Kamala Bhagvat, born in 1911, had already learnt that brilliance alone could not guarantee a place in science. In 1933, after topping Bombay University’s BSc examination in physics and chemistry, she arrived at IISc, Bangalore, determined to study biochemistry.
But getting through the door proved harder. The institute’s director, Nobel laureate C V Raman, reportedly objected to admitting her because she was a woman. Kamala demanded an explanation and staged a Gandhian-style protest outside his office until he relented.
She was admitted on restrictive terms: a year of probation, late-night work under supervision and a warning not to distract her male colleagues.
The experience stayed with her. At a 1997 felicitation organised by the Indian Women Scientists’ Association at BARC, she recalled, “Though Raman was a great scientist, he was very narrow-minded. I can never forget the way he treated me just because I was a woman. This was a great insult to me. The bias against women was so bad at that time. What can one expect if even a Nobel Laureate behaves in such a manner?”
Kamala answered the prejudice through her work. Under biochemist M Sreenivasaya, she studied proteins and nutrients in milk, legumes and pulses, particularly the non-protein nitrogen in pulses. By 1936, she had published five research papers.
Her work took her to Cambridge, where she studied amine oxidases with Derek Richter and cytochrome oxidase in plants with Robin Hill. Her research focused on the cytochrome system and plant respiration, making her the first Indian woman to earn a Cambridge doctorate in 1939.
She returned to India and turned to the country’s nutritional needs, studying vitamins at the Nutrition Research Laboratory in Coonoor. Later, at the Royal Institute of Science, she researched thiaminase, trypsin inhibitors and the nutritional value of Indian foods.
Her best-known work focused on Neera, which she studied as an affordable nutritional supplement. Her students later found it improved the health of malnourished tribal adolescents and pregnant women, earning Kamala the Rashtrapati Award.
Kamala died in 1998, leaving behind a legacy of persistence and purpose.
