Early life and education Swaminathan was born in a
Tamil Brahmin family in
Kumbakonam, Madras Presidency, on 7 August 1925. He was the second son of
general surgeon M. K. Sambasivan and Parvati Thangammal Sambasivan. At age 11, after his father's death, Swaminathan was looked after by his father's brother. Swaminathan’s parents were second-generation descendants of migrants from
Thanjavur, and were natives of
Mankombu,
Alappuzha,
Kerala. This was the reason he was carrying Mankombu in his name. Swaminathan was educated at a local high school and later at the Catholic Little Flower High School in Kumbakonam, from which he matriculated at age 15. From childhood, he interacted with farming and farmers; his extended family grew rice, mangoes, and coconut, and later expanded into other areas such as coffee. He saw the impact that fluctuations in the price of crops had on his family, including the devastation that weather and pests could cause to crops as well as incomes. His parents wanted him to study medicine. With that in mind, he started off his higher education with zoology. But when he witnessed the impacts of the
Bengal famine of 1943 during the
Second World War and shortages of rice throughout the sub-continent, he decided to devote his life to ensuring India had enough food. Despite his family background, and belonging to an era where medicine and engineering were considered much more prestigious, he chose agriculture. He went on to finish his undergraduate degree in
zoology at Maharaja's College in
Trivandrum, Kerala (now known as
University College, Thiruvananthapuram at the
University of Kerala). He then studied at
University of Madras (Madras Agricultural College, now the
Tamil Nadu Agricultural University) from 1940 to 1944 and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in
Agricultural Science. During this time he was also taught by
Cotah Ramaswami, a professor of agronomy. In 1947 he moved to the
Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) in New Delhi to study
genetics and
plant breeding. He obtained a post-graduate degree with high distinction in
cytogenetics in 1949. His research focused on the genus
Solanum, with specific attention to the potato. Social pressures resulted in him competing in the examinations for civil services, through which he was selected to the
Indian Police Service. At the same time, an opportunity for him arose in the agriculture field in the form of a UNESCO fellowship in genetics in the Netherlands. He chose genetics.
Netherlands and Europe Swaminathan was a UNESCO fellow at the
Wageningen Agricultural University's Institute of Genetics in the Netherlands for eight months. The demand for potatoes during the Second World War resulted in deviations in age-old crop rotations. This caused
golden nematode infestations in certain areas such as reclaimed agricultural lands. Swaminathan worked on adapting genes to provide resilience against such parasites, as well as cold weather. To this effect, the research succeeded. Ideologically the university influenced his later scientific pursuits in India with respect to food production. During this time he also made a visit to the
Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in war-torn Germany; this would later influence him deeply as during his next visit, a decade later, he saw that the Germans had transformed Germany, both infrastructurally and energetically.
United Kingdom In 1950, he moved to study at the Plant Breeding Institute of the
University of Cambridge School of Agriculture. He earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1952 for his thesis "Species Differentiation, and the Nature of
Polyploidy in certain species of the genus
Solanum – section Tuberarium". The following December he stayed for a week with
F.L. Brayne, a former
Indian Civil Service officer, whose experiences with rural India influenced Swaminathan in his later years.
United States of America Swaminathan then spent 15 months in the United States. He accepted a post-doctoral research associateship at the
University of Wisconsin's Laboratory of Genetics to help set up a
USDA potato research station. The laboratory at the time had Nobel laureate
Joshua Lederberg on its faculty. His associateship ended in December 1953. Swaminathan turned down a faculty position in order to continue to make a difference back home in India.
India Swaminathan returned to India in early 1954. There were no jobs in his specialisation and it was only three months later that he received an opportunity through a former professor to work temporarily as an assistant botanist at
Central Rice Research Institute in Cuttack. At Cuttack, he was under an indica-japonica rice hybridisation program started by
Krishnaswami Ramiah. This stint would go on to influence his future work with wheat. Half a year later he joined
Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) in New Delhi in October 1954 as an assistant cytogeneticist. Swaminathan was critical of India importing food grains when seventy percent of India was dependent on agriculture. Further drought and famine-like situations were developing in the country. Swaminathan and
Norman Borlaug collaborated, with Borlaug touring India and sending supplies for a range of Mexican dwarf varieties of wheat, which were to be bred with Japanese varieties. Initial testing in an experimental plot showed good results. The crop was high-yield, good quality, and disease free. There was hesitation by farmers to adopt the new variety whose high yields were unnerving. In 1964, following repeated requests by Swaminathan to demonstrate the new variety, he was given funding to plant small demonstration plots. A total of 150 demonstration plots on 1 hectare were planted. The results were promising and the anxieties of the farmers were reduced. More modifications were made to the grain in the laboratory to better suit Indian conditions. The new wheat varieties were sown and in 1968 production went to 17 million tonnes, 5 million tonnes more than the last harvest. Just before receiving his Nobel Prize in 1970,
Norman Borlaug wrote to Swaminathan: Notable contributions were made by Indian agronomists and geneticists such as
Gurdev Khush and
Dilbagh Singh Athwal. He was with IARI between 1954 and 1972.
Administrator and educator In 1972, Swaminathan was appointed as the director-general of the
Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and a
secretary to the Government of India. In 1979, in a rare move for a scientist, he was made a
principal secretary, a senior position in the Government of India. The next year he was shifted to the
Planning Commission. As director-general of ICAR, he pushed for technical literacy, setting up centres all over India for this. Droughts during this period led him to form groups to watch weather and crop patterns, with the ultimate aim of protecting the poor from malnutrition. His shift to the Planning Commission for two years resulted in the introduction of women and environment with respect to development in
India's five year plans for the first time. In 1982, he was made the first Asian director general of the
International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines. He was there until 1988. In 2005
Bruce Alberts, President of the
U.S. National Academy of Sciences said of Swaminathan: "At 80, M.S. retains all the energy and idealism of his youth, and he continues to inspire good behaviour and more idealism from millions of his fellow human beings on this Earth. For that, we can all be thankful". Swaminathan had the aim of a hunger-free India by 2007. (left), considered as the father of Indian
cytology, in 2013 at the 100th Indian Science Congress. Swaminathan was the chair of the
National Commission on Farmers constituted in 2004. In 2007, President
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam nominated Swaminathan to the
Rajya Sabha. Swaminathan introduced one bill during his tenure, The Women Farmers' Entitlements Bill 2011, which lapsed. One of the aims it proposed was recognising women farmers. and bringing research to decision-makers in the field of hunger and nutrition.
Personal life and death He was married to
Mina Swaminathan, whom he met in 1951 while they were both studying at Cambridge. They lived in
Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Their three daughters are
Soumya Swaminathan (a paediatrician), Madhura Swaminathan (an economist), and Nitya Swaminathan (gender and rural development). Gandhi and
Ramana Maharshi influenced his life. Of the 2000 acres owned by their family, they donated one-third to
Vinoba Bhave's cause. In an interview in 2011, he said that when he was young, he followed
Swami Vivekananda. Swaminathan died at home in Chennai on 28 September 2023, at age 98. == Scientific career ==