![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://uknews.evprotec.com/ek-janaki-ammal-the-nomad-flower-scientist-india-forgot/&media=https://uknews.evprotec.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/127541822_ekjanakiammal.jpg&description=Image source, Geeta DoctorImage caption, Janaki Ammal was a pioneering Indian scientistIn March, the magnolias begin blooming at Wisley.For the next few weeks, rows of pink flowers dot the small town in Surrey in the UK, beckoning passers-by to stop and smell them.Few know, however, that many of these blooms have Indian roots.They were planted by EK Janaki Ammal, a scientist who was born in the southern Indian state of Kerala in the 19th Century. In a career spanning almost 60 years, Janaki studied a wide range of flowering plants and reworked the scientific classification of several families of plants."Janaki was not just a cytogeneticist - she was a field biologist, a plant geographer, a palaeobotanist, an experimental breeder and an ethno-botanist and not in the least, an explorer," says Dr Savithri Preetha Nair, a historian who has researched the scientist's life for years. It's difficult, Dr Nair says, to name even one Indian male geneticist from the time who adopted such cross-disciplinary methodology in their research. "She talked about biodiversity as early as the 1930s."Janaki lived an inspiring life, but for decades, her work went largely unappreciated and her contribution to science was barely acknowledged.But this year - which also marks Janaki's 125th birth anniversary - Dr Nair hopes to change that with an in-depth biography. The book, titled Chromosome Woman, Nomad Scientist: E.K. Janaki Ammal, A Life 1897-1984, was released earlier in November and is the product of 16 years of research spread across three continents.It also marks, Dr Nair says, the beginning of "a grand project" of recovering stories about Indian women in science."Until now, published sources on women scientists have focused on Europe and North America," she says, adding that women from Asia and other regions "hardly figure anywhere". Image source, Janaki AmmalImage caption, Magnolia kobus 'Janaki Ammal' flower, named after the Indian botanistWhile Janaki's professional achievements){kind=link}
In March, the magnolias begin blooming at Wisley.
For the next few weeks, rows of pink flowers dot the small town in Surrey in the UK, beckoning passers-by to stop and smell them.
Few know, however, that many of these blooms have Indian roots.
They were planted by EK Janaki Ammal, a scientist who was born in the southern Indian state of Kerala in the 19th Century.
In a career spanning almost 60 years, Janaki studied a wide range of flowering plants and reworked the scientific classification of several families of plants.