#phytogeography

Janaki Ammal (1897-1984)

Born in Tellichery (now Thalassery) in the state of Kerala, India, Janaki Ammal was one of 12 children born to her parents. Though her family encouraged girls to study fine arts, Ammal decided to study botany instead. She obtained a bachelor’s degree from Queen Mary’s College in Madras and got further education in botany at Presidency College, graduating in 1921. She traveled to the United States as a Barbour Scholar and got her master’s degree from the University of Michigan in 1925.

Ammal researched at various institutions in India, the United States, and the United Kingdom. She was in England from 1939-1950, during the time it was being bombed by Germany. While in England, she worked on chromosomes and ploidy in plants. In 1935, Ammal was elected a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, and in 1957 she entered the Indian National Science Academy. In 1999, the E.K. Janaki Ammal National Award for Taxonomy was instituted in her honor.