Rosscote Krishna Pillai

Rosscote Krishna Pillai was born on June 26, 1927 in Thiruvananthapuram, then part of the kingdom of Travancore, with a rich lineage of which he could boast. His father Padinjarekotta Punnaykkal Veettil Ayyappan Pillai Raman Pillai popularly known as A.R. Pillai was an Indian expatriate who worked for India's freedom in Germany, journalist, writer and a book publisher in Göttingen in Germany.[3] His mother, B. Gouri Amma, was the eldest daughter of C. V. Raman Pillai, one among the greatest Malayalam novelists, being the first historical novelist in Malayalam and author of Marthanda Varma, Dharmaraja, Premamritham, and Ramarajabahadur, pioneering dramatist, journalist and social activist.[4] (Rosscote is the house built by C. V. and named after his Guru, John Ross, a Scotsman and the first Principal of H.H. The Maharaja's College – now called the University College – in Thiruvananthapuram). After completing his school, he joined His Highness Maharaja's College and secured his M.Sc. Degree in Chemistry from there.[5]

Then he entered Indian Information Service and served in various media units under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. He was then sent on deputation as News Editor in Regional Language Division of All India Radio Delhi where he was assigned reading Malayalam News Bulletin.[6] He was the founding editor of the Malayalam edition of Yojana, a publication under Publication Division of Government of India, which was then available in English and Hindi only. He also served as Information Officer in Press Information Bureau and as a member of the Executive Committee of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi.[7]

The scientific articles written on the project received much attention. Accurate Malayalam translations of many scientific terminologies were presented in the English-Malayalam Science Dictionary compiled by him. His major works include An Illustrated Encyclopedia for Children, Dictionary of C.V. Ramanpivalla's works, A Collection of Essays on Lunar Mission, and a Malayalam scientific dictionary, A Book on Birdwatching, Wadamalli: Scientific Scripts and 'Discoveries that Changed the Face of the World' (translation).[8] Rosscote Krishna Pillai was instrumental in establishing C.V. Ramanpillai Memorial Foundation.[9]

He was the recipient of a Harvard University Fellowship.