Dr Kamaljit Bawa Becomes First Indian Botanist to Win The Linnean Medal

Dr Kamaljit Bawa, President of the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) and a Professor of Biology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston has received the Linnean Medal in Botany. This achievement by Bawa makes him the first Indian to receive the medal in its 140-year old history. This honour is a sign of recognition and awarded as “as an expression of the Society's esteem and appreciation for service to science”. The medal was awarded by the Linnean Society of London at its annual meeting. The Linnean Society has been giving this medal every year since 1888.

“The Linnean Medal is a good recognition of our work on conservation and sustainability, and will serve as a fresh reminder that we need to redouble our efforts to fully document and study our planet’s incredible plant wealth that is rapidly declining,” said Dr Bawa in a press release. Dr Bawa was recognised for his pioneering research on the evolution of tropical plants. He also researched on tropical deforestation, non-timber forest products. Besides, he had been working for decades on the biodiversity of forests in Central America, the Western Ghats and the Eastern Himalaya. He was also a pioneer in establishing a world-class environmental centre, ATREE, in Bengaluru along with the journal Conservation and Society and the India Biodiversity Portal.

Check out the Linnean medal winners of 2018:

The Linnean Society of London is dedicated to the study and dissemination of information of natural history and its evolution. It is named after the famous Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus, who gave us a system of naming plants and animals. It is one of the oldest societies in the world since its establishment in the year 1788.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 28, 2018 09:23 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).