In 2014, when the Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute (JNTBGRI) planned to honour M. S. Valiathan, it chose an orchid.
“This particular orchid was a hybrid that we had developed. So we named it Paphiopedilum M. S. Valiathan after him,” Sathish Kumar C., former Principal Scientist, JNTBGRI, who specialised in the breeding and conservation of orchids, recalled on Thursday.
There was a specific reason for choosing an orchid. The institute’s orchid breeding programme owed its existence to the tireless efforts made by Dr. Valiathan during his time as Executive Vice-President of the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE). “Later, when asked by a science journal to choose from all the awards and accolades that he had won over the years, Dr. Valiathan told the interviewer that he has an orchid named after him,” Dr. Sathish Kumar said.
Dr. M. S. Valiathan seated beside the orchid Paphiopedilum M. S. Valiathan:
Dr. Valiathan, the eminent cardiac surgeon, scientist and institution builder who passed away on Thursday aged 90 at Manipal, will be remembered for his remarkable vision in shaping the scientific establishment in Kerala. Dr. Valiathan was the first Executive Vice-President of the KSCSTE and the founder-director of the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), two institutions that reflected his convictions concerning the path that science and technology should take in modern Kerala.
“As a medical practitioner and scientist, he was very committed. For instance, the effort he took to establish the SCTIMST in Thiruvananthapuram and take it to such a high level is commendable,” said G. Madhavan Nair, former chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). “At the SCTIMST, he placed emphasis on the indigenisation of medical devices and equipment, the best example being the Chitra heart valve,” Dr. Madhavan Nair noted.
Researchers and scientists remember Dr. Valiathan as a colossus who straddled many fields (on Thursday, several colleagues and contemporaries recalled his deep interest in Ayurveda and his book The Legacy of Caraka), a man with deep insights who held the power to inspire.
“He is to science and technology what Dr. M. S. Swaminathan is to agriculture,” K. P. Sudheer, the current Executive VP of the council, said. “At the time of his arrival in Kerala, the science and technology scene lacked energy. He had the vision to bring the scientific institutions under one umbrella,” Dr. Sudheer said. That ‘umbrella’ was the KSCSTE which was constituted in 2002. It had evolved from the Science, Technology and Environment Committee (STEC), established in 1972.
A. Ajayaghosh, former Director, National Institute of Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST), Thiruvananthapuram, recalled Dr. Valiathan’s stress on research. “Usually, when a medical institution is started, the research component gets sidelined. But he was insistent that SCTIMST should have a strong research arm,” said Dr. Ajayaghosh, who is currently Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Chair Professor at SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai.
Before Dr. Valiathan’s arrival on the scene, the science and technology budget in Kerala was meagre, remembers R. Prakashkumar, former Director, JNTBGRI, who, in 2002, was recruited by Dr. Valiathan as Principal Scientific Officer at KSCSTE. Dr. Valiathan made sure that the budget was increased manyfold, a step which helped to attract young minds to the field. “With KSCSTE, what he had in mind was a network of institutions modelled on the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR),” Dr. Prakashkumar said.
The Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB) condoled Dr. Valiathan’s death. “A builder of institutions, he played a pioneering role in promoting research and development in high-end medical technology, from which the country has benefited immensely,” RGCB Director Chandrabhas Narayana said in a condolence message. The Kerala State Higher Education Council condoled the death. Council chairperson Rajan Gurukkal recalled Dr. Valiathan’s contributions to the State’s academic progress.
