|
| S.D.Biju, Scientist, Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute, Palode, Thiruvananthapuram 695562 |
|
Download Database of featured talents. (Excel file) |
S.D.Biju’s effort at discovering the rare frog of the dinosaur-era, Star Frog, has been widely acclaimed in the media in the West. This frog, better known in the scientific circles for its genetic differences, has been last seen in 1800. And so the US scientist O’blair Hedget is perhaps quite right in calling the discovery a once-in-a-century event.
The discovery was presented to the world jointly by Franky Bossuyt of Brussels and Biju through the noted scientific journal ‘Nature’ from England. The article in Nature was picked up by BBC and CNN and by a host of newspapers in about 50 languages worldwide. The experts from around the world agreed that ‘Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis’ discovered by Biju from Kattappana in Idukki is an example of the frogs from the dinosaur-era.
A scientist at the Tropical Botanical Garden and Research Institute, Palode, Thiruvananthapuram, Biju did not study about frogs during his classroom days. After completing degree in Botany from University of Kerala, he did his post graduation from University of Calicut and later completed his doctorate in plant taxonomy. It was during his research into biodiversity of plants that he got interested in photography, which led to his interest in frogs. A recipient of scholarship from Indian National Fellowship, it took him 7 years of research to come up with this useful discovery.
His family consists of wife Anitha and children, Anju, Parvathi and Kalyani.
Courtesy: A.R.Rajeev, Kerala Kaumudi, October 18, 2003
Contributed by: Administrator
