AASP Primary Records Program

PALYNOS 9(2): p. 2-3, 1986.

DR. GANAPATHI THANIKAIMONI
1938-1986

On September 6 international terrorism again raised its ugly head with the attempted hijacking of a Pan American 747 airliner at the Karachi Airport (Pakistan), which resulted in the death or wounding of numerous passengers.

One of the innocent victims was Dr. Ganapathi Thanikairnoni, the distinguished Director of the Palynology Laboratory at the French Institute in Pondicherry, India. At the time of his unfortunate death, Dr. Thanikaimoni had been enroute to present an invited lecture at a symposium on marine palynology, as a part of the UNESCO-sponsored Second International Conference on Paleooceanography that was held September 6-12 at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts, USA.

Thani, as he was called by his friends and colleagues, was widely known for his manifold contributions to the science of palynology.

Born on New Year's Day, 1938 in Madras, Thani received the Master of Science degree in Botany in 1962 at the University of Madras under the direction of the eminent plant morphologist, Professor B.G.L. Swamy. At the same time Thani was awarded the prestigious Fyson Prize in Natural Science, which is reserved for truly outstanding Indian naturalists.

Soon afterwards he took a position in the newly-founded (1960) Palynology Laboratory of the Institut Francais Je Pondichery under the direction of Dr.Ph. Guinet. Within a few years Thani's scientific and administrative abilities were recognized by his promotion to the directorship of these laboratories.

In 197O he was granted the doctorate degree by the University of Montpellier in recognition of his erudite and comprehensive thesis on the pollen morphology, classification and phylogeny of 800 species of extant Palmae (=Arecaceae). During the next decade this tireless and prolific worker published numerous significant papers concerning such essentially tropical families as the Araceae, Clusiaceae, Menispermaceae, Mimosaceae and Sonnera tiaceae [see Palynos 8(2): 7, Dec 1985]. In the majority of these publications, he not only gave a complete and accurate description of the pollen morphology of the species he examined, but also included the morphologv of the other plant organs, in order to elucidate their probable phylogenv and to justify the classification schemes selected.

Although the bulk of Thani's early research dealt with pollen of modern floras, in recent years he turned to studies of fossil pollen as well. In 1983 he convened a workshop for French and Indian palynologists: Pondicherry [ICP Newsletter 6(1):6-7]with the goal of clarifying the taxonomy of angiosperm pollen previously described from Tertiary horizons of tropical Africa and India. For this project Thani's collection of more than 20,000 slides of tropical palynomorphs was of inestimable value. From this cooperative endeavor, a clear synthesis of 47 taxa was obtained and published. Furthermore, he had recently been active in organizing a symposium on Tertiary pollen from tropical regions for the 7th IPC in Brisbane.

Despite Dr. Thanikaimoni's previously-mentioned important contributions to the science of palynology, he probably received his greatest international recognition and acclaim for his scholarly 5-volume compilation of the literature on the morphology of angiosperm pollen-Index Bibliogrciphique sur la Morphologic des Pollens d'Angiospermes, which he initiated in 1972. His wife, Kitty, mother of their two young children, gave him invaluable assistance in the preparation of these significant publications. These volumes are indispensible bibliographic aids in the laboratories of all practicing actuopalynologists.

Thani has been referred to as "a palynologic well of erudition"-this expression fits him exactly, since he was cognizant of almost every aspect of palynology. With his untimely death, the science of palynology lost one of its most brilliant minds, his grieving wife and children have lost a loving husband and father, and many of us have lost an esteemed friend.

C. Caratini (CEGET, Talence) &
A. Le Thomas (EPHE, Paris)

Bibliography of G. Thanikaimoni