Maankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan, Indian agronomist and plant geneticist (Thanjavur District, Tamil Nadu State 07 August 1925 – Chennai, Tamil Nadu State 28 September 2023) 

Recognized as a world leader on resources conservation and agriculture 

Authored 254 papers

Presented a new concept of the species relationship within the tuber-bearing Solanum in his PhD thesis, University of Cambridge (1952)

Found genetic relationships between a number of wheat and rice strains

Elucidated the role of infection in heredity

Standardized techniques for overcoming interspecific incompatibility barriers

Showed the potato as an autotetraploid

With N.E. Borlaug developed rice and wheat varieties

Played a role in the development of the world’s first high-yielding basmati

Authored 12 papers in Nature

HONOURS

Albert Einstein World Award of Science (1986)

World Food Prize (1987)

Genus Swaminathania Loganathan & Nair 2004 (Bacteria)