. Recipient of Max Planck Institute fellowship. She works at the Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC) in the area of immunology of tumor, hepatitis, hepatocellular carcinoma, and leprosy.
Email: schiplunkar@actrec.gov.in
Renu Khanna-Chopra
Ph.D. (1974, IARI), FNA, FNASc, is recipient of the ICAR Outstanding Women Scientist Award. Other awards include R D Asana Endowment Award of ICAR and Platinum Jubilee lecture award. She is also a Fellow of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Her areas of specialization are plant physiology and biochemistry, and stress physiology.
Email: renu_wtc@rediffmail.com
Joyanti Chutia
Ph.D. (1981, Dibrugarh), FNASc, is a recipient of the Durlav Deka Memorial Award, the Basanti Bordoloi Award, the Sadhani Saurya Award, the Ghanashyam Goswami Award, and the K K Barua National Award. She is the Director of the Institute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology, Guwahati and works in the area of plasma physics.
Email: joyanti_c@yahoo.com
Tanusri Saha-Dasgupta
Ph.D. (1995, Calcutta), FASc, holds the Swarnajayanti Fellowship of the Department of Science and Technology. She works in the area of computational condensed matter physics at the S N Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Kolkata.
Email: tanusri@bose.res.in
Priya Davidar
Ph.D. (1980, Bombay), was a Senior Fellow of the Smithsonian Institution and was elected President of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation in 2009. She is the Dean of the School of Life Sciences, Pondicherry University, Puducherry. Her area of specialization is tropical ecology and conservation biology.
Email: pdavidar.ees@pondiuni.edu.in
Deepti Deobagkar
Ph.D. (1984, IISc), she has received the DAAD Fellowship, Inlaks Fellowship, UNESCO TWAS Fellowship and the INSA Medal for Young Scientist. She works on molecular genetics, epigenetics, biosensors and bionanotechnology. She is with the Molecular Biology Research Laboratory and Center for Advanced Studies, Department of Zoology, University of Pune, India.
Email: dddeo@unipune.ernet.in
Aruna Dhathathreyan
Ph.D. (1983, Madras), She received the Stree Shakti Samman, the Bronze medal of the CRSI, and the Raman Research Fellowship, CSIR. She was at the Max-Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Gottingen, Germany for several years, and since 1990 she has been a scientist at the CLRI. She is a biophysical chemist.
Email: aruna@clri.info
Sulochana Gadgil
Ph.D. (1970, Harvard), FASc, FNA, and the Fellow of the India Meteorological Society, is honorary Professor at the CAOS, IISc, Bangalore. Recipient of several awards including Hari Om award, Norman Borlaug Award, Astronautical Society Award and National award for lifetime achievement in Atmospheric Science and Technology. Her areas of interest are monsoon and ocean dynamics, climate variability and agriculture and evolutionary biology.
Email: sulo@caos.iisc.ernet.in
Rohini Godbole
Ph.D. (1979, Stony Brook), FASc, FNA, FNASc, FTWAS, recipient of Sheel Memorial Lecture award (NASI), the distinguished Alumni award of IIT (Bombay), Meghnad Saha gold medal of Asiatic Society, J.C. Bose Fellowship of DST, Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Centenary Visiting Fellowship (INSA), INSA Satyendranath Bose Medal, etc., Chairs Academy Panel for Women in Science (WiS), Member Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet. Her area of specialization is theoretical high energy physics.
Email: rohini@cts.iisc.ernet.in
Srubabati Goswami
Ph.D. (1998, Calcutta), is recipient of the Sheel Memorial Lecture award, the Humboldt Fellowship and the JPS Fellowship. She is at the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad and works in the area of high energy physics.
Email: sruba.goswami@googlemail.com
Rama Govindarajan
Ph. D. (1994, IISc), FNASc, FASc. She is a recipient of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, and a Professor in the Engineering Mechanics Unit, JNCASR, Bangalore. Her research interest is in the area of fluid mechanics.
Email: rama@jncasr.ac.in
Neelima Gupte
Ph.D. (1983, Stony Brook). She is a theoretical physicist and Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. She has been a member of the Editorial Board of Pramana and is a recipient of the Stree Shakti Science Sanmaan. Her areas of specialization are nonlinear dynamics and statistical mechanics.
Email: gupte@physics.iitm.ac.in
R J Hans-Gill
Ph.D. (1965, Columbus), FASc, FNA, FNASc, FTWAS, recipient of the Nara Singa Rao Gold Medal by the Indian Mathematical Society. Her areas of specialization are the geometry of numbers, discrete geometry and Diophantine approximations.
Email: hansgillrj@yahoo.co.in
Gaiti Hasan
Ph.D. (1983, Cambridge), FASc, FNA, is with the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore. Her areas of specialization are molecular biology, genetics and cell signaling.
Email: gaiti@ncbs.res.in
P Mohanty Hejmadi
Ph.D. (1970, Ann Arbor), FASc, is a recipient of Padma Shri. She received the Pitamber Pant National Environment Fellowship and the Justice Raj Kishore Das Memorial Award, in addition to the Pranakushna Parija Award. She has also received awards such as Central Sangeet Natak Academy award, Sarangdev fellowship, etc., for contributions to Odissi dance. Her area of specialization is developmental biology and conservation in the field of herpetology.
Email: mohantyhejmadi@hotmail.com
H Ilah (nee' Bhatnagar)
Ph.D. (1968, Kanpur), FASc, FNA, was a Alexander von Humboldt Fellow, an INSA-Royal Society visiting scientist, Marie Curie Fellow among other distinctions. She received Chemical Research Society of India (CRSI) silver medal. Presently she is an INSA senior scientist at JNCASR. Is a member of the Scientific Editorial Board of 'Arkivoc' journal, USA.
Email: hila@iitk.ac.in, hila@jncasr.ac.in
Chanda Jog
Ph.D. (1982, Stony Brook), FASc. She is a Professor at the Department of Physics, IISc, Bangalore, is on the Organizing Committee of the IAU Commission on Galaxies, and works on galactic dynamics, interstellar molecular clouds, and interacting galaxies and is the Chief Editor of JAA (IASc).
Email: cjjog@physics.iisc.ernet.in
Sangeeta N Kale
Ph.D. (1996, Pune), is an Associate of The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste. She is at the Fergusson College, Pune, in the Department of Electronics. Her area of specialization is nanoscience.
Email: snkale@vsnl.com
V Kalpagam
Ph.D. (1960, IISc). Her specializations are polymers and polymer solutions.Contact information available at
Email: womensci@ias.ac.in
Priyadarshini Karve
Ph.D. (1998, Pune), was awarded the Yashwantrao Kelkar Youth Award and the Adishakti Award. Recipient of World Technology Award in 'Environment' category. Member of the Project Team which won the prestigious International Ashden award for renewable energy. She works on biomass energy, appropriate technology, and sustainable development.
Email: pkarve@arti-india.org
S K Khanduja
Ph.D. (1978, Chandigarh), FNA, FNASc, FASc. She works in the area of algebraic number theory, and is at the Department of Mathematics, Panjab University, Chandigarh.
Email: skhand@pu.ac.in
Pushpa Khare
Ph.D. (1978, Bombay), she is Professor at the Physics Department, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar. Her areas of interest are astrophysics and cosmology. She has been a visiting professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and at University of South Carolina, and a visiting scientist at the University of Chicago, Max Planck Institute, Munich and Osaka University.
Email: pushpakhare@gmail.com
Medha Khole
Ph.D. (2001, Pune), of the India Meteorological Department works in the area of meteorology and atmospheric sciences. Her specific interests are on monsoon variability, climate change and variability, natural hazards, and weather forecasting.
Email: medhakhole@yahoo.co.in
Vinod Krishan
Ph.D. (1971, Tennessee) FNASc. She is a recipient of the Vikram Sarabhai Award for Space Sciences and is a Senior Associate of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste. She is at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore and works on astrophysical plasmas.
Email: vinod@iiap.res.in
Yamuna Krishnan
Ph.D. (2002, Bangalore), is a young Associate of the Indian Academy of Sciences, a recipient of the 1851 Research Fellowship of Wolfson College, Cambridge, and an Innovative Young Biotechnologist awardee. She works on the chemical biology of nucleic acids, at NCBS, Bangalore.
Email: yamuna@ncbs.res.in
Sulabha K Kulkarni
Ph. D. (1976, Pune), FASc, FNASc, Fellow of the Maharastra Academy of Sciences. She received the Materials Research Society of India Medal and the M.S Patel Visiting Fellowship in Polymer Physics, UICT. She works on nanotechnology, surface science and materials science at the University of Pune.
Email: skk@physics.unipune.ernet.in
Anuradha Lohia
Ph.D. (1986, Calcutta), FASc. Recipient of National Women Bioscientist Award 2001, the Stree Shakti Science Sanmaan, Zee Astitva Award and the Rockfellar Foundation Biotechnology career fellowship. She is Senior Professor at the Bose Institute, Kolkata and currently the CEO of the Wellcome Trust DBT India Alliance. Her areas of interest are molecular and cellular biology.
Email: amoeba22@gmail.com
Chitra Mandal
Ph.D. (1978, IISc), FNA, FASc, FNASc. She is a recipient of several awards from the DBT, ICMR and VASVIK, as well as P B Rama Rao Memorial Award. Her specific interests are in the field of Glycobiology/Glycoimmunology in health and diseases.
Email: cmandal@iicb.res.in, chitra_mandal@yahoo.com
Kusum Marathe
M.Sc. (1948), Ph.D. (1968, Bombay). Retired Professor of botany and officiating Director of Institute of Science, Nagpur, Maharastra, India. Her areas of interest are metabolic products of algae, drainage water algae, nitrogen-fixing algae, etc.
Minnie M Mathan
M.D., Ph.D. (1983, Vellore), FNA, FRC-Path (London). The many awards she has won include Award from the National Academy of Medical Sciences of which she is also Fellow, the Basanti Devi Amirchand Award for eminent Indian Woman Scientists, the Ranbaxy Science Foundation Award for Clinical Research, etc. Her areas of specialization are pathology, electron microscopy, and gastrointestinal pathology.
Email: mathan.minnie@airtelmail.in
Asha Mathur
M.D. (1969), FASc, FNA, FNASc, FAMS, FRC-Path, FTWAS. She is a recipient of the Senior National Woman Bio-scientist Award, the Hari Om Alembic Research Award, and the Om Prakash Bhasin Research Award. She is Professor at the Saraswati Medical & Dental College, Lucknow. Her areas of interest are microbiology, virology and immunology.
Email: asha.mathur@gmail.com
Anuradha Misra
Ph.D. (1989, IIT Kanpur), is a Professor at the Department of Physics, University of Mumbai. She works on theoretical high energy physics.
Email: misra@physics.mu.ac.in
Sushmita Mitra
Ph.D. (1995, Calcutta), FNAE, FNASc, SMIEEE. She is a Professor at the Machine Intelligence Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata. Recipient of NTS, DAAD and CIMPA-INRIA-UNESCO Fellowship, the IEEE Outstanding Paper Award, and a Visiting Professor at University of Alberta, University of Aalborg, Meiji University. Her research interests include data mining, pattern recognition, soft computing, image processing, and bioinformatics.
Email: sushmita@isical.ac.in
Anjali Mookerjee (1927-2009)
Ph.D. (19673, Calcutta), retired from the School of Environmental Sciences at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi where she was Dean. Her research had been on radiation biophysics. She was the Director of the Sivatosh Mookerjee Science Centre.
Sipra Guha-Mukherjee
Ph.D. (1963, Delhi), FASc, FNASc. A recipient of the Senior National Bio-scientist Award, the Om Prakash Bhasin Foundation Award in Biotechnology and the Kanishka Award. She was Professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. Her field of specialization was plant tissue culture, plant molecular biology, biotechnology and cell biology. She passed away in September 2007 after writing this piece for Lilavati's Daughters.
Indira Narayanaswamy
Ph.D. (1981, Madras), She was awarded the ADA Excellence award. She is at the Aeronautical Development Agency, Bangalore. Her research interests include computational fluid dynamics, aerodynamic shape optimization and multidisciplinary design optimization.
Email: indira_swamy@yahoo.com
Shobhana Narasimhan
Ph.D. (1991, Harvard). She is recipient of Institute Silver Medal, IIT Bombay, Robert L. Wallace Prize Fellowship, Harvard University and the Materails Research Society of India Medal. She is at the Theoretical Sciences Unit, JNCASR, Bangalore having expertise in the areas of theoretical condensed matter physics and computational materials science.
Email: shobhana@jncasr.ac.in
Mangala Narlikar
(nee Sadashiv Rajwade) Ph.D. (1982, Bombay), works on number theory and mathematics education.
Email: mnarlikar@yahoo.co.in
Chanda Nimbkar
Ph.D. (2006, Armidale), received the John Allwright Fellowship of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research. She works on farm animal genetics and breeding, at the Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute at Phaltan, which is a recipient of the CSIR Award for S&T Innovations for Rural Development , Maharashtra.
Email: Chanda.Nimbkar@gmail.com
Aditi Pant
Ph.D. (1973, London) FMASc. She was given the Antartic Award of the Government of India. She is an oceanographer with interests in plankton physiology and biochemistry.
Email: aditi.pant@vsnl.net
Sulabha Pathak
Ph.D. (1995, Rotterdam), Homi Bhabha Fellowship, works in the area of immunology.
Email: suepathak@mailhost.tifr.res.in
R Parimala
Ph.D. (1976, Bombay), FASc, FNA, FNASc. She has an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland and is currently a Asa Griggs Candler Professor at Emory University, Atlanta. She is a Bhatnagar awardee in Mathematical Sciences and has been given the Srinivasa Ramanujan Medal of INSA and the Third World Academy of Sciences Prize in Mathematical Sciences. Her research is in the area of algebra.
Email: parimala@mathcs.emory.edu
Qamar Rahman
Ph.D. (1974), FNASc, is the Dean of Research at Lucknow University, and Adjunct Professor Hamdard University, Delhi. A recipient of the U P Ratna award and Honorary Doctorate, Rostock University. Her areas of interest are pulmonary biochemistry, genotoxicity and molecular epidemiology.
Email: qamar_15@sify.com
Hema Ramachandran
Ph.D. (1992, Bombay) is at the Raman Research Institute, Bangalore. She is the recipient of the Homi Bhabha Award, the Indian National Science Academy Young Scientist Award. Her current research interests are quantum logic and quantum information, quantum optics, ultracold atomic systems and Bose-Einstein condensates.
Email: hema@rri.res.in
Sheela K Ramasesha
Ph.D. (1980, Bangalore) is at GE, India in Bangalore. She is a materials scientist who received the C.V. Raman Young Scientist Award and the Materials Research Society of India (MRSI) medal.
Email: sheela_snagar@yahoo.com
Mythily Ramaswamy
Ph.D. (1983, Paris), FASc, FNASc. Recipient of Kalpana Chawla Award for women scientists from the Karnataka Government. She works at TIFR Bangalore.
Email: mythily@math.tifrbang.res.in
Jayashree Ramadas
Ph.D. (1981, Poona), is at Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, TIFR, Mumbai. Her areas of specialization are in cognitive studies of science learning and curriculum development.
Email: jr@hbcse.tifr.res.in
Sujatha Ramdorai
Ph.D. (1992, Bombay) is FASc, FNASc, FNA. Recipient of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award, and the ICTP Ramanujan Award, and a Member of the National Knowledge Commission. She is a Professor, School of Mathematics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. Her areas of interest are algebra and number theory.
Email: sujatha@math.tifr.res.in
Sumathi Rao
Ph.D. (1983, Stony Brook), FNASc, is currently a Professor of Physics at the Harish-Chandra Research Institute in Allahabad. Her research interests are condensed matter physics and quantum field theory.
Email: sumathi@mri.ernet.in
Renuka Ravindran
Ph.D. (1967, Bangalore), works on nonlinear waves and non-Newtonian fluids. She retired from the IISc, Bangalore after serving as Dean.
Email: renrav@math.iisc.ernet.in
Vijayalakshmi Ravindranath
Ph.D. (1981, Mysore), FASc, FNA, FNASc, FTWAS, is a Chairperson of Centre for Neuroscience, IISc. She is a recipient of the S S Bhatnagar Award for Medical Sciences, the Omprakash Bhasin Award for Science & Technology. Her areas of interests are neuroscience, biochemistry.
Email: viji@cns.iisc.ernet.in
S Sandhyamani
M.D. (1978, AIIMS), FAMS, Recipient of 2nd Prize of the International Union of Angiology, the Bunny Becker Memorial Lecture and Travelling Lectureship of International Academy of Pathology, Career Award of South Asian Society on Atherosclerosis and Thrombosis. She is a Professor of Pathology, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum. Areas of interest: cardiovascular pathology, diabetes and life style related diseases.
Email: sandhyamani@gmail.com
Chitra Sarkar
M.D. FRCP (1981, London), FASc, FNASc, is Professor of Pathology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. Her areas of interest are neuropathology, neuro-oncology, and neuro-muscular diseases.
Email: sarkar.chitra@gmail.com
G V Satyavati
M.D. (1966, BHU), FNASc, Founder Fellow NAMS. Retired as Director General of the ICMR (the only woman DG). The numerous awards she has received include, Distinguished Career Award of South Asian Society of Atherosclerosis and Thrombosis, Mahila Shiromani (Women Achiever's) Award. At present she is associated with the D.N. Prasad Memorial Foundation.
H S Savithri
Ph.D. (1977, Bangalore), FASc, FNASc, FNA. Recipient of P.S. Sarma Memorial award and A Krishna Murthy award of the Society of Biological Chemists. She works at the Department of Biochemistry, IISc, Bangalore, on molecular plant virology, enzymology and protein chemistry.
Email: bchss@biochem.iisc.ernet.in
Riddhi Shah
Ph.D. (1991, Bombay). A gold medalist of the Gujarat University, she is a recipient of the Young Scientist Award INSA, the Humboldt and JSPS Fellowships. She is Professor of Mathematics at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Her areas of interest are lie groups and probabilities, ergodic theory and dynamical systems.
Email: riddhi.kausti@gmail.com
Chandrima Shaha
Ph.D. (1980, Calcutta), FASc, FNASc, FNA, recipient of S. Amirchand Award, DBT Award, J.C. Bose Fellowship. She is at the National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi. Her interest is cell death.
Email: cshaha@nii.res.in
Priti Shankar
Ph.D. (1972, Maryland), Outstanding Scholarship Award from the American Association of University Women, IEEE Distinguished Visitor Speaker (India), and Jaya-Jayant Award from IISc for excellence in teaching. She is at the Department of Computer Science and Automation, IISc, Bangalore, and works on compiler design and coding theory.
Email: priti@csa.iisc.ernet.in
Manju Sharma
Ph.D. (1965, Lucknow), FNASc, FTWAS. She was the president of the National Academy of Sciences (and the only woman President of any Science Academy in India). Her numerous awards include the Padma Bhushan, National Senior Woman Bioscientist Award, NASI Platinum Jubilee Gold Medal, and the Norman E. Borlaug Award. She has been responsible for the establishment of a number of new institutions such as the National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi, the Center for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, Hyderabad, the National Brain Research Centre, Manesar, and the Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development, Manipur.
Shobhona Sharma
Ph.D. (1981, Bombay), FASc, is a National Science Talent Scholarship holder and was given the Pratima and Sucharu Chakrabarty Science Samman, conferred by Stree-Shakti, the Wisitex Foundation Award Vigyan Ratna in Science.
Email: sharma@mailhost.tifr.res.in
Prajval Shastri
Ph.D. (1989, Bombay) is an Associate Professor at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore. Her area of speciality is the phenomenology of active galaxies driven by supermassive blackholes using multi-wavelength observations ranging from radio to X-ray wavelengths.
Email: pshastri@iiap.res.in
Somdatta Sinha
Ph.D. (1983, JNU), FASc, FNASc. She is a senior scientist at the Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology, Hyderabad and holds the International Fellowship of the Santa Fe Institute. Her areas of interest are theoretical and computational biology, complex systems, nonlinear dynamics, and interdisciplinary education.
Email: sinha@ccmb.res.in
Sudeshna Sinha
Ph.D. (1990, Bombay), FASc, is Professor at the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai, and works in the field of nonlinear physics. She received the B M Birla Award. Her work on 'chaos-based' hardware is being developed commercially by the US based company Chaologix.
Email: sudeshna@imsc.res.in
Supurna Sinha
Ph.D. (1992, Syracuse), is at the Raman Research Institute, Bangalore.
Email: supurna@rri.res.in
Purnima Sinha
First woman Ph.D. in Physics (1956, Calcutta), she retired from the Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute.
Satyavati M Sirsat
Ph.D. (1958, Bombay), FASc. The awards she received include among others are - the Shakuntaladevi Amirchand Prize of the ICMR, Transasian award for biological electron microscopy, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan's Citation for Lifetime award for science and humaneness. She works in the area of cancer research pathology, wound healing and regeneration and viruses and human cancer.
Email: hdkoppikar@vsnl.net
Sarala K Subbarao
Ph.D. (1973, Urbana-Champaign), FNA, FNASc and Fellow of Indian Society for Malaria and other Communicable Diseases. She works on insect genetics, vector borne diseases and epidemiology and control. Recipient of Dr. M.O.T Iyengar Memorial Award of the Indian Council of Medical Research for Malaria Research.
Email: subbaraosk@gmail.com
S Annapurni
Ph.D. (1996, IIA), is at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore and works on areas like star clusters, stellar evolution and population in galaxies and Magellanic clouds.
Email: purni@iiap.res.in
Sumati Surya
Ph.D. (1997, Syracuse), works at the Raman Research Institute, Bangalore, in the area of classical and quantum gravity.
Email: ssurya@rri.res.in
Qudsia Tahseen
Ph.D. (1989, Aligarh), FASc, is a recipient of the INSA Young Scientist Medal. She is Reader, Department of Zoology, Aligarh Muslim University. Her areas of interest are nematode taxonomy, developmental biology and ecology.
Email: qtahseen@hotmail.com
B K Thelma
Ph.D. (1982, Delhi), FASc, FNASc. She works on human genetics and medical genomics at the Department of Genetics, University of Delhi, Delhi.
Email: thelmabk@yahoo.co.in
Vidita Vaidya
Ph.D. (1997, Yale), is an young Associate of the Indian Academy of Sciences and a Senior Overseas Research Fellow of the Wellcome Trust. She is at the TIFR, Mumbai, and works in neuroscience and molecular psychiatry.
Email: vvaidya@mailhost.tifr.res.in
Shikha Varma
Ph.D. (1990, Syracuse), is an experimental condensed matter physicist at the Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar.
Email: shikha@iopb.res.in
Usha Vijayraghavan
Ph.D. (1989, Caltech), FASc, FNA, is on the faculty of the Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology, IISc, Bangalore. She has won the DBT-Bioscience award and International Senior Research Fellowship of The Wellcome Trust, UK and J.C. Bose Fellowship. Her research group uses genetics and functional genomics to decipher how gene expression is controlled using plants and yeasts as experimental models.
Email: uvr@mcbl.iisc.ernet.in
Saraswathi Vishveshwara
Ph.D. (1974, New York), FASc, FNASc. She is a Professor at the Molecular Biophysics Unit, IISc, Bangalore and her areas of research include quantum chemistry, computational biology, bioinformatics and biomolecular structure networks.
Email: sv@mbu.iisc.ernet.in
Shashi Wadhwa
M.D. (1974), Ph.D. (1987, AIIMS), FASc, FNASc. Recipient of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, Dr. H.K. Chatterjee Memorial Gold Medal, Shakuntala Amir Chand Prize. Her areas of interest are anatomy and developmental neuroscience.
Email: shashiwadhwa@hotmail.com
