Birbal Sahni facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Birbal Sahni
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Bust of Birbal Sahni at Birla Industrial & Technological Museum
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| Born | November 14, 1891 Bhera, Shahpur District, British India - Presently in Pakistan
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| Died | April 10, 1949 (aged 57) Lucknow
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| Nationality | Indian |
| Citizenship | India |
| Alma mater | Government College University, Lahore, Emmanuel College, Cambridge |
| Known for | Bennettitales, Pentoxylales, Sahnioxylon rajmahalense |
| Spouse(s) | Savitri Suri |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Paleobotany |
| Institutions | Lucknow |
| Doctoral advisor | Albert Seward |
| Other academic advisors | Goebel |
| Doctoral students | Rajendra Nath Lakhanpal |
Birbal Sahni (born November 14, 1891 – died April 10, 1949) was a very important Indian scientist. He was a paleobotanist, which means he studied ancient plants from their fossils. He was also interested in geology (the study of Earth's rocks and history) and archaeology (the study of human history through digging up old things).
Birbal Sahni is famous for founding the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany in Lucknow in 1946. This institute is a leading center for studying fossil plants in India. He made big contributions to understanding India's fossil plants and how plants have changed over millions of years. He also helped improve science education in India.
Contents
Becoming a Scientist: Birbal Sahni's Early Life
Birbal Sahni was born on November 14, 1891, in a place called Bhera in what is now Pakistan. He was the third child of Ishwar Devi and Lala Ruchi Ram Sahni. His father was a well-known Indian scientist who studied weather.
Birbal's family often visited Bhera, which was near the Salt Range and the Khewra Salt Mine. This might have sparked his interest in geology when he was young. His grandfather, who had a banking business, also did amateur chemistry research, influencing Birbal's love for science.
His father, Ruchi Ram, was a chemistry professor and a social activist. He had studied in England and worked with famous scientists like Ernest Rutherford. Every summer, Birbal's father took his sons on long trips to the Himalayas. These trips, between 1907 and 1911, exposed Birbal to nature and geology.
Birbal grew up in a home where important discussions about India's future took place. Famous leaders like Motilal Nehru and Sarojini Naidu often visited his house.
He went to school in Lahore, India, and got his first science degree in 1911. He learned about plants from Shiv Ram Kashyap, who is known as the "father of Indian bryology" (study of mosses). Birbal traveled with Kashyap to many places, exploring plants. Later, he went to England and studied at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, graduating in 1914. He continued his studies under Professor Albert Seward and earned his D.Sc. degree in 1919.
Birbal Sahni's Amazing Career
While in England, Birbal Sahni worked with Professor Seward on a big project about ancient Indian plants. In 1919, he also spent some time in Germany with a plant expert named Karl Ritter von Goebel.
In 1920, he married Savitri Suri. Savitri was very supportive and interested in his work, often joining him on his scientific journeys.
Sahni returned to India and became a professor of Botany at Banaras Hindu University and University of the Punjab. In 1921, he became the first Professor and Head of the Botany Department at Lucknow University. He held this important position until he passed away. In 1929, the University of Cambridge gave him another special degree, the Sc. D.
His research led to important discoveries. For example, in 1932, he described a new type of ancient plant called Williamsonia sewardi. He also found a new kind of petrified wood (wood turned into stone) from the Jurassic age, which looked like wood from modern flowering plants.
Birbal Sahni gathered many dedicated students around him. He made Lucknow University a top place for plant and fossil plant research in India. He also stayed in touch with scientists all over the world.
He founded The Paleobotanical Society, which then started the Institute of Palaeobotany on September 10, 1946. This institute first operated from Lucknow University. In 1949, it moved to its own building. On April 3, 1949, India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, laid the foundation stone for the new building. Sadly, just a week later, on April 10, 1949, Birbal Sahni passed away from a heart attack.
What Birbal Sahni Discovered
Birbal Sahni studied both living and fossil plants. He looked at how plants evolved and where different types of plants grew. He was great at using his observations to form new ideas and theories.
For example, when he examined ancient wood from the Harappa civilization, he noticed it was from conifer trees. This led him to believe that the people of Harappa traded with people in the mountains, where conifers grow.
He also found foreign pollen inside the ovules of living Ginkgo biloba trees. This made him think about how difficult it can be to figure out which fossil pollen belongs to which ancient plant. Sahni was one of the first to suggest a separate group for certain conifer trees like Taxus.
He also studied the fossil plants found in the Deccan Intertrappean beds in India. Based on the types of plants and their locations, he even tried to estimate how fast the Himalayas were rising!
Birbal Sahni's work inspired his younger brother, M.R. Sahni, and his nephew, Ashok Sahni, to also become palaeontologists.
Other Interests and Hobbies
Birbal Sahni was a person with many talents! He loved music and could play both the sitar and the violin. He also enjoyed making things with clay, playing chess, and tennis. When he was studying at Oxford, he played tennis for the Indian student group.
Besides science, he was interested in photography, archaeology, and numismatics (the study of coins). In 1936, he looked at some very old coins and molds from 100 BC found at a dig site. He wrote about how these ancient coins might have been made. This collection is now in the National Museum in New Delhi.
His nieces and nephews loved him and called him tamashewala uncle (the entertaining uncle) because he would amuse them with a monkey hand-puppet named Gippy.
Recognition and Awards
Birbal Sahni received many honors for his research in India and around the world.
- In 1936, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London (FRS). This is one of the highest scientific honors in Britain, and he was the first Indian botanist to receive it.
- He was Vice-President of the Palaeobotany section at the International Botanical Congresses in 1930 and 1935.
- He served as the General President of the Indian Science Congress in 1940.
- He was President of the National Academy of Sciences, India from 1937–1939 and again from 1943–1944.
- In 1948, he became an Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
- He was also elected an Honorary President of the International Botanical Congress in Stockholm in 1950.
- For his work on ancient coins, he received the Nelson Wright Medal in 1945.
After India gained independence in 1947, the Minister of Education, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, offered Birbal Sahni the important job of Secretary to the Ministry of Education. He accepted this role, though he was a bit hesitant.
To remember his great work, the Birbal Sahni Gold Medal is given to students of botany. There is also a bust (a sculpture of his head and shoulders) of Sahni at the Geological Survey of India in Calcutta.
Images for kids
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Bust of Birbal Sahni at Birla Industrial & Technological Museum
