Panchanan Maheshwari(1904-1966)

Born In November 190 in Jaipur (Rajasthan), Panchanan Maheshwari got solace in books and magazines in school days and later developed interests in scientific magazines. During his college days, he was inspired bu Dr. W Dudgen, American missionary teacher, to devlop interest in botany and especiallly morphology. His teacher once expressed that his student progresses ahead of him, it will give him a great satisfaction. These words enchouraged Phanchanan to enquire what he could do for his teacher in return. Dudgeon replied that "do for your students what i have done for you." Meticulously following his teacher's advise, he did train a host of talanted students. he pursued his postgraduate university education in botany at Allahabad University.
He worked on ebryological aspects, especially the embryo sac of many plants belonging to more than 1000 families. He popularised the use of embryological characters in taxonomy. He estalished the department of Botany, University of Delhi as an important center of reseaech in embryology and tissue culture. The department was recognised by University Grand Commmision as center of advanced study in Botany. Panchanann Maheshwari was assisted by his wife in preparation of slides in addition to her household duties. Way back in 1950 he talked of contacts between embryology, physiology and genetics. He also emphasised the need of initiation of work on artificial culture of immature embryos. These days tissue culture has become a landmark in science. His work on test tube fertilisation and intra- ovarian pollination won worldwide acclaim. The book considered "magnum opus",the Introduction to the Embryology of Angiosperms was completed by him in 1950. He also founded an international research journal 'Phytomorphology' and popular magazine 'The Botanica' in 1950. Volume on recent advances in embryology of angiosperms (1963), edited by Maheshwari, became a refferal for researchers in embryology.
he dovoted his life to science. Many of his wellwishers and studnts felt pride in naming their new findings after him, such as Panchanania jaipurensis (fungus), Oldenlandia maheshwarii(Rubiaceae member).
he was honoured with fellowship of Royal society of London (FRS), Indian national Science Academy and several other insitutions of excellence. His interest in science also made a significant contribution to school education in the form of textbooks of Biology for secondary schools published by NCERT in 1964