Anna Mani

Anna Mani (23 August 1918 – 16 August 2001) was an Indian physicist and meteorologist. She retired as the deputy director general of the Indian Meteorological Department and also served as a visiting professor at the Raman Research Institute.

Life

Early years Anna Modayil Mani was born in 1918 at Peermade, then Travancore, now Kerala, India to a Syrian Christian family. Her father was a civil engineer. However, Mani sought to break the norm and pursue her passion for learning through higher education. Mani attended the Presidency College, Chennai (then Madras) where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree with honors in physics and chemistry. Later in 1940, the prestigious Indian Institute of Science gave Mani a scholarship to continue her education and research in physics. In addition, Mani wrote a PhD dissertation at the University of Madras for a formal degree, however she was declined due to her lack of a master's degree. Despite this pitfall, Mani continued her research internship with a government scholarship award in England. At the Imperial College London, Mani would be introduced to meteorology and various weather instruments. Mani was honored and recognized for her important contributions and in 1987 she was awarded the INSA K. R.Ramanathan Medal.

On 23 August 2022, Google honoured Mani with a Google Doodle on her 104th birth anniversary.