Birbal Sahni: Pioneer and visionary in the study of fossil plants

The third child of pioneer meteorologist and scientist Ruchi Ram Sahni and Ishwar Devi, Birbal Sahni was born on November 14, 1891 in Bhera, a town in the Shahpur district that is now part of West Punjab in Pakistan.

He first enrolled at Mission School and Central Model School in Lahore, then studied at the Government College University, Lahore.

Later he studied at Punjab University from where he graduated in 1911. He enrolled in the Emmanuel College at Cambridge and obtained first class in Part I of the Natural Sciences Tripos in 1913 and completed Part II of the Tripos in 1915. Around the same time he also obtained BSc from the London University. He began research on palaeobotany under the guidance of acclaimed palaeobotanist Professor Albert Charles Seward. In 1919, Sahni was awarded the degree of Doctor of Science (DSc) by the London University for research on fossil plants.

Career
Sahni went to Germany in 1919 and worked with German plant morphologist Karl Ritter von Goebel. He returned to India and served as professor of botany at the Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi and Punjab University for about a year. He was appointed the first professor and head of the botany department of the Lucknow University in 1921, a post he held till his death. He also served as the university’s head of the geology department. The University of Cambridge awarded him the degree of Sc.D. (Doctor of Science) in 1929. In 1939, he constituted The Palaeobotanical Society.

The Institute of Palaeobotany was established on September 10, 1946.

Personal life and legacy
In 1920, he married Savitri Suri who took interest in his scientific pursuits. Sahni died of a heart attack on April 10, 1949, a week after the foundation stone of his institute’s new building was laid in by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

The Paleobotanical Society, founded by Sahni, established the Institute of Palaeobotany in 1946 which was later renamed Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany in his honour. Initially, it functioned in the botany department of Lucknow University but later moved to its present premises in 1949.

Awards and achievements
Sahni received several awards such as the Barclay Medal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1936, Nelson Wright Medal in 1950 and Sir CR Reddy National Prize in 1947. He was elected vice-president (palaeobotany section) of the 5th and 6th International Botanical Congresses of 1930 and 1935 held at Cambridge and Amsterdam, respectively.

Birbal Sahni was also elected as the General President of the Indian Science Congress in 1940 and President of National Academy of Sciences, India, 1937–1939 and 1943–1944. In 1948, he was elected an honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was elected as Honorary President of the International Botanical Congress, Stockholm, in 1950. He was elected Fellow of the Geological Society of Great Britain. He also served on the Editorial Board of the botanical journal Chronica Botanica.

INTERESTING FACTS

• Sahni grew up in an intellectually stimulating environment. His father, who was educated in Britain, had worked with famous scientists Ernest Rutherford and Niels Bohr. He also took part in the non-co-operation movement and the Brahmo Samaj movement. Their home was frequented by freedom fighters Motilal Nehru, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Sarojini Naidu, and Madan Mohan Malaviya.
• In 1936, Sahni examined coins and moulds dating to 100 BC from Khokra Kot. He wrote on the possible methods involved in their casting. The collection is now at the National Museum, New Delhi.
• Sahni was very fond of music and could play the sitar and the violin. He was interested in clay-modelling, playing chess and tennis. At Cambridge, he also represented India Majlis in tennis.
• The Birbal Sahni Gold Medal for botany was instituted in his memory. A bust of Sahni is at the Geological Survey of India, Calcutta. His botany teacher, Prof. Shiv Ram Kashyap, influenced him to take up botany as career.