https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Veronica_RodriguesVeronica Rodrigues - Revision history2026-10-21T21:52:39ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=Veronica_Rodrigues&diff=544169&oldid=prevShivam: Made page2026-01-28T06:21:57Z<p>Made page</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{short description|Kenyan-born Indian biologist}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2018}}<br />
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2018}}<br />
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{{Infobox scientist<br />
| name = Veronica Rodrigues<br />
| image =<br />
| fields = [[developmental biology]], [[genetics]], [[neuroscience]]<br />
| website = https://www.ncbs.res.in/former-faculty/veronica<br />
| doctoral_advisor = [[Obaid Siddiqi]]<br />
| birth_date = 1953<br />
| birth_place = [[Nairobi]], Kenya<br />
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2010|11|10|1953|df=yes}}<br />
| alma_mater = {{Plainlist|<br />
*[[Trinity College Dublin]]<br />
*[[Tata Institute of Fundamental Research]]<br />
}}<br />
| workplaces = {{Plainlist|<br />
*[[Tata Institute of Fundamental Research]], Mumbai<br />
*[[National Centre for Biological Sciences]], Bengaluru<br />
}}<br />
}}<br />
<br />
'''Veronica Filomena Rodrigues''' (1953–2010) was a Kenyan-born Indian biologist. Veronica completed a B.A with honors in Microbiology from [[Trinity College Dublin]]. After being inspired by the work of [[Obaid Siddiqi]] and his co-workers, she moved to India to pursue her Ph.D.<ref name="ncbs_news">{{Cite web |url=http://news.ncbs.res.in/story/veronica-rodrigues-1953-2010 |title=Veronica Rodrigues 1953-201 |last1=VijayRaghavan |first1=K |author1-link=K. VijayRaghavan |website=[[National Centre for Biological Sciences]] |access-date=2019-03-04}}</ref> While doing her PhD, considering her exceptional work, she was offered a permanent faculty position at TIFR.<ref name="science_obit">{{Cite journal |url=https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.1200787 |title=Obituary of Veronica Rodrigues 1953-2010 |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |date=10 December 2010 |volume=330 |issue=6010 |pages=1493 |doi=10.1126/science.1200787 |access-date=2019-03-02 |last1=VijayRaghavan |first1=K |author1-link=K. VijayRaghavan |last2=Bate |first2=Michael |pmid=21148383 |s2cid=29823699|url-access=subscription }}</ref> She also served as a senior professor at the [[National Centre for Biological Sciences]], Bangalore. In 2004 she received the Senior National Woman Bioscientist Award.<ref name="ias.ac.in">{{cite web |url=http://www.ias.ac.in/womeninscience/DBT_yng_04.html |title=Women in Science |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111009094252/https://www.ias.ac.in/womeninscience/DBT_yng_04.html |archive-date=2011-10-09 |url-status=unfit |website=[[Indian Academy of Sciences]]}}</ref> She died in 2010 after suffering from breast cancer for five years.<ref name="ncbs_news" /><br />
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== Life ==<br />
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=== Early life ===<br />
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Veronica was born in a Goan immigrant family living in [[Nairobi]], [[Kenya]] in 1953. She completed her school education in Nairobi and then entered [[Makerere University]] in [[Kampala]] for higher education but due to turmoil in the region moved to [[Trinity College Dublin]].<ref name="science_obit" /><br />
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=== Education and career ===<br />
Veronica had to leave Makerere University in Uganda owing to turmoil in the country. She eventually ended up getting a scholarship to study at Trinity College Dublin. She obtained a B.A. with Honours in Microbiology in 1976. She moved to India to pursue her PhD from [[Tata Institute of Fundamental Research]] (TIFR), Mumbai in 1977 under the supervision of Dr [[Obaid Siddiqi]].<ref name="ncbs_news" /> Veronica describes why she decided to come to TIFR for her PhD:<br />
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{{Blockquote<br />
|text=In our microbiology course at Trinity we were taught the paper of Sarathy and Siddiqi in J. Molecular Biology on bacterial recombination. I was really impressed by the elegance of the paper.... Before reading the paper, I had never heard of TIFR, nor did I seriously think of returning to India. Actually, I didn’t even think there was much science going on in India. I actually thought the PI was Sarathy and wrote to him. I was very impressed by the ‘Indians’ when I got a letter from Siddiqi, fairly promptly and the letter seemed positive. I remember talking to my teachers and friends in Ireland and we were very impressed that my admission could be discussed as Prof Siddiqi said (among his colleagues) with no red tape and necessity for interview etc. It was this flexibility that once existed in TIFR that made it a special place...<br />
}}<br />
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She completed her PhD in 1981 and then went on to obtain post-doctoral training from [[Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics]], Tuebingen, Germany.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.tifr.res.in/~dbs/faculty/vrlab/pi.html|title=Veronica Rodrigues|website=[[Tata Institute of Fundamental Research|TIFR]] |access-date=2019-03-04}}</ref> where she pioneered the study of coding of olfactory information in the brain.<ref name="ncbs_news" /><br />
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After her post-doc, she came back and worked for the [[Tata Institute of Fundamental Research]] (TIFR) <ref name="ias.ac.in" /> and subsequently became a fellow of the [[Indian National Science Academy]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://insaindia.res.in/detail/P03-1343 |title=INSA:Deceased Fellow Detail |website=[[Indian National Science Academy]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200226092531/http://insaindia.res.in/detail/P03-1343 |archive-date=2020-02-26}} </ref> With her experience in neurobiology and behavior alongside her expertise in genetics and development she brought together a group of influential and intellectual researchers to create an olfactory circuitry. This group pioneered the research into chemosensory biology. The field still heavily relies on her standard behavioral and electrophysiological assays to measure adult and larval responses to gustatory and olfactory cues. With the development of new genetic and molecular tools to study the neural circuitry underlying behavior patterns, these assays have seen a major resurgence.<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1200787 | doi=10.1126/science.1200787 | title=Veronica Rodrigues (1953–2010) | date=2010 | last1=Vijayraghavan | first1=K. | last2=Bate | first2=Michael | journal=Science | volume=330 | issue=6010 | page=1493 | pmid=21148383 | bibcode=2010Sci...330.1493V | url-access=subscription }}</ref><br />
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She also assumed many leadership roles in her career — first at the Department of Biological Sciences (earlier the Molecular Biology Unit) at TIFR and later, she became the Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences in TIFR Mumbai. Veronica frequently worked with pupils who had no prior knowledge of experimental biology. These inexperienced interns under her guidance developed into mature, self-assured researchers who went out to join the global network of scientists who started their careers in the Rodrigues lab. Her contribution in fostering the importance of science among youth is not only limited to the city of Mumbai. Through her leadership and tutoring skills, she also ran a biennial course in neurobiology at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste. This course made a significant impact on the next generation of people, especially from Africa. <ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1200787 | doi=10.1126/science.1200787 | title=Veronica Rodrigues (1953–2010) | date=2010 | last1=Vijayraghavan | first1=K. | last2=Bate | first2=Michael | journal=Science | volume=330 | issue=6010 | page=1493 | pmid=21148383 | bibcode=2010Sci...330.1493V | url-access=subscription }}</ref><br />
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=== Personal life ===<br />
When Veronica moved to India for work, she was not an Indian citizen. She applied for Indian citizenship but only got it with much effort and difficulty twenty years after having moved to the country.<ref name="ncbs_news" /><br />
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== Causes ==<br />
She was passionate about gender equality in the world of sciences. In 1990, she wrote a letter to then Dean Dr R Vijayaraghavan against the usage of titles for women scientists including 'Smt', 'Kum', or 'Ms'. She emphasized that until usage of 'Shri' and 'Kum' for male scientists became a norm, usage of similar titles for women scientists was unnecessary and unacceptable.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://twitter.com/Archives_NCBS/status/1094605734535356416 |title=Veronica Rodrigues' letter to the Dean at #TIFR, where she protests against the {{sic|assymetric|nolink=y}} use of personal titles for #WomenScientists in official correspondence. #GenderNeutrality #WomenInScience #Archives_Ncbs (ID: NI001-2-2-1-9) pic.twitter.com/NnECsoc12C |last=Rodrigues |first=Veronica |date=10 February 2019 |orig-year=Letter dated 11 February 1990 |publisher=Archives_NCBS |access-date=7 March 2019 |via=Twitter}}</ref><br />
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== References ==<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodrigues, Veronica}}<br />
[[Category:1953 births]]<br />
[[Category:Indian geneticists]]<br />
[[Category:Indian women biologists]]<br />
[[Category:Kenyan biologists]]<br />
[[Category:2010 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:Women geneticists]]<br />
[[Category:Scientists from Bengaluru]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian biologists]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian women]]</div>Shivam