Sahay Ram Bose ( bn, সহায়রাম বসু; 15 February 1888 – 1970) was an Indian

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

known for his pioneering work in the study of bracket

fungi A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from ...

and the discovery of

antibiotics An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria. It is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the treatment and prevention o ...

Polysporin and Campestrin. In a research career spanning more than half a century, Bose published 120 papers on various aspects of fungi in an array of academic journals across

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

. Bose is credited for pioneering work on

mycology Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their genetic and biochemical properties, their taxonomy and their use to humans, including as a source for tinder, traditional medicine, food, and entheogens, as ...

and the antibacterial properties of fungi.

Biography

Early years

Sahay Ram Bose was born on 15 February 1888.

Career

Bose was Professor of Botany in Bangabasi College in 1909, and Carmichael Medical College in 1916. In 1918 he went to Ceylon (now

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

) on a deputation to the Royal Botanical Gardens, Perudeniya for training in systematic of Bengal

Polyporaceae The Polyporaceae are a family of poroid fungi belonging to the Basidiomycota. The flesh of their fruit bodies varies from soft (as in the case of the dryad's saddle illustrated) to very tough. Most members of this family have their hymeniu ...

(bracket fungi) under the famous mycologist

Tom Petch Thomas Petch (born Hornsea, Yorkshire, 11 March 1870; died King's Lynn, Norfolk, 24 December 1948) was a prolific English mycologist and plant pathologist best remembered for his work on the interaction between fungi and insects. Biography ...

. Polyporaceae became the subject for his lifetime study. Bose published his findings in Polyporaceae of Bengal, a

monograph A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject. In library cataloging, ''monograph ...

in 11 parts with photo-prints, between 1918 and 1947. Bose's work on ‘Golgi Bodies’ in the basidia of ''Polypraceae'' attracted criticism from renowned Botanist J. B. Gatenby. The debate that ensued was covered in several issues of ‘'Nature'’ between 1927 and 1929. Ultimately Bose's views prevailed. Bose's paper on "the spore- forming bacterium on rice grains" in ''Lancet'' in May 1924 refuted the old "rice-toxin" theory of Knowles, Acton and Chopra. Bose's comments on the problem of wheat rust were published in issues of ‘'Nature'’ (1950) and ‘'Science’' (1953). He investigated luminous fungi and ant-hill fungi from termite nests. He proved with the help of P.W.Wilson of Wisconsin University that, contrary to prevailing view, ''Phoma casuarinae'' did not fix nitrogen directly from the air. Bose studied edible fungi in India and advised widely on their cultivation. One of the crowning achievements of Bose was his discovery of two

obtained from higher fungi, polyporin from ''Polistictus sanguineus'' and campestrin from ''Psalliota campestris,'' which were not concentrated. He studied the effects of radiation on some polypores in culture in 1938. Bose worked as a Director of Research under the C.N.R.S of the government of France from 1957 to 1959, for which he studied the movement of chemicals from the host trees with isotope P32 that induced the formation of bracket fungi on the tree. Bose built up over the years a

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (called ...

for bracket fungi by collections from different parts of the world. The herbarium, containing about 4000 specimens of ''Polyporaceae'', was entered in the list of World Herberia, Index Herbarium, Utrecht, Netherlands. It includes one specimen contributed by Emperor Hirohito of

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, who was an amateur Botanist. The herbarium is now housed in the Presidency College, now Presidency University, of which Bose is an alumnus. His collection of local and foreign reprints of about 1000 packages is also located at the college.

Awards

* Three-time winner of the Griffith Memorial Prize of Calcutta University in 1925, 1927 and 1929 for studies on higher fungi. * Winner of Bruhl Memorial Medal & Barclay Memorial Medal of Asiatic Society in 1947 and 1953, respectively. * Bose was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1925 and Honorary Member of Societa Internationale di Microbiologia of Italy since 1930. * Elected fellow of National Institute of Sciences of India at the first year of its election of Fellows in 1935. * President of the Botany section of the Indian Science Congress in 1937 and twice President of the Botanical Society of India for 1937 and 1938. * Elected Honorary Member and Fellow of the Bengal Botanical Society in 1965 and of the Indian Phytopathological Society in 1964.

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bose, Sahay Ram 1888 births 1970 deaths 20th-century Indian botanists University of Calcutta alumni Academic staff of the University of Calcutta