MS Swaminathan, 'Father of India's Green Revolution' dies: 10 facts about the legendary scientist

Born on August 7, 1925, in Tamil Nadu’s Thanjavur district, Swaminathan dedicated his life to improving the lives of India’s low-income farmers

MS Swaminathan, referred to as the "Father of India's Green Revolution" died at the age of  98 on Thursday.

Swaminathan played a crucial role in the development of India's agricultural industry during the 20th century and was much respected for his wide ranging contribution in the field of agricultural sciences for several decades.

Several Indian leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered their condolences following the news of his death.

Here are 10 facts about the legendary scientist:

• Swaminathan was born on August 7, 1925 in Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu. He grew a keen interest towards agriculture from an early age and communicated with farmers, when he was young. He was helped by the fact his extended family grew rice, coconuts and mangoes, which assisted him with his agricultural understanding.
• Swaminathan completed twin bachelor degrees, in Zoology and Agricultural Sciences. But he decided to pursue a career in the agricultural field after the Bengal Famine in 1943.
• He moved to the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi in 1947 to study plant breeding and genetics and obtained a post-graduate degree in cytogenetics in 1949.
• In 1960, Swaminathan along with Norman Borlaug and other scientists developed the HYV (high yielding variety) wheat seeds to help India recover from the food shortage faced by the country, at the time.
• Swaminathan was instrumental in laying the foundations for the Green Revolution in India, whose objective was to increase agricultural productivity in the developing world by using agricultural research and technology.
• Swaminathan held the position of Director General of Indian Council of Agricultural Research between 1972 and 1979 and International Rice Research Institute from 1982 and 1988. Additionally, he was also the Principal Secretary of Ministry of Agricultural in 1979.
• Swaminathan became the first recipient of the World Food Prize in 1987 and the amount that he received with the recognition was used to set up the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation.
• In 1990, Swaminathan coined the term "Evergreen Revolution" whose objective was to address the continuous rise in sustainable productivity that human beings need.
• Swaminathan was a recipient of 84 honorary doctorates and published a total of 254 papers in various fields such as cytogenetics, crop improvement and genetics.
• Swaminathan got married to Mina Swaminathan, whom he met while they were studying in Cambridge in 1951. The couple lived in Chennai and gave birth to three daughters- Soumya, Madhura and Nitya.