G. S. Venkataraman

Gopalasamudram Sitaraman Venkataraman (February 1, 1930 – October 3, 1998) was an Indian botanist, academic and the director of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi. He was also a director of the DBT Centre for Blue-Green Algae at Madurai Kamaraj University and a recipient of the VASVIK Industrial Research Award and Om Prakash Bhasin Award.

Biography Venkataraman was born on 1 February 1930 to Lokanayaki and G. R. Sitaraman, a freedom fighter, at a small hamlet in Tirunelveli district by name, Tenkasi, in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu. His early education was at the local village school after which he did his intermediate (higher secondary) from St. Xavier's College, Palayamkottai. At Alagappa Chettiar College, Karaikudi, where he joined for his graduate studies, he had the opportunity to learn under S. Doraisamy, an algologist and a protégé of M. O. P. Iyengar, a renowned phycologist. His master's degree came from Banaras Hindu University and, on getting a Government of India fellowship, he pursued doctoral studies under the guidance of Y. Bharadwaja and secured a PhD and DSc from the same university. published by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) in 1969, is a monograph on the culture and cultivation of algae while the 1974 publication, Algae: form and function, and Vaucheriaceae, deal with the scientific aspects of Algae. Two other books, Algal biofertilizers and rice cultivation and Blue-green algae for rice production : a manual for its promotion detail the algal applications in agriculture and one of the books he edited, Plant protection in the year 2000 AD covers the papers and proceedings of the conference held at New Delhi in December 1984. He was the editor of another book, Cyanobacterial biotechnology, a presentation of selected papers from the International Symposium on Cyanobacterial Biotechnology, held in Tiruchirappalli in September 1996. He also published over 170 articles on the subject. a compendium periodically published by the Indian National Science Academy, featuring its deceased and living fellows. The Indian Academy of Sciences elected him as their fellow in 1974 and the Indian National Science Academy followed suit in 1984. and a fellow of the National Geographical Society and Phycological Society of India. Sanjay Gandhi Award for Science and Technology, four years later and the National Lecturer Award of the University Grants Commission in 1986. The Government of India included him in the 1992 Republic Day honours list for the civilian award of the Padma Shri.