Google doodle remembers Indian researcher Kamal Ranadive on her birth anniversary

Google on Monday marked the birth anniversary of groundbreaking Indian researcher Dr Kamal Ranadive through a doodle. The doodle illustrated by artist Ibrahim Rayintakath shows Dr Kamal looking at a microscope, which marked most of her glorious career in the field of cell biology.

Born in 1917 in Pune, Dr Kamal was a cell scientist widely known for her research in establishing links between cancer and viruses which helped in developing treatment later. She completed her doctorate at the Indian Cancer Research Centre (ICRC) in 1949.

She further earned a fellowship from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, USA before coming back to the country to establish the first tissue culture laboratory in ICRC, Bombay.

Ranadive was amongst the first scientists to have identified a link between breast cancer and heredity genes. Her research on the bacterium behind leprosy, mycobacterium leprae aided in the development of a vaccine against the disease.

She along with her 11 colleagues founded the Indian Women Scientists’ Association (IWSA) in 1973 to support women in scientific fields.

Recognising her contribution to the field of science and research, she was awarded the Padma Bhushan (the third highest civilian award) for Medicine, in 1982 and first Silver Jubilee Research Award from the Medical Council of India in 1964.

Her work in rural communities, which included training numerous healthcare workers for rural communities and further working on educating each of them to have better nutritional and health knowledge is a motivation for young researchers till date.