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{{Use Indian English|date=May 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = T. R. Seshadri [[Indian National Science Academy|FNA]], [[Royal Society|FRS]]
| image =
| caption =
| birth_name = Thiruvenkata Rajendra Seshadri
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1900|02|03|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Kulithalai]], [[Tiruchirappalli District]], [[Madras Presidency]], [[British Raj|British India]] (now in [[Karur District]], [[Tamil Nadu]], India)
| death_date = {{death date and age|1975|09|27|1900|02|03|df=y}}
| death_place = [[New Delhi]], India
| resting_place =
| nationality = [[India]]n
| fields = [[Organic chemistry]] [[Pharmacology]]
| workplaces = [[University of Madras]] [[Victoria University of Manchester]] [[University of Graz]] [[University of Edinburgh]] Agricultural College and Research Institute, Coimbatore (now [[Tamil Nadu Agricultural University]]) [[Andhra University]] [[University of Delhi]]
| alma_mater = [[Presidency College, Madras]]
| doctoral_advisor = [[Robert Robinson (organic chemist)|Robert Robinson]]
| academic_advisors =
|doctoral_students =
| notable_students =
| known_for = Work on Indian pharmacology, oxygen [[heterocyclic compounds]]
| influences =
| influenced =
| spouse =
| awards = {{Plainlist|
* [[Indian National Science Academy|INSA]] Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Medal
* [[Indian National Science Academy|INSA]] Meghnad Saha Medal
* [[Indian Chemical Society|ICS]] Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray Medal
* [[Indian Chemical Society|ICS]] Acharya Jnanendra Ghosh Medal
* Fellow of the [[Indian National Science Academy]] (FNA) (1942)
* [[Royal Society|Fellow of the Royal Society]] (FRS) (1960)
* [[Padma Bhushan]] (1963)
* President of the [[Indian National Science Academy]] (1967-68)}}
| footnotes =
| signature =
}}

'''Thiruvengadam Rajendram Seshadri''' [[Indian National Science Academy|FNA]], [[Royal Society|FRS]] was an Indian chemist, academic, writer and the Head of the Department of Chemistry at the [[University of Delhi]], known for his researches on the Indian medicinal and other plants.<ref name="Thiruvenkata Rajendra Seshadri">{{cite journal | title=Thiruvenkata Rajendra Seshadri | author=Wilson Baker, S. Rangaswami | journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society | date=November 1979 | volume=25 | pages=504–533 | doi=10.1098/rsbm.1979.0018| doi-access=free }}</ref> He was a Fellow of the [[Royal Society]], UK and an elected member of the [[German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina]].<ref name="Member - German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina">{{cite web | url=http://www.leopoldina.org/de/mitglieder/mitgliederverzeichnis/member/5213/ | title=Member - German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina | publisher=German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina | date=2016 | access-date=11 March 2016}}</ref> Besides several articles, he also published two books, '' Chemistry of Vitamins and Hormones''<ref name="Chemistry of Vitamins and Hormones">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=woQZAAAAIAAJ | title=Chemistry of Vitamins and Hormones | publisher=Andhra University | author=Srinivasa Rangaswami, Tiruvenkata Rajendra Seshadri | year=1952 | pages=467 | oclc=14654195}}</ref> and ''Advancement of Scientific and Religious Culture in India''.<ref name="Advancement of scientific and religious culture in India">{{cite book | title=Advancement of scientific and religious culture in India | publisher=Andhra University Press | author=T. R. Seshadri | year=1971 | asin=B0017XMAPW|oclc = 1582447}}</ref> The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of the [[Padma Bhushan]], in 1963, for his contributions to Science.<ref name="Padma Awards">{{cite web | url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf | title=Padma Awards | publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India | date=2016 | access-date=3 January 2016}}</ref>

== Biography ==
{{quotebox|align = left|width=21em|''Money and materials alone do not secure good research, they are only adjuncts and it is the human element behind them that matters,'' said T. R. Seshadri.<ref name="T. R. Seshadri on Bright Sparks Watermarks" />}}
Seshadri was born on 3 February 1900 at [[Kulithalai]], an ancient village with history dating back to the [[Medieval Cholas|Cholas]] of the 9th century CE, in the present-day [[Karur district]] of the south Indian state of [[Tamil Nadu]], in a [[Brahmins|Brahmin family]], to Namagiri Ammal and Thiruvengadatha Iyengar, a school teacher, as the third of their five sons.<ref name="Thiruvenkata Rajendra Seshadri" /> After his primary schooling at the local school in his village, he did his high school studies at the [[Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangam|temple town]] of [[Srirangam]] as well as at the National College Higher Secondary School, [[Tiruchirappalli]] and joined [[Presidency College, Chennai|Presidency College, Madras]] in 1917 for his graduate studies (BSc honours) which was completed in 1920 with financial assistance from the [[Ramakrishna Mission]]. After graduation, he worked with the Mission for a year, but continued his studies at Presidency College for his master's degree and thereafter, for research under the renowned chemist, Biman Bihari Dey, during which period he won two research awards, the Curzon Prize and the [[William Wedderburn]] Prize, from the [[University of Madras]].<ref name="T. R. Seshadri on Bright Sparks Watermarks">{{cite web | url=http://www.arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgupta/bs20trseshadri.pdf | title=T. R. Seshadri on Bright Sparks Watermarks | publisher=Bright Sparks Watermarks | date=2016 | access-date=11 March 2016}}</ref> He secured a scholarship from the state government in 1927 for higher studies at [[University of Manchester]] where he did his doctoral research under the guidance of the renowned British chemist and [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Nobel Laureate]], [[Robert Robinson (organic chemist)|Robert Robinson]], to secure a PhD in 1929.<ref name="Always a scientist">{{cite web | url=http://www.thehindu.com/seta/2003/01/30/stories/2003013000060300.htm | title=Always a scientist | date=30 January 2003 | newspaper=[[The Hindu]] | access-date=11 March 2016}}{{dead link|date=April 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> He was a colleague of [[K. Venkataraman]]. His researches at Manchester were focused on the development of [[anti-malarial drug]]s and synthesis of compounds.<ref name="T. R. Seshadri on Bright Sparks Watermarks" /> Before returning to India in 1930, he had short training stints in Austria on organic [[microanalysis]] with [[Fritz Pregl]], a Nobel laureate, and in Edinburgh on ''[[alkaloid]] Retrorsine'' with [[George Barger]], a [[Royal Society]] fellow.<ref name=" A life devoted to Science: T R Seshadri">{{cite journal | url=http://www.chemistry.iitd.ac.in/chemcos/issue-II/personalities.htm | title=A life devoted to Science: T R Seshadri | author=N Rangarajan | journal=Chemcos, the Journal of the Chemical Society, IIT Delhi | date=July 2008 | issue=II}}</ref>

Back in India, he continued his work on plant chemistry as a research scholar of the [[University of Madras]] at Government College of Agriculture, [[Coimbatore]] where he stayed for four years.<ref name=" A life devoted to Science: T R Seshadri" /> In 1934, he joined [[Andhra University]], [[Waltair]], as the Redaer and Head of the Department of Chemistry and served the university for 15 years.<ref name="T. R. Seshadri on Bright Sparks Watermarks" /> During his tenure there, he set up several laboratories and a research school on [[flavanoids]], while continuing his own researches. He also established two new departments in the university, viz. ''Department of Chemical Technology'' and ''Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry''.<ref name="T. R. Seshadri on Bright Sparks Watermarks" /> The onset of [[World War II]] in 1941 affected his work as the chemicals were short in supply and the department of chemistry at the university was taken over by the British Army, which forced him to move first to [[Guntur]] in 1942 and then to [[Madras Presidency|Madras]] in 1943. It was only in 1946, after the war ended, he could return to Waltair, when the laboratories, which suffered damages during the war, were rebuilt.<ref name="T. R. Seshadri on Bright Sparks Watermarks" />

After the [[Partition of India|Indian independence]], [[Maurice Gwyer]], the then vice chancellor of the [[University of Delhi]], a former [[Chief Justice of India]] and the founder of [[Miranda House, University of Delhi|Miranda House]], invited Seshadri to join the Delhi University as the Head of the Department of Chemistry in 1949.<ref name="T. R. Seshadri on Bright Sparks Watermarks" /> Accepting the offer, he established a new research school there where researches were primarily focused on natural products, such as [[terpenoids]], [[alkaloids]] and quinonoids.<ref name=" A life devoted to Science: T R Seshadri" /> The school is known to have attracted research students from India and abroad where he guided a research team, composed of post-doctoral research scholars from England, France and Germany, besides India. He worked at the university till his superannuation in 1965, upon which he was made the first Professor Emeritus of the university.<ref name="Always a scientist" /> In between, he was offered the post of the Chairman of the [[University Grants Commission (India)|University Grants Commission]] but he did not accept it. He served as Provost of the [[Jubilee Hall, University of Delhi]] from 1952 to 1956. He continued his researches for seven more years, till 1972, when ill health, among other issues such as stoppage of research grants, forced an end to his active career.<ref name="T. R. Seshadri on Bright Sparks Watermarks" /> He lived for three more years, mostly battling ill health, reportedly in poverty, and died, at the age of 75, on 27 September 1975.<ref name="Always a scientist" /> The story of life has been published by ''Resonance'', a journal of the [[Indian Academy of Sciences]], under the title, ''Professor T R Seshadri — An Acharaya par excellence''.<ref name="Professor T R Seshadri — An Acharaya par excellence">{{cite journal | title=Professor T R Seshadri — An Acharaya par excellence | author=N. R. Krishnaswamy | journal=Resonance | date=February 2004 | volume=9 | issue=2 | pages=3–5 | doi=10.1007/BF02834954| s2cid=122829951 }}</ref>

== Legacy ==
Some of the notable contributions of Seshadri are on the academic administration front. As the head of the Chemistry department at Andhra University, he was instrumental in the establishment of several laboratories, two new departments and a research school. He founded another research school at [[Delhi University]] which soon became a centre of excellence in chemical research, under the name ''Centre for Advanced Study for the Chemistry of Natural Products'' where he served as the head from 1949 to 1975.<ref name="Deceased Fellow">{{cite web | url=http://insaindia.org.in/deceaseddetail.php?id=N420738 | title=Deceased Fellow | publisher=Indian National Science Academy | date=2016 | access-date=11 March 2016 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160813010654/http://insaindia.org.in/deceaseddetail.php?id=N420738 | archive-date=13 August 2016 | df=dmy-all }}</ref> He is credited with pioneering research on plant chemistry, primarily in oxygen [[heterocyclics]], and contributed to the isolation and structural elucidation of [[flavanoid]] pigments.<ref name="Deceased Fellow" /> His studies on ''aglucones'' and [[glucosides]] resulted in the development of a new method of [[methylation]] for the degradation study of the pigments. His researches also focused on demethylation, [[hydrogenation]], dehydrogenation, nuclear methylation, [[allylation]], [[prenylation]], among other topics.<ref name="Deceased Fellow" /> His researches and work experiences have been documented by way of over 1000 articles<ref name="T. R. Seshadri on Bright Sparks Watermarks" /><ref name="Seshadri on WorldCat">{{cite web | url=http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=au%3ASeshadri%2C+Tiruvenkata+Rajendra.&qt=hot_author | title=Seshadri on WorldCat | publisher=WorldCat | date=2016 | access-date=11 March 2016}}</ref> and two books, '' Chemistry of Vitamins and Hormones''<ref name="Chemistry of Vitamins and Hormones" /> and ''Advancement of Scientific and Religious Culture in India''.<ref name="Advancement of scientific and religious culture in India" /> He mentored 160 students in their doctoral studies and, on his retirement, donated all the books in his personal library to the Chemistry department of the Delhi University.<ref name="T. R. Seshadri on Bright Sparks Watermarks" />

Seshadri, who was a member of the scientific advisory committee to the Government of India and [[UNESCO]], served as an expert advisor to several government agencies such as the [[Council of Scientific and Industrial Research]], [[Indian Council of Medical Research]], [[Indian Council of Agricultural Research]] and [[Department of Atomic Energy]] and chaired many expert committees related to education, health and science.<ref name="T. R. Seshadri on Bright Sparks Watermarks" /> He was the president of the [[Indian National Science Academy]] (INSA) (1967–68) and the [[Indian Academy of Sciences]] (IAS)<ref name="Past Presidents of INSA">{{cite web | url=http://insaindia.org.in/index.php | title=Past Presidents of INSA | publisher=Indian National Science Academy | date=2016 | access-date=11 March 2016 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160520134555/http://insaindia.org.in/index.php | archive-date=20 May 2016 | df=dmy-all }}</ref> and was a member of the editorial boards of the ''Indian Journal of Chemistry'' and two international journals, [[Tetrahedron (journal)|Tetrahedron]] and [[Phytochemistry (journal)|Phytochemistry]].<ref name="T. R. Seshadri on Bright Sparks Watermarks" /> He also served as the president of organizations such as the [[Indian Chemical Society]], Indian Pharmaceutical Association, Oil Technology Association, the North India chapter of the [[Royal Institute of Chemistry]], London, Indian Pharmaceutical Congress and [[Indian Science Congress Association]] (1966–67).<ref name="Deceased Fellow" />

== Awards and honours ==
Seshadri received doctorates ([[honoris causa]]) from [[Andhra University]], [[Banaras Hindu University]], [[Osmania University]] and [[Delhi University]], honorary professorship from [[Andhra University]] and [[Osmania University]], and was a ''Cooch-Behar Professor'' of the [[Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science]] (IACS), [[Kolkata]].<ref name="Deceased Fellow" /> He delivered several award orations including ''H. K. Sen Lecture'' of the Institution of Chemists (India), ''B. C. Guha Lecture'' of the [[Indian Science Congress Association]], ''B. M. Singh Lecture'' of the [[Panjab University, Chandigarh|Panjab University]] and ''K. Venkataraman Lecture'' of the [[University of Mumbai]].<ref name="Deceased Fellow" /> The [[Indian National Science Academy]] elected him as their Fellow in 1942, which preceded elected fellowships from [[Indian Academy of Sciences]] in 1954<ref name="Deceased Fellows of Indian Academy of Sciences">{{cite web | url=http://www.ias.ac.in/listing/fellows/deceased | title=Deceased Fellows of Indian Academy of Sciences | publisher=Indian Academy of Sciences | date=2016 | access-date=11 March 2016}}</ref> and Royal Society, London in 1960.<ref name="Thiruvenkata Rajendra Seshadri" /> A year later, the [[German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina]] elected him as their member in 1961.<ref name="Member - German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina" /> The Government of India awarded him the civilian honour of the [[Padma Bhushan]] in 1963.<ref name="Padma Awards" /> He was also a recipient of ''Meghnad Saha Medal'' of the Indian National Science Academy and two awards from the [[Indian Chemical Society]] viz. ''Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray Medal'' and ''Acharya Gnanendra Ghosh Medal''.<ref name="Deceased Fellow" /> INSA has instituted ''Professor Tiruvenkata Rajendra Seshadri Seventieth Birthday Commemoration Medal''<ref name="Deceased Fellow" /> and [[Delhi University]] conducts ''Prof. T. R. Seshadri Memorial Lecture'', an annual oration, in his honour.<ref name="41st IUPAC Council Meeting">{{cite web | url=http://old.iupac.org/news/archives/2001/41st_council/bios/chandrasekaran.html | title=41st IUPAC Council Meeting | publisher=International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry | date=1 May 2001 | access-date=11 March 2016}}</ref>

== Bibliography ==
* {{cite book | title=Chemistry of Vitamins and Hormones | publisher=Andhra University | author=Srinivasa Rangaswami, Tiruvenkata Rajendra Seshadri | year=1952 | pages=467 | oclc=14654195}}
* {{cite book | title=Advancement of scientific and religious culture in India | publisher=Andhra University Press | author=T. R. Seshadri | year=1971 | asin=B0017XMAPW}}

== See also ==
* [[List of University of Delhi people]]
* [[Presidency College, Chennai]]
{{portal|India|Science}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite journal | title=Professor T R Seshadri — An Acharaya par excellence | author=N. R. Krishnaswamy | journal=Resonance | date=February 2004 | volume=9 | issue=2 | pages=3–5 | doi=10.1007/BF02834954| s2cid=122829951 }}

{{PadmaBhushanAwardRecipients 1960–69}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seshadari, T. R.}}
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in literature & education]]
[[Category:1900 births]]
[[Category:1975 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Karur district]]
[[Category:Scientists from Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Indian scientific authors]]
[[Category:Presidency College, Chennai alumni]]
[[Category:University of Madras alumni]]
[[Category:Alumni of the Victoria University of Manchester]]
[[Category:Andhra University faculty]]
[[Category:University of Delhi faculty]]
[[Category:Members of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina]]
[[Category:UNESCO officials]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy]]
[[Category:Banaras Hindu University people]]
[[Category:Osmania University faculty]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian chemists]]
[[Category:Indian officials of the United Nations]]

T. R. Seshadri - Revision history

->GreenC bot: Rescued 1 archive link; reformat 2 links. Wayback Medic 2.5