Google is paying tribute to Indian physicist and meteorologist Anna Mani, who made significant contributions to meteorological instrumentation, conducted research and published papers on solar radiation, atmospheric ozone and wind energy measurements.
Google has depicted a Doodle dedicated to Mani, to celebrating her 104th birth anniversary.
Anna Modayil Mani was born in 1918 in Peermade, Kerala, and obtained her B.Sc. (Hon.) in 1939 from the Madras Presidency College. A voracious reader since childhood, Mani initially wanted to pursue dancing, but eventually decided in favour of physics since she liked the subject.
She began her scientific career with C.V. Raman at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, where she studied the fluorescence and absorption patterns and spectra of diamonds. In 1945, she went to the Imperial College, London, and later to the British Meteorological Office, studying the evolution of weather instruments. She visited several field observatories and manufacturers of meteorological instruments in England and Scotland. and later joined the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
She made significant contributions to meteorological instrumentation, conducted research, and published papers on solar radiation, atmospheric ozone and wind energy measurements. She was a member of a number of organizations including the International Ozone Association, Indian National Science Academy, American Meteorological Society, International Solar Energy Society, World Meteorological Organisation, among others.
She retired as the Deputy Director-General of the IMD in 1976. She passed away in 2001.
The World Meteorological Organization, of which she was a member, remembered her on her 100th birth anniversary and published her life profile along with an interview.
