Tech giant and search engine Google paid tribute to Indian physicist and meteorologist Anna Mani on her 104 birth anniversary via a creative doodle. Google honoured Anna Mani through a colourful and whimsical illustration on its home page.
Anna Mani, who is also known as the "Weather Woman of India" was the seventh of eight children in her family.
Born in 1918 in a Syrian Christian family, Anna Mani grew up in Kerala and made several contributions in the field of physics and metrology. Her contribution made it possible for India to make a path for accurate weather forecasts and lay the groundwork to harness renewable energy.
After completing a Bachelor of Science with honours in physics and chemistry from Presidency College, Madras, Anna Mani taught at WCC for a year and won a scholarship for post-graduate studies at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. She then, under the guidance of Nobel Laureate Sir CV Raman, studied spectroscopy, specializing in diamonds and rubies.
Anna Mani went on to publish five papers, complete her PhD dissertation and started a graduate program at Imperial College, London between 1942 and 1945.
In 1948, after returning from London, Anna Mani joined India Meteorological Department in Pune, where she was responsible for arranging meteorological instruments.
Anna Mani later became Deputy Director General of the India Meteorological Department and held several key positions in the United Nations World Meteorological Organization.
In 1987, she won the INSA K. R. Ramanathan Medal for her remarkable contributions to science.
Mani was also an advocate of alternative energy sources and throughout the 1950s, she inculcated a network of solar radiation monitoring stations and published several papers on sustainable energy measurement.
Following her retirement, she was appointed a Trustee of the Raman Research Institute in Bangalore.
