1928-10-12
India
Plant breeder
Agriculturist
Geneticist
Dilbagh Singh Athwal (12 October 1928 – 14 May 2017) was an Indian geneticist, plant breeder and agriculturist, known to have conducted pioneering research in plant breeding.[1] He was a professor and the Head of the Department of Plant Breeding at Punjab Agricultural University and an associate of Norman Borlaug, the renowned biologist and Nobel Laureate,[2] with whom he has collaborated for the introduction of high-yielding dwarf varieties of wheat.[3]
Popularly known as Father of Wheat Revolution, he was instrumental in developing ‘PV 18’ in 1966 and the most popular amber grained wheat variety ‘Kalyansona’ in 1967.[4] In 1967, he joined International Rice Research Institute's management team and ultimately served as the Institute's first deputy director general.[5][6] His research has also returned several innovations in rice breeding[7] and his body of work has been documented in a number of books and articles published in peer reviewed journals.[8][9][10] The University of Sydney conferred the degree of Doctor of Philosophy on him in 1955 for his contributions to agriculture[11] and, in 1964, he received Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the highest Indian award in the Science category.[12][4] The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan, in 1975, for his contributions to biological science.[13]
He died in New Jersey on 14 May 2017.[4]
See also
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References
- ↑ PAU to publish biographies of legendary scientists. Tribune India(3 December 2015). Retrieved 24 April 2016.
- ↑ New Horizons in Wheat Production. CIMMYT(2016). Retrieved 24 April 2016.
- ↑ Wheat, barley, and triticale cultivars: A list of publications in which national scientists have noted the cooperation or germplasm they received from CIMMYT{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. CIMMYT(1997). ISBN 978-970-648-055-2
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 'Father of Wheat Revolution' DS Athwal passes away. Hindustan Times(15 May 2017). Retrieved 22 March 2018.
- ↑ Our People.
- ↑ Archived copy. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
- ↑ Rice Research and Production in the 21st Century: Symposium Honoring Robert F. Chandler, Jr{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Int. Rice Res. Inst.(2001). ISBN 978-971-22-0163-9
- ↑ Male Sterility in Higher Plants{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Springer Science & Business Media(6 December 2012). ISBN 978-3-642-83139-3
- ↑ Disease and Insect Resistance in Plants{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Science Publishers(2005). ISBN 978-1-57808-412-8
- ↑ Advances in Agronomy{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Academic Press(1968). ISBN 978-0-08-056333-6
- ↑ Doctors of Philosophy. University of Sydney(2016). Retrieved 24 April 2016.
- ↑ Brief Profile of the Awardee. Council of Scientific and Industrial Research(2016). Retrieved 24 April 2016.
- ↑ Padma Awards. Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India(2016). Retrieved 3 January 2016.
Template:PadmaBhushanAwardRecipients 1970–79 Template:SSBPST recipients in Biological Science