Mankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan, an Indian geneticist who is known as the father of Green Revolution in India, was born on August 7, 1925. The founder of the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation, his vision was to rid the world of hunger and poverty. An advocate of sustainable development and preservation of bio-diversity, he has been described by the United Nations Environment Programme as "the Father of Economic Ecology".
On M S Swaminathan's 94th birthday, here's looking at a few interesting facts about him.
M S Swaminathan had two bachelor degrees. One in Zoology and the other in Agricultural Science.
He made the decision of pursuing the field of agricultural after experiencing the Bengal famine in 1943.
In 1960, when India was facing mass shortage of food, M S Swaminathan along with Norman Borlaug and other scientists developed the HYV (high yielding variety) seeds of wheat.
This development led to Green Revolution in India and M S Swaminathan was known as 'The Father of Green Revolution'.
Indian government awarded M S Swaminathan with Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan in 1967 and 1972 respectively.
M S Swaminathan served as the Director General of Indian Council of Agricultural Research from 1972 to 1979 and International Rice Research Institute between 1982 to 1988.
He served as the Principal Secretary of Ministry of Agricultural in 1979.
In 1986, M S Swaminathan became the recipient of the Albert Einstein World Award of Science and in 1988 he became the President of International Union of the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.
In 1999, Time magazine place him in the 'Time 200' list of most influential Asian people of the 20th century.
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