Who Was Anna Mani? Here's All You Need To Know About 'Weather Woman Of India'

On August 23rd, 2022, Google Doodle pays tribute to Anna Mani who played a significant role in the field of meteorological instrumentation. Today, we are celebrating the 104th birth anniversary of Anna Mani India one of the first female scientists and was named the 'Weather Woman of India'.

Most of us are not familiar with this pioneering scientist whose contribution continues to make Indian and International science organisations stronger day by day.

Who Was Anna Mani? Here's All You Need To Know About 'Weather Woman Of India' | Google

Here¡¯s all you need to know about one of India¡¯s pioneering women scientists, Anna Mani. A distinguished meteorologist, Mani was the former Deputy Director General of the Indian Meteorological Department and made significant contributions in the field of solar radiation, ozone and wind energy instrumentation.

Who was Anna Mani?

Born on August 23, 1918, Anna Mani grew up in a prosperous family in the state of Travancore, a former princely state in the Southern part of India, now part of Kerala. She was the seventh of eight siblings. Anna Mani¡¯s father was a prosperous civil engineer who owned large cardamom estates in the region. Her family belonged to the ancient Syrian Christian church; however, her father remained agnostic throughout his life.

Who Was Anna Mani? Here's All You Need To Know About 'Weather Woman Of India' | IMD

Since her childhood, Anna Mani was very fond of reading books and eventually became an avid book reader. Mani spent most of her time in reading and exploring books and waded through the entire book collection at her public library.

What is Anna Mani famous for?

Anna Mani was an Indian physicist and meteorologist. She was the Deputy Director General of the Indian Meteorological Department. She made significant contributions in the field of meteorological instrumentation. She conducted research and published numerous papers on solar radiation, ozone and wind energy measurements.

After graduating from physics and chemistry, she worked under Prof. C V Raman, researching the optical properties of ruby and diamond. She authored five research papers, but she was not granted a PhD because she did not have a master's degree in physics.

What did Anna Mani invent?

Who Was Anna Mani? Here's All You Need To Know About 'Weather Woman Of India' | DPA/weatherandradar

After completing her studies in meteorological instruments at Imperial College London. She return to India in 1948, and joined the Meteorological department in Pune.

In 1960, Anna Mani started her work on measuring atmospheric ozone, before the world even understood the ozone layer¡¯s functions. Anna Mani designed an instrument - ozonesonde - to measure atmospheric ozone. She also set up a meteorological observatory at the Thumba rocket launching facility.

'Weather Woman of India'

Who Was Anna Mani? Here's All You Need To Know About 'Weather Woman Of India' | WMO

In the IMD, Anna Mani helped the country to design and manufacture its own weather instruments. She excelled so much in this male-dominated field that by 1953, she became head of the division. Under her leadership, more than 100 weather instrument designs were simplified and standardised for production. Anna Mani was an early advocate of alternative energy sources.

Throughout the 1950s, Mani established a network of solar radiation monitoring stations and published several papers on sustainable energy measurement.

For her contribution to India Meteorological Department, she is also known as the 'Weather Woman of India'.

Anna Mani key achievements

Who Was Anna Mani? Here's All You Need To Know About 'Weather Woman Of India' | thenewster

After gaining a lot of experience and knowledge, Anna Mani became Deputy Director General of IMD and held several key positions in the United Nations World Meteorological Organisation. In 1987, she won the INSA K. R. Ramanathan Medal for her remarkable contributions to science.

After her retirement, Anna Mani was appointed as a Trustee of the Raman Research Institute in Bangalore. She also founded a company that manufactured solar and wind energy devices.

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