Panchanan Maheshwari, Indian botanist and microscopist (Jaipur, Rajasthan 09 November 1904 – Delhi 18 May 1966)

Worked embryological aspects of many plants belonging to more than 1000 species

First to describe many embryological features peculiar to aquatic plants

First to study fertilization under experimental conditions

Performed the first experiment of direct pollination of ovules with formation of viable cells in vitro

With N.S. Rangaswamy & K. Kanta. Test tube fertilization in a flowering plant. Nature 194:1214-7, 1962

Standardized the classification of embryo sac types

Authored An Introduction to the Embriology of Angiosperms (1950), the first work in this field and translated into several languages

Developed Maheshwari fluid

HONORS  

Panchanania Subramanian & Nair 1966 (Fungi)

Maheshwariella Pant & Nautiyal 1963 (Fossil Seed)