Balchandra Bhavanishankar Mundkur (26 June 1896 — 13 December 1952) was an Indian mycologist and plant pathologist. He worked at the

Indian Agricultural Research Institute The Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), commonly known as the Pusa Institute, is India's national institute for agricultural research, education and extension. The name Pusa Institute is derived from the fact that the institute was or ...

and later as a professor of botany at the University of Poona. Balchandra Mundkur, the surname being

toponymic Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a p ...

, was born in the village of

Mundkur Mundkur is a village in Karkala Taluk, Udupi district, Karnataka, India. The Durga Parameshwari temple located here was built circa 9th century AD. Deities The prime deity is Sri Durgaparameshwari in the form of Mahishamardini Durga ...

. After finishing high school in 1915 he joined

St. Aloysius College, Mangalore St Aloysius College is a private, coeducational, Jesuit college located in Mangaluru, Karnataka, India. With a 2016–2017 enrollment of 4183 undergraduate students and 1532 postgraduate students and 69 research scholars, the college specialize ...

and then went to Presidency College, Madras where he graduated with a BA in botany. He then joined as an agricultural officer in Bengal and from 1922 to 1928 as a mycologist at the cotton research scheme in Dharwad studying cotton wilt. He went to Iowa State University and obtained a PhD in 1930 after which he joined the Indian Agricultural Research Institute. In 1947 he founded the Indian Phytopathological Society. He published ''Fungi and Plant Diseases'' in 1949 and a monograph on the ''Ustilaginales of India'' in 1952 apart from research papers. He was elected Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy in 1946. A smut genus '' Mundkurella'' was named after him by M.J. Thirumalachar.Indian National Science Academy. Biographies of Fellows.
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References

External links

Indian Phytopathological Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mundkur, B.B. Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy 1896 births 1952 deaths