T R Seshadri

Remembering one of India's most distinguished chemists on his birth anniversary. 

T R  Seshadri was an Indian chemist, academic, writer and the Head of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Delhi, known for his research on Indian medicinal plants. He was nominated for the Chemistry Nobel Prize in 1966.

The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour - the Padma Bhushan - in 1963, for his contributions to Science.

Biography

Seshadri was born on 3 February 1900 at Kulithalai, an ancient village with history dating back to the Cholas of the 9th century,  in the present-day Karur district of  Tamil Nadu.  His  father was a school teacher. After his high school studies,  he  joined Presidency College, Madras in 1917 for his BSc studies  which he  completed in 1920 with financial assistance from the Ramakrishna Mission. After graduation, he worked with the Mission for a year, but continued his studies at Presidency College for his master's degree and thereafter, for research under the renowned chemist, Biman Bihari Dey, during which period he won two research awards, the Curzon Prize and the William Wedderburn Prize, from the University of Madras.

He secured a scholarship from the state government in 1927 for higher studies at the University of Manchester where he did his doctoral research under the guidance of the renowned British chemist and Nobel Laureate, Robert Robinson, to secure a PhD in 1929.  His research  at Manchester  focused on the development of anti-malarial drugs and synthesis of organic  compounds. Before returning to India in 1930, he had a short training stint in Austria on organic microanalysis with Fritz Pregl, a Nobel laureate.

Back in India, he continued his work on plant chemistry as a research scholar of the University of Madras at Government College of Agriculture, Coimbatore where he stayed for four years. In 1934, he joined Andhra University, Waltair, as the Reader and Head of the Department of Chemistry and served the university for 15 years. During his tenure there, he set up several laboratories and a research school on flavanoids, while continuing his own research. He also established two new departments in the university - Department of Chemical Technology  and  Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry. The onset of World War II in 1941 affected his work as the chemicals were in short supply and the department of chemistry at the university was taken over by the British Army, which forced him to move first to Guntur in 1942 and then to Madras in 1943. It was only in 1946, after the war ended, that  he could return to Waltair.

After Indian independence, Maurice Gwyer, the then vice chancellor of the University of Delhi, a former Chief Justice of India and the founder of Miranda House, invited Seshadri to join  Delhi University as the Head of the Department of Chemistry in 1949.  Accepting the offer, he established a new research school there where research was primarily focused on natural products, such as terpenoids, alkaloids and quinonoids.  The school is known to have attracted research students from India and abroad where he guided a research team, composed of post-doctoral research scholars from England, France and Germany, besides India. He worked at the university till his superannuation in 1965, upon which he was made the first Professor Emeritus of the university.  In between, he was offered the post of the Chairman of the University Grants Commission but he did not accept it.  

Legacy

He mentored 160 students in their doctoral studies. His research  has been documented in  over 1000 articles. He has authored two books, Chemistry of Vitamins and Hormones  and Advancement of Scientific and Religious Culture in India. At  Delhi University he founded the Centre for Advanced Study for the Chemistry of Natural Products. This became a centre of excellence in chemical research, and  he served as the head there from 1949 to 1975. On his retirement, he donated all the books in his personal library to the Chemistry department of Delhi University.

Awards and honours

His  remarkable research in organic chemistry earned him a Nobel Prize nomination in Chemistry in 1966. Seshadri’s work on Indian medicinal plants is indeed praiseworthy.

Seshadri received doctorates  from Andhra University, Banaras Hindu University, Osmania University and Delhi University, honorary professorships from Andhra University and  Osmania University, and was a Cooch-Behar Professor of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS), Kolkata.  He was elected fellow of the  Royal Society, London in 1960.  A year later, the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina elected him as their member in 1961. The Government of India awarded him the the Padma Bhushan in 1963. He was also a recipient of Meghnad Saha Medal of the Indian National Science Academy. Delhi University conducts Prof. T. R. Seshadri Memorial Lecture, an annual oration, in his honour.

Later years and death

He continued his research till 1972, when ill health, among other issues such as stoppage of research grants, forced an end to his active career.

He lived for three more years, battling ill health, and  died  at the age of 75, on 27 September 1975. The story of his life has been published by Resonance, a journal of the Indian Academy of Sciences, under the title, Professor T R Seshadri — An Acharaya par excellence.