C. V. Subramanian

C. V. Subramanian was born on 11 August 1924 at Kochi in Ernakulam district, the commercial capital[9] of the south Indian state of Kerala, to T. D. Parvathi Ammal and C. M. Venkatachalier, a lawyer.[10] He did his schooling at Sree Rama Varma High School, a government-run school in the city and did his early college studies at Maharaja's College after which he joined the Presidency College, Chennai from where he graduated (BSc Hons) with first rank in 1941. It was during this period he had the opportunity to meet M. O. P. Iyengar, the renowned algologist, who was known to have fostered Subramanian's interest in phycology. Before completing his master's degree (MA) in mycology in 1944, he prepared his first dissertation on Acanthus ilicifolius, a halophyte found in the saline waters of western coastal India. Subsequently, he joined Toppur Seethapathy Sadasivan[note 1] as the first research student of the plant pathologist who also headed the Centre for Advanced Studies in Botany of the University of Madras during that time. He received his doctoral degree (PhD) in 1948 for his thesis, Soil conditions and wilt diseases in plants with special reference to Fusarium vasinfectum Atk. on cotton after which he continued his research on mycology and did post-doctoral research, on an ICS fellowship of the Indian National Science Academy (then known as the National Institute of Sciences of India) at the Botany School of Cambridge University and, later at Commonwealth Mycological Institute, UK where he was associated with known mycologists, Stephen Denis Garrett and E. W. Mason.[10]

Subramanian started his academic career in 1951 when he joined the University of Madras as a senior lecturer where he rose to the position of a reader in 1953.[11] During this period, he continued his researches and his published work, Floristic and taxonomic studies on Fungi Imperfecti, earned him the degree of DSc in 1957 from the University of Madras. A year later, the Indian Agricultural Research Institute created a new Chair in Plant Pathology and invited Subramanian to hold the position which he did till his move to the University of Rajasthan in 1960. There, he established the Department of Botany and headed the department as its founder professor till his return to Madras University in 1964 as a professor of Botany. In 1973, he succeeded his mentor, T. S. Sadasivan as the head of the Centre for Advanced Study in Botany, a position he held till his superannuation in 1985.[10] He continued his academic career past his official retirement and worked as a visiting professor at such institutions as the National University of Singapore, the University of Western Australia and the National Taiwan University.[6]

Subramanian was married to Subbalakshmi and the couple lived in Nungambakkam, Chennai.[10] It was during one of his trips to Thailand, he died in Bangkok on 5 February 2016, at the age of 91, survived by his wife and two sons, C. S. Venkatachalam and C. S. Seshadri, both engineers by profession.[11]

The University of Madras awarded Subramanian the Pulney Andi Gold Medal in 1944 for academic excellence on his completion of the master's degree.[10] The Indian Academy of Sciences elected him as their fellow in 1955[12] and Indian National Science Academy followed suit with their fellowship in 1960.[20] He received the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, one of the highest Indian science awards, from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research in 1965.[1] The Birbal Sahni Medal of the Indian Botanical Society reached him in 1972; the society would again honour him in 2009 with their Lifetime Achievement Award.[11] The Indian Council of Agricultural Research awarded him the Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award in 1973 and he held the Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship from 1976 to 1978.[21] The Mycological Society of America selected him as their honorary member in 1983[22] and the Government of India awarded him the E. K. Janaki Ammal National Award for Taxonomy in 2000.[10] The scientific community honoured Subramanian for his work; Subramaniula, Subramanianospora, Subramaniomyces, Subramania, Ceeveesubramaniomyces, Civisubramaniana and Ascosubramania are seven species of fungi named after him.[7]

• C. V. Subramanian; K. Ramakrishnan (1956). List of Indian Fungi. Emkay Publications. OCLC 858868381.
• Chirayathumadom Venkatachalier Subramanian (1971). Hyphomycetes: An Account of Indian Species, Except Cercosporae. Indian Council of Agricultural Research.
• C. V. Subramanian (1973). Taxonomy of fungi : proceedings of the International Symposium on Taxonomy of Fungi (2 volumes). University of Madras. OCLC 5281883.
• Chirayathumadom Venkatachalier Subramanian (1976). Moulds, Mushrooms and Men. Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleobotany.
• C. V. Subramanian (April 1982). "Tropical Mycology: Future Needs and Development". Current Science. 51 (7).
• Chirayathumadom Venkatachalier Subramanian (1983). Hyphomycetes, taxonomy and biology. Academic Press. ISBN 978-0-12-675620-3.
• C. V. Subramanian (April 1988). "A new species of Spegazzinia from Western Australia". Proc. Indian Acad. Sci. (Plant Sci.). 98 (2): 67–69. doi:10.1007/BF03053392 (inactive 20 January 2021).CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of January 2021 (link)
• Chirayathumadom Venkatachalier Subramanian; Solomon Pavlovich Vasser (2001). Soil microfungi of Israel. A.R.A. Gantner. ISBN 978-3-904144-76-6.

The standard author abbreviation Subram. is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.[23]

• "Subramanian, Chirayathumadom Venkatachalier". Index of Botanists. Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries. 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2016.

• Bhat, D. Jayarama; Muthumary, J.; Rajendran, C.; Kumar, S. Raghu; Vittal, B. P. R. (May 2014). "C. V. Subramanian". Current Science. 106 (10): 1438.
• C. V. Subramanian (April 1982). "Tropical Mycology: Future Needs and Development" (PDF). Current Science. 51 (7).