Who is Kamala Sohonie? Google Doodle honours scientist who proved CV Raman wrong

Google on Sunday paid tribute to Indian Scientist Kamala Sohonie on her 112th birthday with a Google Doodle. A biochemist by profession, Sohonie is remembered as the first Indian woman to earn a Ph.D. in any scientific field. But more importantly, she is renowned for overcoming the strong gender bias in her time and proving India's Nobel Prize-winning physicist CV Raman wrong. 

3 things you need to know

• Kamala Sohonie completed her Ph.D. in just 14 months at Cambridge University in England.
• CV Raman rejected her admission application into the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) because she was a woman, Sohonie once revealed. 
• She is credited for developing an affordable nutritious dietary supplement 'Neera' on the suggestion of Dr. Rajendra Prasad, India's first President. 

Who was Kamala Sohonie?

(Indian biochemist Kamala Sohonie)

Kamala Sohonie (nee. Kamala Bhagvat) was born on June 18, 1911, in Madhya Pradesh's Indore. Her father, Narayanrao Bhagvat and her uncle Madhavrao Bhagvat were also chemists and she followed their footsteps and studied chemistry and physics at Bombay University. Interestingly, both her father and uncle studied at the IISc (then Tata Institute of Sciences) where she later got enrolled. 

After graduating from Bombay University at the top of her class in 1933, she applied for admission at the IISc but her entry was blocked by Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman. The director of IISc at the time, Raman denied her entry into the institute but eventually let her in with many restrictions. During an event in 1997, she is reported to have told members of the Indian Women Scientists’ Association (IWSA) that Raman's behaviour was an insult to her and even called the Nobel Laureate "narrow-minded." 

(Indian Physicist and former IISc director CV Raman)

Existing records say that the admission of women increased at IISc after Sohonie completed her course with distinction and it changed Raman's opinion about the competence of women in the field of Science. In 1936, Sohonie left for Cambridge University where she began her thesis. She is known for discovering Cytochrome C, a multi-functional enzyme important to energy generation and confirming its presence in cells. 

After earning her Ph.D. degree, Sohonie returned to India in 1939 and headed the Department of Biochemistry at Lady Hardinge College in New Delhi and served as Assistant Director of the Nutrition Research Lab, Coonoor at different points in time. She then joined Mumbai's Royal Institute of Science and continued studying different food items and their chemistry. She later invented the nutritious palm extract drink 'Neera' which proved to be a good source of Vitamin C and improved the health of malnourished children and pregnant women.

Sohonie was later awarded the Rashtrapati Award for her creation of 'Neera'. She settled in Mumbai after being married to MV Sohonie and passed away on June 28 at the age of 87.