Professor S.R.Bose was born on the 15th February, 1888 in a remote village in the Hooghly district, West Bengal. After his early school and college education in Hooghly, he took his B.A. (B’Course) and M.A. from Calcutta University in 1907 and 1908 respectively. Immediately afterwards he joined the Bangabasi College in 1909 as Professor of Botany. At his father’s request, he took B.L.degree from Calcutta University in 1910 and practiced as Vakeel of Calcutta High Court from 1910-1916. He left the bar in 1916 to join Carmichael Medical College (now known as R.G.Kar Medical College) in 1916 as Professor of Botany. In 1918, he went to the Royal Botanical Gardens, Perudeniya, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) for training in systematic of Bengal Polyporaceae (bracket fungi) under famous mycologist Tom Petch. Polyporaceae became the subject for his lifetime study. He was the first recipient of the Ph.D degree in Botany from the University of Calcutta in 1922 and for his thesis on Bengal Polyporaceae he was awraded Sir Rashbehari Ghosh Travelling Fellowship in Science for 1923-1924.

His pioneering work on Polyporaceae of Bengal and discovery of two antibiotics – Polysporin from Polistictus sanguineus and Campestrin from Psalliota campestris are widely recognized throughout the world. His findings in Polyporaceae of Bengal has been published as a monograph in 11 parts with photo-prints, between 1918 and 1947.In a research career spanning more than half a century, he published 120 papers on various aspects of fungi in an array of academic journals across Europe, America, and Asia.

He worked as a Director of Research under the C.N.R.S of the government of France from 1957 to 1959, for which he studied the movement of chemicals from the host trees with isotope P32 that induced the formation of bracket fungi on the tree. He built up over the years a herbarium for bracket fungi by collections from different parts of the world. The herbarium, containing about 4000 specimens of Polyporaceae, was entered in the list of World Herberia, Index Herbarium, Utrecht, Netherlands. It includes one specimen contributed by Emperor Hirohito of Japan, who was an amateur Botanist. The herbarium is now housed in the Presidency College, now Presidency University, of which Prof. S.R. Bose is an alumnus. His collection of local and foreign reprints of about 1000 packages is also located at the Presidency University. He lately took up human mycoses as a research problem and served as Professor of Medical Mycology in the School of Tropical Medicine, Calcutta. From 1963, he worked as an Emeritus Professor at R.G.Kar Medical College.

Prof. S.R.Bose was the founder President of the Indian Phytopathological Society (1947&1949) and the Mycological Society (1954-1970) and guided the society to achieve its goal till his death. He was elected Fellow of Royal Society of Edinburg in 1925, Honorary member of Societa Internationale di Microbiologia of Italy since 1930, Fellow of National Institute of Sciences of India in 1935, twice President of Botanical Society of India for 1937 and 1938, Fellow of Indian Phytopatholical Society in 1964, President, Botany Section of Indian Science Congress in 1937.

He has been honoured three times by the University of Calcutta (winner of Griffith Memorial Prize in 1925, 1927 and 1929) for studies on higher fungi, by Bihar Agricultural Department (Woodhouse Memorial Prize in 1926), by Asiatic Society of Bengal twice ( Bruhl Memorial Medal in 1947 and Barclay Memorial Medal in 1953), and by Botanical Society of Bengal (Silver Jubilee Medak in 1964).

He has trained many students in the field of mycological research and at present several of then are carrying on his illustrious tradition in India. A man of polished manners and meticulous care in his dress and bearings, sparkling as teacher, strict disciplinarian, great personality, deep scholarship and vast knowledge of science, Prof. Bose was a distinguishing figure in any scientific gathering of India and abroad.

Prof. S.R.Bose left us on 6th December, 1970.

Prof. S.R.Bose Memorial Award Lecture organized by IMS, Kolkata

Award Gallery