Kamala Sohonie: The Woman Who Opened the Doors of Science

Awakening of women

The student who stared Sir CV Raman down, became first Indian woman PhD

Denied entry for being a woman, she didn’t protest; she proved. And in doing so, she rewrote India’s scientific story. Kamala Sohonie challenged gender bias to become the first Indian woman with a PhD in biochemistry.

Kamala Sohonie’s life is a remarkable story of curiosity, courage, scientific achievement and persistence in the face of discrimination. At a time when very few Indian women were encouraged to become scientists, she became the first Indian woman to earn a PhD in a scientific discipline and later became the first woman to head the Institute of Science in Bombay (now Mumbai).

Childhood and family

Kamala was born as Kamala Bhagvat on 18 June 1911 in Indore, in present-day Madhya Pradesh. She came from a family with a strong interest in science. Her father, Narayanarao Bhagvat, and her uncle, Madhavrao Bhagvat, were chemists and among the early students of the Tata Institute of Sciences, which later became the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru.

Growing up in such a family, Kamala became interested in science from an early age. Her family encouraged her intellectual interests at a time when higher education, particularly scientific education, was still difficult for many Indian women.

Her family also included an accomplished woman: her sister Durga Bhagwat, who later became a well-known scholar, writer and social worker.

Kamala therefore grew up in an environment where education and intellectual achievement were valued. Her father’s and uncle’s scientific careers strongly influenced her decision to become a scientist herself.

Education

Kamala studied science at the University of Bombay. She chose Chemistry as her principal subject and Physics as her subsidiary subject.

In 1933, she completed her BSc with first-class results and stood at the top of the university merit list. Her excellent performance gave her a strong academic foundation, and she wanted to continue with scientific research.

Her next goal was the prestigious Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru.

But this is where the greatest struggle of her life began.

The door that was closed because she was a woman

In 1933, Kamala applied to the Indian Institute of Science for postgraduate research.

The institute was headed by the famous physicist and Nobel laureate Sir C. V. Raman.

Despite Kamala’s outstanding academic record, her application was initially rejected because she was a woman. Contemporary accounts and later recollections describe Raman’s reluctance to admit women into the research programme.

Kamala did not quietly accept the decision.

She went to Bengaluru and confronted the situation directly. Influenced by the ideas of Mahatma Gandhi and the method of Satyagraha, she protested peacefully until Raman agreed to give her an opportunity.

However, the opportunity came with humiliating conditions.

She was initially admitted on probation, and she had to work under restrictions that male students did not face. Accounts of the period describe conditions concerning her working hours and her interaction with male researchers.

Instead of allowing these conditions to defeat her, Kamala decided to prove herself through her work.

Proving herself at IISc

At IISc, Kamala worked under M. Sreenivasayya. Her research focused on proteins in milk, pulses and legumes—foods that were particularly important to the nutrition of ordinary Indians.

She worked with determination and completed her research successfully.

Her performance was so strong that the experience helped challenge the assumption that women could not undertake serious scientific research.

In 1936, she completed her MSc with distinction.

Her success was therefore larger than a personal academic achievement. She had demonstrated that a woman could enter a major scientific institution, conduct research and excel alongside male scientists.

Cambridge: Becoming the first Indian woman with a scientific PhD

Kamala’s ambitions did not stop with her MSc.

In 1937, she went to England and joined Newnham College, Cambridge. There she continued her research in biochemistry. She worked initially with Derek Richter and later with plant physiologist Robin Hill.

Her research examined respiration in plant tissues.

One of her important areas of research involved cytochrome c, a substance involved in the process by which cells obtain energy.

Kamala completed her doctoral research remarkably quickly. She finished her PhD thesis in about 14 months and received her PhD from Cambridge in 1939.

This made her the first Indian woman to receive a PhD in a scientific discipline.

For an Indian woman in the 1930s, this was an extraordinary achievement.

Returning to India

After completing her PhD, Kamala returned to India in 1939.

She did not choose to remain abroad permanently. Instead, she wanted to use her scientific knowledge in India.

She became Professor and Head of Biochemistry at Lady Hardinge Medical College in New Delhi.

She subsequently worked as Assistant Director at the Nutrition Research Laboratory in Coonoor, where she studied nutrition and vitamins.

Her scientific interests increasingly turned toward an important social question:

How could science help improve the nutrition of India’s poor?

This question became one of the central themes of her career.

Marriage and family life

In 1947, Kamala married M. V. Sohonie, an actuary, and moved to Bombay. She continued her scientific career after marriage.

Her family life did not prevent her from pursuing scientific work.

Instead, she continued to combine family responsibilities with research, teaching and public service.

Her family background remained an important part of her scientific journey. Her father and uncle had been chemists, and her sister Durga became a distinguished intellectual in her own field.

The Royal Institute of Science

In Bombay, Kamala joined the Royal Institute of Science as Professor of Biochemistry.

Her research concentrated increasingly on foods commonly eaten by ordinary Indians, including legumes, rice and other inexpensive food sources.

She was interested not merely in laboratory discoveries but in whether scientific research could actually improve people’s lives.

Eventually, she became the first woman Director of the Institute. Her appointment was another important breakthrough for women in Indian science.

The Neera research

One of Kamala Sohonie’s most socially important contributions came from her research on Neera, the fresh sap obtained from certain palm trees.

The work was undertaken following a suggestion from India’s first President, Dr. Rajendra Prasad.

Kamala studied the nutritional properties of Neera and found that it contained significant amounts of vitamin A, vitamin C and iron.

She also investigated whether these nutrients remained available when Neera was processed into products such as palm jaggery and molasses.

The importance of this research was practical.

Neera was relatively inexpensive and could potentially provide useful nutrients to people suffering from malnutrition.

Subsequent dietary work examined its potential as a nutritional supplement for malnourished children and pregnant women in tribal communities.

For this work, Kamala received the Rashtrapati Award.

Her scientific career therefore had a distinctive purpose: she tried to connect laboratory research with the everyday nutritional problems of ordinary people.

Recognition and later work

Kamala Sohonie became an internationally respected biochemist and nutrition scientist.

Among her important distinctions were:

• First Indian woman to earn a PhD in a scientific discipline
• First woman to study at IISc
• First woman to head the Institute of Science, Bombay
• Rashtrapati Award for her research related to the nutritional value of Neera
• Recognition for her research into vitamins, legumes, rice and other foods important to poorer communities.
• She was also involved in public-interest work.

She became associated with the Consumer Guidance Society of India (CGSI) and served as its president in 1982–83. She also wrote on consumer safety.

Her final years and death

Kamala continued to be respected in Indian scientific circles even after her active research career.

In 1998, she was honoured at a felicitation ceremony organised by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in New Delhi.

According to accounts of her final days, she collapsed during the felicitation ceremony and died shortly afterwards.

She died on 28 June 1998 in New Delhi, just ten days after her 87th birthday.

Her lasting legacy

Kamala Sohonie’s story is not only the story of India’s first woman with a scientific PhD.

It is the story of a woman who encountered a closed door, refused to accept that the door was closed forever, and then demonstrated through her work that women belonged in scientific laboratories.

Her scientific work also had a humanitarian purpose. She studied foods that were affordable and accessible to ordinary Indians and tried to understand how science could help tackle malnutrition.

In 2023, Google honoured Kamala Sohonie with a Doodle on what would have been her 112th birthday, bringing her story to the attention of a new generation.

What makes her story special

Kamala Sohonie’s journey can be remembered in four words:

Education → Resistance → Science → Service

She first fought for the right to study science, then proved herself through scientific research, and finally used that knowledge in the service of society.

Her life sends a particularly powerful message to young girls:

 A barrier placed in front of you does not have to become the boundary of your dreams.

Note: There are conflicting secondary sources about Kamala Sohonie’s exact birth date; the Institute of Science, Mumbai and several major references give 18 June 1911, which I have used here. – Editor