Savitri Sahni

Savitri Sahni (19 September 1902 – 26 April 1985), born Savitri Suri, was president of the Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleosciences from 1949 to 1969.

Savitri Sahni
Savitri Sahni, from a 1949 photograph.
Born
Savitri Suri

19 September 1902
Died26 April 1985
Lucknow
OccupationPresident of Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences (1949-1969)
Spouse(s)Birbal Sahni (m. 1920)
RelativesRuchi Ram Sahni (father-in-law)

Early life

Savitri Suri was born in 1902, the daughter of Rai Bahadar Sundar Das Suri, a school inspector in Lahore.[1][2][3] Her father and Ruchi Ram Sahni were colleagues in Lahore.[4]

Career

Sahni joined her botanist husband on collecting trips through the Himalayas and Kashmir. After his sudden death in 1949, she became head of the new Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleosciences at Lucknow,[5] and continued as the Institute's president for twenty years, until 1969.[6] She was also first president of the Paleobotanical Society of India.[1] She was a member of the council of India's National Academy of Sciences.[7]

Savitri Sahni was awarded the Padma Shri in 1969, for her services to science.[6][8]

Personal life

Savitri Suri married paleobotanist Birbal Sahni in 1920.[3] His father was Ruchi Ram Sahni.[9][10] She was widowed when Sahni died in 1949,[11][12] and thereafter wore only white silk, a symbol of her widowhood.[3]

Savitri Sahni died in 1985, aged 82 years, at Lucknow.[6] Her home, designed by American architect Walter Burley Griffin,[13] became a museum; her estate was left to the Birbal-Savitri Sahni Foundation in Lucknow, to fund the museum, a lecture series, fellowships for researchers, and awards for scientific achievement.[1][14]

References
  1. Chattopadhyay, Anjana (2018). Women Scientists in India: Lives, Struggles & Achievements (PDF). National Book Trust, India. ISBN 978-81-237-8144-0.
  2. "Sahni, Birbal (1891-1949)". International Organisation of Palaeobotany. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
  3. Shakti M. Gupta (1978). Birbal Sahni. pp. 64–67.
  4. Sheikh, Majid (2018-09-16). "Harking Back: Old maps tell us stories of past and also a way forward". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
  5. "Mrs. Savitri Sahni". Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
  6. Sharma, Chhaya (December 1985). "Madam Savitri Sahni (1902–1985)". Grana. 24 (3): 137–138. doi:10.1080/00173138509431000. ISSN 0017-3134.
  7. Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences. 1957. p. 430 – via Internet Archive.
  8. Johri, Brij Mohan; Bhattacharyya, Bharati (2006-06-06). History of Biological Science. Allied Publishers. p. 221. ISBN 9798177649825.
  9. Burra, Neera (2019-08-16). "Birbal Sahni". Ruchi Ram Sahni. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
  10. Sahni, Ruchi Ram, 1863-1948 (2017). A memoir of pre-partition Punjab : Ruchi Ram Sahni, 1863-1948. Burra, Neera, 1951- (First ed.). New Delhi. ISBN 978-0-19-947400-4. OCLC 966908405.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. Raman, C. V.; Ranjan, Shri; Iyengar, M. O. P.; Rao, A. R.; Sadasivan, T. S. (1949). "OBITUARY: PROFESSOR BIRBAL SAHNI, M.A., D.Sc., Sc.D., F.R.S. 1891-1949". Current Science. 18 (5): 158–165. ISSN 0011-3891. JSTOR 24212139.
  12. Chowdhury, H. P. (26 April 1949). "Indian Pioneer in Palaeobotany". The Bombay Chronicle. p. 6. Retrieved October 17, 2020 – via Internet Archive.
  13. Birbal and Savitri Sahni Residence, 1937 architectural drawings by Walter Burley Griffin, in the Ryerson and Burnham Archives, Art Institute of Chicago.
  14. Chandra, Anil (1990). "Excerpts from the Will of the Late (Mrs.) Savitri Sahni (1902-1985)". Memoirs of the California Academy of Sciences. 17: 3–4 – via Internet Archive.
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