https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Satish_Chandra_MaheshwariSatish Chandra Maheshwari - Revision history2026-10-21T15:00:47ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=Satish_Chandra_Maheshwari&diff=533459&oldid=previmported>HAUDesiree: created new details v12026-02-11T07:12:42Z<p>created new details v1</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Indian botanist (1933–2019)}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2018}}<br />
{{Use Indian English|date=December 2018}}<br />
{{Infobox scientist<br />
| name = Satish Chandra Maheshwari<br />
| image =<br />
| alt = <br />
| caption = <br />
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1933|10|4}}<br />
| birth_place = [[Jaipur]], [[Rajasthan]], India<br />
| death_date = 12 June 2019<br />
| death_place = [[Jaipur]], [[Rajasthan]], India<br />
| fields = {{ublist | Plant physiology | Biochemistry | Plant Molecular biology}}<br />
| workplaces = {{ublist | [[St. Stephen's College, Delhi]] | [[California Institute of Technology]] | [[Oxford University]] | [[Harvard University|Harvard Biological Laboratories]] | [[Jaipur National University]] }}<br />
| alma_mater = {{ublist | [[University of Delhi]] | [[Yale University]] }}<br />
| doctoral_advisor = B. M. Johri<br />
| doctoral_students = <br />
| known_for = Plant molecular biology<br />
| awards = 1972&nbsp;[[Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize]]<br>J. C. Bose Gold Medal<br>[[Indian Botanical Society|IBS]] Birbal Sahni Gold Medal<br>Goyal Award <br />
}}<br />
'''Satish Chandra Maheshwari''' (4 October 1933 – 12 June 2019) was an Indian botanist and a former professor at the [[University of Delhi]].<ref name="Brief Profile of the Awardee">{{cite web | url=http://ssbprize.gov.in/content/Detail.aspx?AID=174 | title=Brief Profile of the Awardee | publisher=Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize | date=2016 | accessdate=15 September 2016}}</ref> He is known for his contributions to the fields of plant physiology and plant molecular biology. Maheshwari is an elected fellow of the [[Indian Academy of Sciences]],<ref name="IAS Fellows - S. C. Maheswari">{{cite web | url=http://www.ias.ac.in/describe/fellow/Maheshwari,_Prof._Satish_Chandra | title=IAS Fellows - S. C. Maheswari | publisher=Indian Academy of Sciences | date=2016 | accessdate=16 September 2016}}</ref> the [[Indian National Science Academy]]<ref name="Indian fellow - S. C. Maheshwari">{{cite web | url=http://insaindia.res.in/detail.php?id=N78-0425 | title=Indian fellow - S. C. Maheshwari | publisher=Indian National Science Academy | date=2016 | accessdate=16 September 2016}}</ref> and the [[National Academy of Sciences, India]].<ref name="NASI Fellows - S. C. Maheswari">{{cite web | url=http://www.nasi.org.in/fellows.asp?RsFilter=M | title=NASI Fellows - S. C. Maheswari | publisher=National Academy of Sciences, India | date=2016 | accessdate=16 September 2016}}</ref> The [[Council of Scientific and Industrial Research]], the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the [[Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology]], one of the highest Indian science awards, in 1972, for his contributions to biological sciences.<ref name="View Bhatnagar Awardees">{{cite web | url=http://ssbprize.gov.in/Content/AwardeeList.aspx | title=View Bhatnagar Awardees | publisher=Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize | date=2016 | accessdate=4 September 2016}}</ref> He died from lung cancer on June 12, 2019.{{citation needed|date=June 2019}}<br />
<br />
== Biography ==<br />
S. C. Maheshwari, born on 4 October 1933 in [[Jaipur]] in the Indian state of [[Rajasthan]], did his schooling in Jaipur and, later, in [[Dacca]] (in the present day Bangladesh).<ref name="PUROHIT2012">{{cite book|author=SUNIL D. PUROHIT|title=INTRODUCTION TO PLANT CELL TISSUE AND ORGAN CULTURE|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TjKe8ahRDhcC&pg=PA12|date=30 October 2012|publisher=PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd.|isbn=978-81-203-4677-2|pages=12–}}</ref> He moved to India along with his family after the Indian independence in 1947 and graduated in botany (hons) from [[St. Stephen's College, Delhi|St. Stephen's College]] of the [[University of Delhi]] after which he secured his master's (MSc) and doctoral (PhD) degrees from the same university.<ref name="Indian fellow - S. C. Maheshwari" /> Maheshwari's post-doctoral research was on the [[embryology]] of [[duckweeds]] under B. M. Johri and he started his career at his alma mater as a member of the faculty of science in 1954. After 4 years of service, Maheshwari obtained a [[Smith–Mundt Act|Fulbright Smith Mundt Fellowship]] in 1959 and traveled to the US to where he continued his research at [[Yale University]] and [[California Institute of Technology]]. Returning to India, he resumed his career at Delhi University and served as a professor there as well as at [[Jaipur National University]] till his superannuation from service. In between, Maheshwari worked as a visiting scientist at [[Oxford University]], as a ''Homi Bhabha Fellow'' at [[Harvard University|Harvard Biological Laboratories]], USA during 1973–74,<ref name="List of Homi Bhabha Fellows">{{cite web | url=http://homibhabhafellowships.com/HomiBhabhaFellowsList.aspx | title=List of Homi Bhabha Fellows | publisher=Homi Bhabha Fellowships Council | date=2016 | accessdate=17 September 2016}}</ref> as a visiting professor at [[Yale University]] during 1981–82<ref name="Indian fellow - S. C. Maheshwari" /> and as a guest scientist at the [[International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology]].<ref name="PUROHIT2012" /><br />
<br />
== Legacy ==<br />
One of the first significant contributions of Maheswari was the discovery of ''[[RNA polymerase]] activity in [[chloroplasts]]'' which he accomplished during his early stint at California Institute of Technology while working with Robert S. Bandurski and their researches revealed the presence of [[DNA]] in [[organelle]].<ref name="Indian fellow - S. C. Maheshwari" /> In 1966, he, along with Sipra Guha Mukherjee, developed a new high-speed culture technique for producing [[homozygous]] pure lines of [[haploid]] plants which is now in practice for crop improvement and for commercial production of horticultural and ornamental plants.<ref name="PUROHIT2012" /><ref name="Handbook of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize Winners">{{cite web | url=http://www.csirhrdg.res.in/ssb.pdf | title=Handbook of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize Winners | publisher=Council of Scientific and Industrial Research | date=1999 | accessdate=15 September 2016 | pages=29}}</ref> Maheshwari's researches on plant [[growth hormones]] returned new protocols for the isolation of [[cytokinins]] and [[gibberellins]] and elucidated the function of [[salicylic acid]] during the flowering period. His work assisted in genetic engineering of plants and in the [[phytochrome]] control of [[plant metabolism]].<br />
<br />
Maheswari is the founder of the Department of Plant Molecular Biology at [[Delhi University]], the first such department in India, where he established a unit for Plant Cell and Molecular Biology, another first in the country.<ref name="PUROHIT2012" /> Here, he is known to have led a group of scientists in the field of [[photobiology]] and in researches on rice chromosomes and their [[DNA sequencing]].<ref name="Indian fellow - S. C. Maheshwari" /> Maheshwari's researches have been detailed in over 200 articles and in a book, ''Signal Transduction in Plants: Current Advances'', co-edited with Sudhir Kumar Sopory and Ralf Oelmüller.<ref name="SoporyOelmüller2012">{{cite book|author1=S.K. Sopory|author2=Ralf Oelmüller|author3=S.C. Maheswari|title=Signal Transduction in Plants: Current Advances|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FUzhBwAAQBAJ|date=6 December 2012|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-1-4615-1365-0}}</ref> He has mentored 30 scholars in their MPhil, doctoral and post-doctoral researches and Sipra Guha Mukherjee (1938–2007), noted biologist, was one among them.<ref name="Sipra Guha Mukherjee - An Inspiration to Many Indian Women Botanists">{{cite web | url=http://www.indianbotanists.com/2014/03/sipra-guha-mukherjee-inspiration-to.html | title=Sipra Guha Mukherjee - An Inspiration to Many Indian Women Botanists | publisher=Indian Botanists | date=8 March 2014 | accessdate=17 September 2016}}</ref>{{Refn|group=note|Sipra Guha Mukherjee was his associate in researches on haploid development.}}<br />
<br />
== Awards and honors ==<br />
Maheswari was awarded the [[Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize]], one of the highest Indian science awards, by the [[Council of Scientific and Industrial Research]] in 1972.<ref name="Brief Profile of the Awardee" /> He also received several other honors including the Goyal Prize, J. C. Bose Gold Medal and Birbal Sahni Gold Medal of the [[Indian Botanical Society]].<ref name="Indian fellow - S. C. Maheshwari" /> A Homi Bhaba Fellow,<ref name="Homi Bhaba Fellow">{{cite web | url=http://homibhabhafellowships.com/HomiBhabhaFellow.aspx?id=12 | title=Homi Bhaba Fellow | publisher=Homi Bhaba Fellowship Council | date=2016 | accessdate=17 September 2016}}</ref> Maheshwari was elected as a fellow by the [[Indian Academy of Sciences]] in 1975 and three years later, [[Indian National Science Academy]] also elected him as their fellow.<ref name="IAS Fellows - S. C. Maheswari"/> He is also an elected fellow of the [[National Academy of Sciences, India]] (1979).<ref name="NASI Fellows - S. C. Maheswari"/> Maheshwari's project, ''Survey and Synthesis the information in the area of molecular Biology of Plant Development and Differentiation'', was selected for the [[Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship]] in 1981<ref name="List of Jawaharlal Nehru Fellows">{{cite web | url=http://www.jnmf.in/flist.html | title=List of Jawaharlal Nehru Fellows | publisher=Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund | date=2016 | accessdate=17 September 2016}}</ref> and the [[University of Hyderabad]] awarded him the Doctor of Science degree ([[honoris causa]]) in 2013.<ref name="Tales of grit lent meaning to the occasion">{{cite web | url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/tales-of-grit-lent-meaning-to-the-occasion/article5190619.ece | title=Tales of grit lent meaning to the occasion | newspaper=The Hindu | date=1 October 2013 | accessdate=17 September 2016}}</ref><br />
<br />
== Selected bibliography ==<br />
* {{cite journal | url=http://www.iisc.ernet.in/currsci/jan252001/252.pdf | title=Genomics, DNA chips and a revolution in plant biology |author1=S. C. Maheshwari |author2=Nirmala Maheshwari |author3=S. K. Sopory | journal=Current Science | date=January 2001 | volume=80 | issue=2}}<br />
* {{cite journal | url=http://www.currentscience.ac.in/Downloads/article_id_093_12_1868_1869_0.pdf | title=Sipra Guha Mukherjee (1938–2007) | author=S. C. Maheswari | journal=Current Science | date=December 2007 | volume=93 | issue=12}}<br />
* {{cite book|author1=S.K. Sopory|author2=Ralf Oelmüller|author3=S.C. Maheswari|title=Signal Transduction in Plants: Current Advances|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FUzhBwAAQBAJ|date=6 December 2012|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-1-4615-1365-0}}<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}<br />
* [[RNA polymerase]]<br />
* [[Haploidy]]<br />
* [[Cytokinins]]<br />
* [[Gibberellins]]<br />
* [[List of alumni of St. Stephen's College, Delhi]]<br />
* [[List of University of Delhi people]]<br />
{{div col end}}<br />
{{Portal|India|Biology}}<br />
<br />
== Notes ==<br />
{{Reflist|group=note}}<br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
<br />
== External links ==<br />
* {{cite web | url=http://uohherald.commuoh.in/tag/professor-satish-chandra-maheshwari/ | title=Renowned academicians to be conferred Honorary Doctorate | publisher=University of Hyderabad Herald | date=28 September 2013 | accessdate=17 September 2016 | author=Arun Kumar}}<br />
<br />
{{SSBPST recipients in Biological Science}}<br />
{{Authority control}}<br />
<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maheshwari, Satish Chandra}}<br />
[[Category:Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Biological Science]]<br />
[[Category:1933 births]]<br />
[[Category:Delhi University alumni]]<br />
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Oxford]]<br />
[[Category:Yale University alumni]]<br />
[[Category:California Institute of Technology alumni]]<br />
[[Category:Academic staff of Delhi University]]<br />
[[Category:California Institute of Technology faculty]]<br />
[[Category:Indian molecular biologists]]<br />
[[Category:Plant physiologists]]<br />
[[Category:Fellows of the National Academy of Sciences, India]]<br />
[[Category:Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences]]<br />
[[Category:Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy]]<br />
[[Category:2019 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:Scientists from Jaipur]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian botanists]]<br />
[[Category:Homi Bhabha Fellows]]</div>imported>HAUDesiree