The advancements in the Indian meteorological field and its modernization owe immensely to the contributions of Anna Mani, a pioneer in the indigenization of meteorological instruments used for weather forecast and monitoring. By qualification, the world knows her as Anna Mani Indian physicist whose research revolved around ozone, solar radiation, and wind energy measurements. She has to credit with numerous papers published internationally. However, in India, she was more famous as a renowned meteorologist who started her journey as a scientist by researching the optical properties of diamonds and rubies under the eminent physicist Prof. C.V. Raman.
Education of Anna Mani
The seeds of Anna Mani education were sown during her childhood years. She developed an intense habit of reading and remained engrossed in books from the time she was only eight years old. Such was her love for knowledge that despite having a penchant for dancing. So she decided to study physics after completing school. She graduated from Madras’ Presidency College in 1939 with honors in B.Sc physics and chemistry. Then she got a scholarship and enrolled at the Imperial College, London, to continue her graduate studies in physics but ended up with a specialization in meteorological instruments.
The turning point in her career
She started her career in research under Prof. C.V. Raman soon after graduating from Pachai College. And then successfully submitted her Ph.D. dissertation along with authoring five research papers. But she could not secure the Ph.D. because she did not have a master’s degree in physics. She completed her education at London’s Imperial College. Then she returned to India and joined the Meteorology Department of the Government of India in Pune. It marked a turning point in her career that helped her become the most revered meteorological scientist in the country. She played a pioneering role in modernizing meteorological instrumentation in India with an emphasis on making India self-sufficient in manufacturing weather instruments. She also changed how people used to gauge the weather. And later kickstarted a program for designing weather instruments for manufacturing in India.
Family
regarding Anna Mani family, Anna Mani defied family norms, staying unmarried and challenging the expectation for daughters to prioritize marriage over high-level careers. From her childhood, her intense desire for knowledge turned her into a voracious reader. So she forayed into the world beyond the family domain and imbibed a deep sense of social justice that shaped her later life. Deeply hurt by gender discrimination, she pursued her ambition to become a groundbreaking physicist, taking charge of her destiny. This is evident from one Anna Mani quote where she says, “My being a woman had no bearing on what I chose to do with my life. What is this hoopla about women and science?”
Such was her dedication to work that Anna Mani once said in an interview, “I should be most unhappy to wake up without the prospect of some work to do’’.
