ebook img

Obituary: The Rev. Father Dr. V. S. Manickam S. J. (1944–2012) PDF

2012·2.2 MB·English
Save to my drive
Quick download
Download
Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.

Preview Obituary: The Rev. Father Dr. V. S. Manickam S. J. (1944–2012)

The Obituary: Rev. Father Dr. V. S. Manickam (1944-2012) S. J. li Dr. A. Benniamin Chris Fraser-Jenkins Kathmandu and Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh With away the passing of Rev. Father Dr. Visuvasam Sousai Manickam, Pteridology in India has lost one of great stalwarts. Father Manickam died its on the 30*^ March 2012 at St. Mary's Higher Secondary School, Madurai, bringing to an end a life of 68 years spent in spiritual quest and in the pursuit of Pteridology. Born on June 1944, in the small village of Kamalapuram, Dindigul District l""* Tamil Nadu, one of as of several children, the second son Visuvasam of Paripooranam. After his local school studies he joined the Society of Jesus at Beschi College, Dindigul, in 1961 and studied religion for two years. He then went Chennai pursue and was to to his college studies ordained as a priest at Loyola Madras Chennai He College, then was] 1964-1967. chose an (as in undergraduate course in Botany Loyola College, which he passed with at a high mark and then went on to do a postgraduate course in Botany at St. Joseph's College, Tiruchirappalli (Trichy], earning a class degree through first and his dedication attention to detail. Following this and his awakening interest in Botanical studies, he was awarded Ph.D. Botany 1975 a in in at the University of Kerala, Thiruvananta- puram which He (Trivandrum), he joined in 1971. studied there under the guidance of Professor C. A. Ninan, in the school of the Professor A. late Abraham, was under to learn fern cytology. Prof. Ninan's stimulating It supervision that he developed his ground-breaking research studying the cytology of South Indian ferns and carried out extensive detailed fieldwork on He the Pteridophytes of the Western Ghats from 1969 onwards. was able to explore the entire Palni Hill range, surveying and collecting some 2500 BENNIAMIN MANICKAM & FRASER-JENKINS: OBITUARY: V.S. and pteridophytes, simultaneously pursued profound his religious develop- ment and These studies. pteridophyte collections were the basis for the taxonomic which part of his Ph.D. work, he completed Kerala University at He from 1971-74. also studied in detail the ecology of ferns of the Palni Hills, under guidance French the of the Pondicherry. This included Institute, correlating the distribution of ferns in the various phytogeographic zones of the Palni Hills to the micro- and macro-climate. During work he this in- vestigated the cytology of about 35 species of ferns. The results were published Manickam in three books, & Ninan's Enumeration of ferns of the Palni Hills (1976) and Ecological Studies on the Fern Flora of the Palni Hills India] [S. and Manickam's Fern (1984) Flora of the Palni Hills {South India] (1986), as well as a further research-paper on cytology (Manickam, 1984). In these works Manickam made Father every communicate with effort to other botanical authorities internationally and to revise and update the taxonomy and nomenclature to a superior level. It was also a great advantage that unlike his predecessors he documented and numbered his collections conscientiously, numbers and providing the something no details in his publication, that other cytotaxonomists in India were doing at that time. As a result, has been it still one and possible 35 years later for of us (CRFJ) to find photographically record all voucher-specimens and much his cytological in various herbaria apply a more modern taxonomy changed, them, long he had produced critical to after his important cytological results. This has not been possible the for pteridological who studies of any other workers from Trivandrum, even recently, neither kept actual voucher-specimens, nor cited numbers in their publications, and the same many Mehra applies to of the earlier publications of the Prof. P.N. School at work Panjab University, Chandigarh, or the of Prof. T.S. Mahabale Pune, and at others. In South India only Manickam's and Dr. Ghatak's cytological work can J. modem and be properly verified today applied to pteridology. After his Ph.D. he joined as Lecturer in Botany from 1979-1981 the at Rapinat Herbarium, St. Joseph's College, Trichy, working with the accom- K.M. Mathew, on plished Botanist, Dr. the ferns of Karnataka and the whole of Western Ghats. His extensive herbarium from the collection the earlier as well work more recent thus mainly housed Trichy (RHT) and as is at the well- documented, good quality cytological and distributional voucher-specimens when he published have been photographed there and necessary, critically re- identified by CRFJ. But he was not happy at Trichy, and in 1982 he transferred From Xavier's College, Palayamkottai, as Lecturer in Botany. 1982 to St. to was and worked 2008 he settled for nearly 30 years his beloved at St. Xavier's College and continued the bulk of his research career there, also supervising and them many introducing world students to the fascinating of Pteridology, and Botany in general, in a series of major projects. His extensive later her- housed (XCH) and barium collections are at St Xavier's again nearly the all important voucher-specimens of his and his students' have been photographed by preservation CRFJ. there for During 1984-87, funded by the Department of Science & Technology, he carried out a major project on the Biosystematics of ferns of the Western Ghats AMERICAN FERN VOLUME NUMBER JOURNAL: 102 3 (2012) covering an area of 18,000 km., and some 5000 numbers sq. collecting of pteridophytes. Detailed work was done mountain field in the ranges of all Nadu Tamil and Kerala between Kanyakumari and Palghat. Assisted by his accomplished who Varaprasatham student, Dr. Irudayaraj 1960), carried out (b. number a spectacular of well-documented chromosome-counts, he investigat- ed the cytology of 110 ferns collected from the The and area. cytological tax- onomic were published two Manickam and results in books, Irudayaraj 's Cytology of ferns of the Western Ghats South India (1988) (with an addition and Manickam and correction, Iruadayaraj, 1989) and the outstandingly useful and major work, Manickam and illustrated Irudayaraj Pteridophyte Flora of 's the Western Ghats South India (1992). - In a second project funded by European the Western Ghats were Jesuits, explored from Palghat to Coorg in Karnataka. Detailed fieldwork was carried Wyanad out in the Nilgiris, Silent Valley, and Coorg, collecting 3500 num- As bers. a part of this project, five families of ferns were subjected to pre- A liminary phytochemical by analysis his research-scholars. third related project concentrated on re-exploring several of the higher mountains such as Anamallays, and the Palnis Tirunelveli hills (resulting in a further book, Manickam and Irudayaraj Pteridophyte Flora South India of Nilgiris, 's (2003)). 1987 he crowned new In his research-career with the opening of a and modern Research Laboratory at St. Xavier's, the Centre for Biodiversity and Manonmanium Biotechnology (CBB), Sundarnar affiliated to University, He was Tirunelveli District. the founder and Director of the Laboratory, which concentrated on research on Pteridophytes, Angiosperms, and also environ- mental education to school teachers and children. In he supervised 25 all, who now Ph.D. students have good there, all positions in various organiza- He was tions. successfully able to raise funding grants for the Laboratories' Research-Projects amounting more than two rupees to crore (20 million Indian rupees, or 400,000 U.S.D.) from various International and National c. scientific and educational funding agencies. Manickam was Father elected a Life Fellow of the Indian Fern Society in He recognition of the high quality of his work. published 10 botanical books and more than 180 papers (a selection of his publications in Indian Fern is J. 22(l-2):204-208 (2005)). Later in his life he also wrote a number of spiritually down insightful religious discussions with a very practical and to earth context designed help young to people. Manickam Father has been honored with naming the of four fern taxa after manickamianum him, Polystichum Benniam., & Fraser-Jenk. Irud. (2008), Thelypteris parasitica Tardieu subsp. manickirudorum (L.) Fraser-Jenk. (2008), Athyrium x manickamii and manickamii Fraser-Jenk. (2008) Pteris Bom.Raik., and three Angiosperms, Memycelon manickamii Murugan et al (2002), Xanthophyllum manickamii Murugan and Eugenia manickamiana (2002) Murugan much (2002). It is to his credit that unlike other contemporaries he many himself did not descend into naming erroneous and spurious "new species" etc. that has so damaged Indian pteridology. BENNIAMIN MANICKAM & FRASER-JENKINS: OBITUARY: V.S. Unfortunately in the last five years of his life the College wished to take over and him his grants therefore sent to stay at Madurai awray from his former students at work. During this time he remained of perfectly sound mind and memory despite the injustice and disappointment of the Even situation. after unwanted Manickam his retirement Father was He highly active intellectually. had learned the Thirukural Tamil poetic by and [of literature) heart spent much time and expounding He was translating not only an excellent teacher it. who but also a philosopher would always guide young students in their chosen direction in life. 14* In the last year of his life, on Aug. 2011, his village people celebrated a Golden Manickam's Jubilee for Father 50 years since joining the Society of was Jesus (1961-2011). a most happy occasion, which he enthusiastically It enjoyed. Manickam's Father contribution to science, especially in Pteridology, amounts and monumental to a definitive treatment of the ferns of South The India. loss to science and Botany from his death immense, is as is the loss humanity to of his delightful personality. hard indeed think It is to of his now beloved establishment no longer with and filled his jovial laughter, his lifetime's expertise uniquely guiding his active students along the path of pteridology he trod so splendidly and May dedicatedly. his soul rest in peace.

See more

The list of books you might like

Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.