Janaki Ammal: Pioneer in botanical research & allied fields

The outstanding researcher is renowned for pioneering work in botany that played a vital role in understanding the nature of polyploidy in sugarcane and in the selection of varieties for cross-breeding the vital crop. She also excelled in scientific fields such as cytogenetics and phytogeography.

Janaki Ammal Edavalath Kakkat was born in Thalassery (now in Kerala), in a middle-class family on November 4, 1897. Not much is known about her personal life except that she was the daughter of Edavalath Kakkat Krishnan, a sub-judge and Devi Kuruvayi. She had six brothers and five sisters. Her father was a recipient of the British honorary title of Diwan Bahadur.

Early life
She grew up in an era when most girls were not even sent to school in India and women were discouraged from pursuing professional interests. However, her family was open-minded and Janaki was encouraged to engage in intellectual pursuits.

Early on in life, she developed an interest in botany. After she completed schooling, Janaki Ammal moved to Madras where she enrolled in Queen Mary’s College and in 1921 obtained the B.Sc Honours degree in botany from the Madras Presidency College.

Prolific career
She joined the Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coimbatore, as a geneticist in 1934. The institute was created with the aim of improving the sugarcane plant. At the institute, Janaki Ammal worked on sugarcane biology with TS Venkataraman who had helped increase sugarcane production in the country.

Janaki Ammal’s research offered fresh insights into the nature of polyploidy in sugarcane. She was instrumental in creating a firm scientific basis for cross breeding, producing hybrids, and helping choosing plant varieties for cross-breeding. She worked at the institute till 1939.

In 1940, she moved to England to work as Assistant Cytologist at the John Innes Horticultural Institution in London. There she performed chromosome studies on a wide range of garden plants and her studies on chromosome numbers and polyploidy. Most species whose cells have nuclei are diploid, meaning they have two sets of chromosomes—one set inherited from each parent. However, some organisms are polyploid. Polyploidy is especially common in plants. It led to new developments in the study of the evolution of species and varieties.

She then worked as cytologist at the Royal Horticultural Society at Wisley from 1945 to 1951. In 1951, free India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, invited Janaki Ammal to return to her homeland and help in reorganising the Botanical Survey of India (BSI).

Awards & achievements
Professor CV Raman made her a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences in 1935 and she was elected a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy in 1957.

She received an honorary LL.D. from the University of Michigan in 1956.

In 1977, the Government awarded her the Padma Shri.

Personal life
A very simple person who always wore Indian attires and had few material possessions, Janaki Ammal led an austere Gandhian lifestyle and she was much respected for her adherence to principles and ethics. She remained spinster and lived a healthy, active life. She died of natural causes in February 1984, at the age of 87.

Interesting Facts
Janaki Ammal obtained the Barbour scholarship from the University of Michigan, U.S. The brilliant student also earned the Master of Science degree from the University of Michigan, in 1925.

After a brief stint at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, she moved to Madras in 1970 where she became Emeritus Scientist at the Centre for Advanced Study in Botany at the University of Madras.

At the Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Janaki Ammal helped analyse the geographical distribution of sugarcane across India and in selection of the best varieties for cross-breeding.

Along with fellow biologist CD Darlington, she wrote The Chromosome Atlas of Cultivated Plants, that is still considered the bible for botanists around the globe.To honour her work in plant breeding, the Royal Horticultural Society, Wisley, UK, named a variety of magnolia she created as Magnolia Kobus Janaki Ammal. In 2018, two rose breeders, Girija and Viru Viraraghavan bred a new rose variety they named EK Janaki Ammal.