B.P. Pal

B.P. Pal

Born: 26th May 1906
Died: 14th Sep 1989

Shri Benjamin Peary Pal was born on 26th May 1906, in Mukandpur, to Dr. Rala Ram and Inder Devi as their youngest son. Their family hailed from Jalandhar but being a medical officer his father migrated to Burma.

His birth name was ‘Brahma Das Pal’ but later he changed his name to Benjamin Peary Pal when he was at St Michael’s School, Maymo during 1914. He obtained his BSc and MSc degrees at Rangoon University, with a study on Burmese Charophyta for his Master’s. He then went to the University of Cambridge for his doctoral studies which were under Frank Engledow and Rowland Biffen and studied hybrid vigor in wheat. In 1932, he worked in Burma as a Rice Research Officer and then in Bihar as a Second Economic Botanist. In 1937 he became an Imperial Economic Botanist at the Imperial Agricultural Research Institute. In 1936, following an earthquake when the IARI moved to New Delhi, Pal moved there and acquired the position of Director of the Institute in September 1950. Pal was the first Director-General of the newly reorganized ICAR (Indian Council for Agricultural Research) and worked there till retirement i.e 1972. He worked on rust resistance in wheat and helped release several varieties. He was the founder of the Rose and Bougainvillea Societies of India, the Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding, and served as its journal editor. In 1972, he was also elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). Pal never married and donated all his property to ICAR. Dr. B.P Pal died on 14th Sep 1989. The government of India also awarded him with the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan. A rose garden at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute is also named in his honor.

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