Toppur Seethapathy Sadasivan
Toppur Seethapathy Sadasivan was an Indian plant pathologist, academic and the director of the Centre for Advanced Studies in Botany of the University of Madras. He was the founder of the School of Physiological Plant Pathology at Madras University and was a recipient of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, the highest Indian award in the science category. He was an elected fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy and Indian Botanical Society and an elected member of the Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan, in 1974, for his contributions to science.
Biography
Toppur Sadasivan was born on 22 May 1913, at Saidapet, a satellite town in Madras, Madras Presidency, to Kanakammal and her physician husband, Seethapathy, who was the first Indian director of the King Institute of Preventive Medicine and Research. His schooling was at P. S. [Senior Secondary School] after which he graduated in Botany from the Presidency College, Chennai in 1934. Moving to Lucknow, he secured his master's degree from Lucknow University, studying under the tutelage of Birbal Sahni, a known paleobotanist, and started his doctoral research under S. N. Das Gupta. However, he continued his research at the University of London under the guidance of F. C. Bauwden and S. D. Garret, to secure a PhD in 1940 and worked at the Rothamsted Experiment Station, Harpenden on plant virology and soil mycology for a while before returning to Punjab Agricultural College, Lyallpur to start his career as a microbiologist, in 1941. Soon, he shifted to the University Botany Laboratory of the University of Madras, 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 like cotton, pigeonpea and rice which is reported to have assisted in the better understanding of the soil-borne pathogens. He developed several concepts such as competitive saprophytic ability and Rhizosphere effect and these studies were utilized by the Indian taxonomist, C. V. Subramanian, in his classification of Hyphomycetes. 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 Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize 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 on plant-based laboratories.
Sadasivan served as the President of the Indian Academy of Sciences from 1971 to 1973 and held other positions at the academy such as Vice-president, Secretary and council member. He also sat in the council of the Indian National Science Academy during various terms and was the chairman of the governing council of the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, also serving the institute as the Birbal Sahni Professor from 1977 to 1980. He was the editor of the journal published by the Indian Botanical Society and served as a member of the editorial board of Journal of Phytopathology published from Berlin. He chaired the Botany section of the Indian Science Congress of 1958 and was the vice president of the International Botanical Congress. 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.