Giants in History: Janaki Ammal Edavalath Kakkat

Janaki Ammal Edavalath Kakkat (4 November 1897 – 7 February 1984) was an Indian botanist who studied plant chromosomes and genetics. When she was a child. Kakkat’s parents encouraged her intellectual pursuits. After several teaching stints in India and US, Kakkat received a fellowship to pursue a Doctor of Science in botany in the US, becoming one of the few Asian women to be conferred a D.Sc. by the University of Michigan. Her research on chromosome numbers in plants was vital in the selection of varieties for cross-breeding to produce sweeter sugarcane. Kakkat created a high-yielding variety of sugarcane, a new variety of eggplant named Janaki Brengal, and a variety of magnolias named Magnolia Kobus Janaki Ammal.