Kamala Sohonie

 

                                                                    Kamala Sohonie 

                                            First Indian Woman To Receive A PhD Degree

                                            Discovered Cytochrome C In Every Plant Cell

                                         Cytochrome C In Plant Cells = Cellular Respiration

Cytochrome C In Plant Cells = Cellular Respiration

Snapshot 

Sohonie was the first Indian woman to have bagged a PhD degree in the scientific discipline. She applied to the IISc for a research fellowship and met with rejection merely because she was a woman. She was the first female student of Prof. CV Raman, who was the then IISc director. Due to her excellent performance, Raman gave her permission to pursue further research. She discovered that every cell of a plant tissue contained the enzyme ‘cytochrome C’ which was involved in the oxidation of all plant cells.