INDIA: On Tuesday, August 23, 2022, Google released a special Doodle to commemorate the 104th birthday of renowned Indian physicist and meteorologist Anna Mani, one of the nation’s first female scientists. Anna Mani, who was born on this date in 1918, is renowned for her work in advancing weather forecasting in India.
“Anna Mani, happy 104th birthday! Brighter days for this world were made possible by your life’s effort,” stated Google.
About Anna Mani
Anna Mani, popularly known as the “Weather Woman of India,” was a lifelong reader raised in the former state of Travancore (present-day Kerala). Following high school, she attended Women’s Christian College (WCC) for her Intermediate Science course before transferring to Presidency College, Madras, where she earned her Bachelor of Science with honours in physics and chemistry.
Anna Mani obtained a scholarship for post-graduate study at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, after graduating and teaching at WCC for a year. She later pursued spectroscopic research focusing on diamonds and rubies under the direction of Nobel laureate Sir CV Raman.
Between 1942 and 1945, Mani wrote five papers, finished her dissertation for her doctorate, and started a graduate programme at Imperial College, London, where she honed her meteorological instrumentation expertise.
Upon her return to India in 1948, Anna Mani started working for the India Meteorological Department, where she assisted the nation in creating and manufacturing its meteorological equipment. She was appointed division chief in 1953, and under her watch, more than 100 weather instrument designs were streamlined and standardised for mass production.
Mani created a network of sun radiation monitoring stations and wrote several publications on measuring renewable energy throughout the 1950s.
Anna Mani later progressed to the deputy director general of the India Meteorological Department and held several important roles within the World Meteorological Organization of the United Nations.
She received the INSA KR Ramanathan Medal in 1987 for her outstanding scientific contributions.
After her retirement, Mani was chosen to serve as a Trustee of the Bangalore-based Raman Research Institute.
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