Birbal Sahni was an Indian paleobotanist who started the Institute of Palaeobotany in Lucknow. After his death, the Institute was renamed the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany. He was one of the first people in India to study ancient plants. He was also a geologist who was interested in archaeology. Palaeobotany is the study of fossil plants. He was interested in it because he was always interested in plants, shells, and rocks as a child. He was born in India at the end of the 19th century. As a child, he was smart and interested in everything around him. His parents made sure he got the best education possible and raised him in a place that was intellectually stimulating. After studying botany at the Government College in Lahore with S. R. Kashyap, he moved to England to continue his education. In 1919, he got his PhD from the University of London. He then worked for a short time in Germany before going back to India. Soon, he was put in charge of the Botany Department at Lucknow University. He turned out to be a great teacher who was very interested in palaeobotany. Soon, he turned the department into a place where palaeobotanical research was done and encouraged his students to do the same. The Institute of Palaeobotany was the result of all of his hard work over many years, but he died just a week after the ceremony where the first stone was laid.
Early years and childhood
Birbal Sahni was born on November 14, 1891, in Bhera, Shahpur District, West Punjab. He was the second child of Lala Ruchi Ram Sahni and Shrimati Ishwar Devi and their first son. His father was a patriot and a social reformer who fought for India’s freedom. As a teacher, he eventually got a job as a Chemistry Professor at the Lahore Government College.
Birbal’s childhood home was often visited by people like Motilal Nehru, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Sarojini Naidu, and Madan Mohan Malaviya. This made sure that the young boy grew up in an intellectually stimulating environment.
He went to the Mission and Central Model schools when he was young. Then he went to study at the Government College University in Lahore, where his father worked, before moving on to the Punjab University, where he graduated in 1911.
He was a very smart student, and one of his teachers, S. R. Kashyap, taught him to love botany and encouraged him to study it further. So, Birbal went to England to get a better education.
He went to school at Cambridge’s Emmanuel College and got a first-class in Part I of the Natural Sciences Tripos in 1913. In 1915, he finished Part II of the Tripos. He also got his B.Sc. from London University around the same time.
He learned about paleobotany from his teacher, Sir Albert Charles Seward, who helped him get started in the field.
Together, they worked on a study of Indian Gondwana plants. The results were published in 1920 in a book called “Indian Gondwana Plants: A Revision.” In the meantime, he got his D.Sc. from the University of London in 1919.
Birbal Sahni’s Career
He went to Germany and worked with the German botanist Goebel for a while. Then he went back to India and became a professor of botany at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, and Punjab University.
In 1921, he became the first Professor and Head of the Botany Department at Lucknow University. He held this job until his death in 1949. Under his direction, the department became a busy place for teaching and research. It attracted smart people from all over the country and was the first place in India to study plants and fossil plants.
He was also very interested in the field of geology and thought that paleobotany and geology were closely related. He was also the head of the geology department at Lucknow University.
People also know about what he did for archeology. He studied Yaudheya coin molds from Khokhra-Kot in Rohtak in 1936 and from Sunset near Ludhiana in the same year (1941). He said that the goals and methods of a palaeobotanist are the same as those of an archaeologist since both try to figure out what happened in the past and recreate it.
Birbal Sahni’s main goal was to make paleobotanical research in India more organized and structured. In 1939, he organized a group of Indian paleobotanists and gave them the name “The Palaeobotanical Society.” He then led a meeting to coordinate and advance research in India.
In the end, on September 10, 1946, the Governing Body of the Palaeobotanical Society set up the Institute of Palaeobotany. It was first located in the Department of Botany at the University of Lucknow. In 1949, it moved to its current location at 53 University Road in Lucknow. On April 3, 1949, Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister, laid the foundation stone for the new building. Sahni did not live long enough to see his dream institute grow and do well.
A Big Job
He started the Institute of Palaeobotany, which was later renamed in his honor as the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany. The institute works closely with groups like the Geological Survey of India, the Physical Research Laboratory, the Oil and Natural Gas Commission, Oil India Limited, Coal India Limited, and the Coal Mine Planning and Design Institute to help people learn more about plant fossils.
Awards & Achievements
In 1936, he became the first Indian botanist to be named a Fellow of the Royal Society of London (FRS). This is the highest scientific honor in Britain. In the same year, he also got the Barclay Medal from the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal.
In 1945, the Numismatic Society of India gave him the Nelson Wright Medal, and in 1947, the Sir C. R. Reddy National Prize.
Personal History and Legacies
Birbal Sahni married Savitri Suri in 1920. Her father, Sunder Das Suri, was an Inspector of Schools in Punjab. She was his daughter. His wife was a big help to him and took an active interest in his scientific work.
He had a sudden heart attack and died on April 10, 1949, just a week after his institute’s foundation stone was laid.
Estimated Net worth
Birbal Sahni’s estimated net worth is $6 million, and geologist and botanist work is his main source of income. We don’t know enough about Birbal Sahni’s cars or his way of life.