2 Vol.

66 (1) - 2017

Miss Anna Mani

Interview with Dr Hessam Taba
WMO Bulletin, October 1991: Volume 40 No.4
fundamental changes in our world since the most in 1948 until his death in 1970. I was directed to the
recent in 1975/1987 (Volume I/Volume II), including the library block which is where Miss Mani's office is
emergence of the Internet and the invention of cellular located. She greeted me with the burst of laughter for
phones with cameras. Important advancements in which she is famous and took me to her office where
Bangalore is known as a garden city. It is a picturesque, we got down to recording the interview, which she
bustling conurbation of four million inhabitants with thoughtfully supplemented with some notes. 'How was
world-renowned institutions of higher learning and I to introduce this energetic woman, so full of gaiety
research in the arts and sciences, with high-technology and yet so serious about her profession? Then I had
industries specializing in the manufacture of aircraft, a brainwave. Why not ask someone else to write the
machine tools, precision watches, electronics, radar introduction, someone who knows Miss Mani and who
and telecommunication systems, electrical motors, writes well? So I asked Oliver Ashford, my chief in the
generators and switchgears, computers and computer Secretariat back in the early 1960s. Mr Ashford writes:
software and earthmoving equipment.The headquarters
of the Indian Space Research Organization is also ‘"You can but do your best". This is the precept which
at Bangalore. There are excellent hotels and tourist I associate with Miss Mani: she not only quotes it,
attractions such as gardens, temples and palaces. she also lives up to it. And, in her case, the best is an
Bangalore is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka enviably high standard of honesty, loyalty, hard work
(formerly Mysore), lying equidistant from the Arabian and achievement.
Sea and the Bay of Bengal at about the same latitude
as Madras but at an altitude of 1 000 m so that it has I first met Miss Mani in 1946 when she came to study
a healthy climate. We shall leave Dr Taba to introduce at Harrow in that branch of the British Meteorological
this interview: Office responsible for the development of new and
improved instruments. She proved to be an apt pupil
'When I was invited to go to Bangalore to interview and, clad in a colourful sari, she impressed us with her
Miss Mani I was delighted, but at the same time rather skill in carrying out experiments, including the testing
apprehensive on two counts: the hours I would spend of instruments in a wind tunnel. She rapidly became
at airports waiting for connections and the fact that friendly with my family and we have remained close
I hardly knew Miss Mani for our professional paths friends ever since. In 1955 I had the opportunity of
seem never to have crossed. 'At 9 a. m. on Wednesday seeing and admiring her activities in the instruments
3 April, after a journey of more than 20 hours, I found branch of the India Meteorological Department at Pune
myself standing outside my hotel waiting for a taxi (Poona). It was here that I failed to live up to her high
to take me to the Raman Research Institute. A three- standards by arriving late for a meeting of the Pune
wheeled motor-scooter the like of which I had never staff at which I was the guest lecturer. The instrument
seen before (unique to India so I am told) drew up in laboratories and workshops were a hive of industry
front of me. The barefoot driver announced that this with Miss Mani the highly respected queen bee.
was a taxi, and before I had properly sat down in the
narrow seat we were off at high speed. For some 20 During the next 20 years I had occasion to attend many
minutes we zigzagged our way among cars, lorries and specialist meetings of WMO and IAMAP at which
animals until suddenly he stopped and asked where I Miss Mani was also present. She would report the
wanted to go! In another 20 minutes he had brought results of her own work quietly but effectively and only
me safely to the Institute. occasionally would she display the Amazonian side of
her nature when trying to persuade other delegates
With its beautiful gardens and extensive lawns, it is to accept her point of view as, for example, on the
one of the most impressive campuses I have ever adoption of Davos as the World Radiation Centre.
seen. There are only a few buildings but they are
very handsome, surrounded by literally hundreds of Miss Mani has always stood up for her native country.
flowering trees.The Institute was founded by the great She would react rapidly and forcefully to any adverse
Sir C. V. Raman and it was where he worked from the criticism of anything Indian, but would be the first
time he retired from the Indian Institute of Science to admit that there was still room for the kind of
improvements to which she herself devoted much this series for the WMO Bulletin but, so far, Dr Joanne
of her effort. Thanks largely to her enterprise, India is Simpson is the only other woman. So may we start
now in the forefront of countries where meteorological with my usual question about your family background
data, especially of solar radiation and wind, are being and early years?
presented in the most convenient way for studies of
alternative sources of energy. A.M. – I was born on 23 August 1918 at a small town
called Peermade in the Western Ghats less than 200 km
Now in her seventies, Miss Mani is still actively engaged from the southern extremity of the Indian peninsula. At
in scientific work and a much loved lecturer at national that time it was in the state of Travancore, but in 1956
and international gatherings. It is most fitting that she most of Travancore, Cochin, North Malabar and South
should be the first meteorological instrument expert to Kanara was amalgamated into the new state of Kerala.
be included in Or Taba's series of Bulletin interviews. My father was an engineer of the Travancore Public
My only regret is that with her expertise over such a Works Department in charge of roads and bridges.
wide range of measuring devices—radiosondes, ozone The concrete bridges he built over the many rivers in
and radiation instruments, anemometers, to name but the region and the roads he laid out have made him
a few—we do not yet have an eponymous instrument; quite famous. I was the seventh of eight children, five
how I would love to make some observations with an boys and three girls. My father's job meant that we
Annamaniometer!' moved quite often and so I had frequent changes of
school. Although we belong to an ancient Christian
church, said to have been established in the year AD
52 by St Thomas, Apostle of the East, my father was
an agnostic. He was also a rationalist, and taught us
always to be objective in our thinking and not to accept
any statement unless we had tested and proved it for
ourselves. I was particularly lucky to have been born
into that family, and also in that Indian state because
Travancore is one of the beautiful places on Earth,
with its mountains and tropical rainforests, rivers and
backwaters that run along its whole length. Our holidays
were spent in entrancing places in the mountains or
by the sea. Our parents took us swimming, riding and
shooting. We used to take long walks in the forests
studying the trees and watching birds and wild animals.
My father owned cardamom estates in the high ranges
of the Ghats—cardamom is grown in the virgin tropical
rainforest after the undergrowth has been cleared.The
fruit is dried and used as a spice. The view from our
house in the Elavanam estate overlooking the mountain
ranges is perhaps the most beautiful scenery I have
seen anywhere in the world. The love of nature in all
its glorious manifestations that I still enjoy was, I am
sure, due to this early exposure. Another remarkable
We are most thankful to Mr Ashford for this introduction fact about Travancore was that it was one of the few
and we are most grateful to Miss Mani for having states with the matriarchal system, so that women were
accepted to be interviewed by Dr Taba. not only respected but looked up to as head of family.

H.T. – Miss Mani, it is a special pleasure for me to have H.T. – If the woman is head of the family, I assume
this chance to conduct an interview with you. You that girls have the same opportunities for education
know, I have interviewed no less than 44 people in as boys?
A.M. –Yes, of course. A very enlightened Maharani who A.M. – He was an intellectual giant with a personality
ruledTravancore saw to it that education was free for all to match. He achieved in one lifetime what others
and more or less compulsory up to high school level. would take many lives to accomplish. The personal
Kerala has the highest rate of literacy in lndia—about example of his dedication to a scientific career, the
100 per cent according to the latest indications. My brilliance and originality of his research work, his
early schooling was at His Highness the Maharaja's success as a teacher in training students who now
School for Girls at Trivandrum, capital of Travancore. I themselves guide schools of research, his gift of
later attended the Christava Mahilalayam High School eloquence that stimulated widespread interest in
for Girls at Alwaye in the north of the state. For my science, his achievements as a scientific administrator
higher education I went to Madras; the first two years in creating facilities for research and establishing
at the Women's Christian College and then a three-year new schools for science, and his success in founding
honours degree course in chemistry and physics, journals for the publication of scientific work in India
plus a little mathematics, at Presidency College. For are among the factors that have profoundly influenced
physics I was taught by Professor H. Parameswaran the progress of science in India. He was a wonderful
and for chemistry by Professor B. B. Dey, both very teacher and a splendid public speaker, very widely read
well known in their fields. and with a remarkable command of languages. And
yet in spite of his wonderful abilities and wide renown,
H.T. – You were following in the footsteps of some he cared for his students like his own children. He was
highly eminent scientists. Was not Sir Chandrasekhara most concerned that, when the time came for us to
Venkata Raman a former student? leave his Department, we went into a job we would
enjoy and be successful in. Certainly I felt I was like a
A.M. – Indeed he was. I think he was there from 1902 daughter to him and Lady Raman; their house was a
to 1906, and the story goes that he knew so much second home to me, not only while I was a research
already that his professor suggested that he need not student at Bangalore, but also in later years. Sir C.
attend any lecture classes. Professors Ramanathan and V. Raman died in November 1970. I do not think you
Koteswaram, both of whom you have interviewed, were would wish me to catalogue his scientific discoveries
also among the illustrious graduates of Presidency here, enough has been written elsewhere. His work
College. There were only about six students to a class in optics that led to a description of the Raman effect1
instead of the usual 20 or 30, so that tuition was won him the Nobel Prize for physics in 1930 and he had
concentrated on the individual with consequently many other honours at home and abroad. I just want
excellent results. lt was wonderful to be actually doing to add that his broad culture made him a luminary in
things in workshops and laboratories under those more fields than physics.
conditions. I obtained my B.Sc. (with honours) in 1939
and then spent a year as demonstrator in physics at H.T. – Please go on and tell us about your research
the Women's Christian College. Only then did I feel I at Bangalore.
was really learning the subject!
A.M. – Professor Raman was at that time greatly
H.T. – Were you inclined to continue academic studies interested in the structure and physical properties of
after getting your degree? crystals, and notably of diamonds, which he called
the prince of solids. We were a team of nearly 20
A.M. – My desire then was to do research, and one of investigating various aspects. My initial work was on
the professors suggested I apply to go to the Indian the fluorescence and absorption of light in rubies. We
Institute of Science at Bangalore. I got a scholarship and were told later that we had just missed discovering
in 1940 entered the Department of Physics which was the ruby laser-electronics had not yet progressed
headed by none other than the great Sir C. V. Raman.

1 Scattered monochromatic light contains some light at different

H.T. – Before we go on to your work under Professor
wavelengths from the original due to photons gaining or losing
Raman, perhaps you would record some details about energy by interaction with molecules of the medium through
the man and his character? which they pass. (Ed.)
sufficiently. My first paper was published in 19422. in England and Scotland, including the magnetic
Then I graduated to work on diamonds. There were and seismological installations at Eskdalemuir.
two types, one with fluorescence in the blue and one Next I spent three months at the National Physical
in the green, and these we could relate to the crystal's Laboratory at Teddington learning about standards
vibration spectra. One of our major discoveries was and standardization. Finally, for three more months,
the mirror-image symmetry of the fluorescent and I went round visiting different meteorological
absorption spectra. instrument manufacturers. When I returned home
in 1948, India had become independent.
H.T. – Clearly you were enjoying your work and making
good headway. What were the circumstances that led H.T. – I assume you now joined the staff of the
you to leave the Institute and turn to meteorology? Meteorological Department?

A.M. – lt was entirely by accident. The Second World A.M. – Yes. I joined the instruments division at Pune as
War had just ended. Like most Indians I was for 'meteorologist grade 2' where an ambitious programme
Mahatma Gandhi and freedom for India, so that my to design and manufacture our own instruments was
feelings were then anything but pro-British. Therefore just beginning. Mr S. P. Venkiteshwaran was my chief.
when the Government offered scholarships for study Up to 1945, all our instruments—even the barometer
in the United Kingdom and the USA my first reaction backboards—had been imported from Europe. But
was one of rejection. However, a colleague at the although I had actually seen many different instruments
Institute managed to persuade me to apply, pointing being made, tested, calibrated and used during my
out that it was our money (the sterling balances) that tour in the United Kingdom, when I came up against
was being spent on the scholarships and I might as the conditions in India I realized that I still needed
well get something out of it. So I applied and went experience and that this could only be gained by going
for an interview in New Delhi. No scholarships were ahead and attempting to do things for myself.
available in my chosen field of physics, but there
was apparently a need for expertise in the domain of The instruments division of the India Meteorological
meteorological instrumentation. So I agreed to go to Department had quite good workshops and laboratories
the United Kingdom in order to learn something about and made fan-type radiosondes and ground equipment
this. lt was thus not entirely of my own choice that I as well as raingauges, anemometers and wind-
came into meteorology, but I shall always be grateful vanes. Rainfall measuring glasses and liquid-in-glass
that things turned out as they did. thermometers were made by a firm in Calcutta. My
first job was to construct recording raingauges, then
H.T. – So when did you make this first trip abroad? hygrographs, thermographs, barographs, barometers,
anemographs and so forth. We set up our own tool
A.M. – lt was in 1945, and the voyage was aboard room, foundry, smithy, and sheet-metal, carpentry and
a troopship with lots of other Indian scholarship assembly shops, and prepared detailed engineering
students. When I arrived in London I went first to specifications, drawings and technical manuals for
Imperial College, but Professor Brunt told me that all the 100-odd different kinds of instruments that
no courses were given on instruments and sent me eventually the Meteorological Department made.
to the Meteorological Office. There I was taken to the Surface instrumentation is now done in the workshops
office of the Director General, Sir Nelson Johnson, at Pune, upper-air instrumentation at New Delhi and
and from there handed down through the echelons hydrogen is produced at Agra.
to Mr Pace who was in charge of the laboratory
of the Met Office instruments division located at H.T. – With the British colonial staff having left India, I
Harrow. I spent about a year there learning about suppose there was a great need for highly competent
all types of surface and upper-air instruments. They scientists in the Meteorological Department?
arranged visits to a number of meteorological stations
A.M. – As a matter of fact, there were no British
2 Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences, XV, p. 52. people in the IMD in 1947, the last having been Sir
Charles Normand who had retired as Director General the Meteorological Department in 1948 but was then
in 1944. Many of Professor Raman's former physics appointed Director of the Physical Research Laboratory
students had been recruited into the Meteorological at Ahmedabad. The International Geophysical Year
Department. This was largely because in the 1930s (IGY) was already on the horizon and, as president of
and 1940s there were few good openings for them the IUGG International Association of Meteorology
at universities. Dr S. K. Banerji was the Director (that soon became IAMAP), he was much involved
General and Professor Ramanathan was on special in organizing and planning the IGY. With the growing
duty planning the reorganization of the Department. interest in atmospheric physics that the IGY brought
They were both former students of Sir C. V. Raman. I about, it was decided to set up a network of radiation
was one of the last of his students to enter the IMD. stations in India, but as we had not yet had time to
develop adequately our own radiometers we had to
H.T. – So the India Meteorological Department made buy the pyrheliometers and pyranometers we needed
itself self-sufficient as regards instrumentation. Surely from Europe for the first four stations. However, it
it was rather unusual in those days for a woman was not long before we were constructing our own,
to be given such responsibility in a governmental and today there are nearly 35 stations in the network
department? making regular observations.Then we also developed
sondes to observe vertical profiles not only of radiation
A.M. – We did become virtually self-sufficient as far but also of ozone and atmospheric electricity which
as instrumentation was concerned. We established were important parameters in the context of the IGY.
primary standard instruments and techniques for I am proud to say that we collected very reliable data
measuring pressure, temperature, wind speed and from all these newly instituted stations and the results
so forth. I greatly enjoyed conducting comparisons of have been published. Initially there was a problem of
regional standard barometers with the primary ones at units, because in India we had many different units
Pune and Calcutta. As for your second point, it is true and scales for stating weights and measures. lt was
that the role of women was a lot more circumscribed agreed that the Meteorological Department should
by public opinion than it is today. Even so, through adopt the metric system in advance of the IGY, and
his freedom movement Mahatma Gandhi had done a the rest of the country followed suit in 1959. lt was a
lot to emancipate women, and already in 1947 there major operation to replace all the existing instruments—
were female ministers, governors and members of literally thousands—by instruments reading in the
parliament. For myself, I must say that at no time did metric system. lt involved the preparation of drawings,
I experience professional discrimination as a woman specifications and manuals for each new instrument.
in what was considered largely a man's world. I did
not feel I was either penalized or privileged because H.T. – You set much store by standards and
of being female. Selection for the scholarships at standardization?
Bangalore and in the United Kingdom had nothing to do
with one's sex. I had worked hard to gain my academic A.M. – Yes. I believe that wrong measurements are
qualifications and was judged fit to carry out the work worse than no measurements at all. Unless instruments
that was needed. The British Meteorological Office are properly designed and built, accurately calibrated
showed no prejudice in making available facilities for and correctly exposed and read, meteorological
me. Perhaps the instrument manufacturing companies measurements have no meaning. This is where
I visited hoped for some big orders from India, but I am WMO plays a crucial role. In a science like ours,
afraid they were disappointed. In newly independent whose subject matter knows no national boundaries,
India we had to be able to fend for ourselves. standardization is of the utmost importance if we are
to be able to make meaningful analyses over large
H.T. – With its high level of scientific expertise, India was areas. I told the Indian Standards Institution that we
able to play a very important part in the International needed national standards for all meteorological
Geophysical Year that took place in 1957/1958. parameters, and so they appointed me chairman of
a committee to prepare specifications. Of course I
A.M. – Professor K.R. Ramanathan had retired from realize that measurements in the free atmosphere
Payerne, Switzerland, 1956 - International radiosonde comparison

can never be as accurate as measurements carried community of international meteorologists?

out in a laboratory, but I have always felt that unless
these meteorological soundings are as accurate and A.M. – As I said just now, it was mainly through
homogeneous as possible we shall never properly Professor Ramanathan's influence as a prime mover
understand atmospheric processes. of the IGY that systematic radiation and ozone
observations were started in India. I had been put in
H.T. – Therefore you presumably set great store by charge of the Instruments Division at Pune in 1953 and
international instrument comparisons? nominated Director in 1960, so that I was fortunate to
be at the forefront of these developments. As chairman
A.M. – Exactly. This is where I have been able to of the CIMO working group on radiation instruments
help and influence WMO to some extent. I have been and as a member of the International Radiation
directly or indirectly associated with international Commission, the International Ozone Commission
instrument comparisons since 1956. We have been and the International Commission on Atmospheric
able to undertake international and inter-regional Electricity, I could play a useful role in the development
comparisons of almost all types of instrument: of atmospheric instruments and measurements. You
pyrheliometers, pyranometers, net pyrradiometers, will remember that the IGY was timed to coincide with
sunshine recorders, radiometersondes, atmospheric a period of maximum sunspot activity, just as some
electricity sondes, ozone sondes, Dobson ozone six years later there was the International Quiet Sun
spectrophotometers, raingauges, anemometers, Year (IQSY) when the sunspot cycle reached its nadir.
instrumentation for aeronautical meteorology and We undertook intensive observations throughout
so forth. We have been able to designate international both periods, and maintained a good solar radiation
and national standards for almost all meteorological monitoring programme at other times. I had been
parameters. much impressed by the radiation station at Davos
when I had visited it in 1956 after the radiosonde
H.T. – I believe it was mainly through your work in the intercomparison at Payerne, so I had no difficulty in
field of radiation that you first made your mark in the agreeing to it as the site of the second international
pyrheliometer comparison in 1964. In 1963, at the World Radiation Centre at Davos for having organized
request of Dr Vikram Sarabhai who laid the foundations comparisons of radiation instruments regularly every
of India's space programme, I had the honour to set five years since 1970. A group of absolute cavity
up meteorological facilities at the new International radiometers at Davos was accepted as the world
Equatorial Rocket-launching Site near Trivandrum in reference in 1980 and henceforth used as the basis
the south of India. I shall never forget the excitement for calibrating regional and national radiometers.
of the first launch and our jubilation when everything Incidentally, my successor as chairman of the CIMO
went well. radiation working group was Dr C. Fröhlich who is the
director of the Davos observatory.
H.T. – Were you also involved in the International Indian
Ocean Experiment in the early 1960s? H.T. – Your country has long been among the leaders
in the measurement of atmospheric ozone.
A.M. –Yes. We were involved in equipping two ships, the
Kistna and Varuna, with the requisite instrumentation. A.M. – Until fairly recently, most Meteorological Services
Some of my colleagues went to sea to take observations. took little or no interest in ozone since it had nothing to
I would have loved to have gone, but in those days do with forecasting the weather. Professor Ramanathan
women were not allowed on ships of the Indian navy. bridged the gap most effectively between the national
Things have changed since then, and nowadays they Meteorological Services and non-governmental bodies
even work on Indian bases in the Antarctic. in ICSU, and it is thanks to his wide-ranging interest in
atmospheric physics that regular ozone observations
H.T. – What were your other associations with WMO? in India can be traced back to the early 1940s. In fact,
Dr Dobson himself had organized some observations
A.M. – I was elected a member of the CIMO advisory here during the period 1928 - 1929 when studying the
working group in the mid-1960s, the radiation advisory latitudinal variation of total ozone around the world.
group to the WMO/ICSU Joint Organizing Committee, In 1964 Professor Ramanathan handed over the Indian
the CIMO working groups on atmospheric electricity network of Dobson spectrophotometer stations to the
and on precipitation, the COSAMC3 working group on Meteorological Department, and that was when I started
radiation climatology and, while I was chairman of the being involved in the programme. At Pune, my colleague
working groups on radiation of CIMO and Regional Dr C. R. Sreedharan developed an electrochemical
Association 11, we were able to put world-wide radiation ozone sonde. We took regular ozone soundings from
measurements on a stable basis. WMO has designated three stations in India. In the meantime I had taken
not only standard instruments but also world, regional over as Deputy Director General (Instruments) at New
and national centres where individual instruments can Delhi. After our ozone spectrophotometers had been
be calibrated against a standard one. As the world modernized to incorporate up-to-date electronics in the
centre I favoured the observatory at Davos, and the 1970s and gave highly reliable results, we worked back
then Director of the Swiss Meteorological Institute, Mr through the earlier observations applying a correction
Raymond Schneider, agreed to accept the responsibility factor to make the whole series of data comparable. I
of setting it up and running it at minimal cost to WMO. have recently been involved in analysing ozone data
The offer of the USSR had earlier been accepted to from Indian stations for the period 1960 to 1990 and
create a world radiation data centre at Leningrad, and have found no apparent decrease in total ozone in the
their offer to set up a second World Radiation Centre tropics during the past 30 years. Now that we have
there was also accepted. So now we have a three-tier ozone sensors aboard orbiting satellites we have the
hierarchy of radiation centres analogous to the World advantage of global coverage by one single instrument
Weather Watch infrastructure: world, regional and which gives a good relative distribution of total ozone,
national centres. I must congratulate WMO and the but it remains essential to have a network of good
observing stations on the ground so that we have an
3 The former Commission for Special Applications of Meteorology
idea of the absolute values, or 'ground truth'.
and Climatology became the Commission for Climatology and
Applications of Meteorology in 1979 and the Commission for
Climatology in 1983 (Ed.). H.T. – Did you receive any national or international
awards for your work on atmospheric ozone? sites. Whereas the mean precipitable water content at
Bangalore was 35-40 mm, at Nandi Hills it was only
A.M. – Well, I received the K. R. Ramanathan Memorial 5-6 mm.The telescope has now been constructed, and
Medal from the Indian National Science Academy there are plans to install one at Nandi Hills also. The
and a citation for my work over 30 years from the Department of Science and Technology of the Indian
International Ozone Commission. Government, anticipating a need for instrumentation
to assess potential resources in solar radiation and
H.T. – Perhaps you would say something about wind energy, asked the Raman Research Institute to
measurements of other atmospheric parameters? develop the requisite instruments. This was done,
and the know-how passed on to two companies that
A.M. – In the domain of atmospheric electricity, we are now manufacturing them. Again at the request
have made regular observations in India since 1952 of the Department of Science and Technology, two
using potential gradient and conductivity sondes, volumes on solar radiation over India were prepared:
not to mention similar soundings with ozone and the Handbook of Solar Radiation Data for India (1980)
radiometer sondes. We published a number of papers and Solar Radiation over India (1981). The first volume
on the results we obtained and on the radiation climate gives observed data at 18 stations, whilst the second
of the Indian subcontinent and the Indian Ocean with gives computed data for 145 stations.Two approaches
its adjoining areas. I forgot to mention that in 1959 I were employed: one using regression techniques to
spent six months in the USA under what was called calculate global, direct and diffuse solar radiation from
the Point Four Programme to see what more I could records of sunshine or cloudiness, and the other using
learn about meteorological instruments. Mr Gordon a theoretical model to compute radiation received at
Cartwright was at that time in charge of the technical the ground, taking account of scattering and absorption
assistance programme at the Weather Bureau and by known concentrations of oxygen, ozone, C02 and
both he and Dr Reichelderfer were most kind and water vapour in the atmosphere.
cooperative, letting me travel all over the USA to see
and learn about whatever I wanted. This freedom H.T. – You have also been researching wind data for
of choice allowed me to learn much more about the purpose of harnessing energy I believe?
recent developments in the application of electronics
and computerization to instrumentation than if I had A.M. – This is currently my main interest and
followed a set course. lt also shattered some rather responsibility. At the request of the newly-established
bigoted preconceptions I had of the country and its Department of Non-conventional Energy Sources,
people. On my way home I also visited Canada, Hawaii, all the available wind data from the IMD stations
Japan, Thailand and Sri Lanka. were published in a third volume, Wind Energy Data
for India (1983). Realizing that the meteorological
H.T. – In 1976 you retired from the Meteorological observatories did not give a correct picture of the
Department in accordance with the rules of the Indian country's wind-energy potential, we have since (at the
civil service. What was your next appointment? request of the Department of Non-conventional Energy
Sources) organized wind measurements at over 600
A.M. – I joined the Raman Research Institute in sites using 20- and 5-metre instrumented masts. The
Bangalore as visiting professor for three years and was Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology at Pune has
given the task of selecting a site for a new millimetre- established a field research unit at Bangalore to look
wave telescope that was being designed and built. after this extensive national programme. Recently
This involved taking detailed measurements both at we published Wind Energy Resource Survey in India
the Institute campus at Bangalore and at Nandi Hills, that presents three years' accumulated data from 21
about 60 km to the north and about a thousand metres sites equipped with 20-metre masts (sensors at 10
higher. So we set up a first class observatory at both and 20 m). Our major tasks at present are to help in
locations. Using a newly designed infra-red spectral identifying potential sites throughout the country
hygrometer calibrated by data from radiosondes, we for wind farms for the large-scale generation of
measured the precipitable water content over both electric power and to compile a wind climatology
over the whole country based on the existing 500 say to Mr S. P. Venkiteshwaran and to all my present
wind-measuring stations plus 500 new ones. In the and former colleagues in the instruments divisions at
light of the results of our survey, wind farms that Pune and New Delhi who worked with such loyalty,
generate over 36 MW of electric power have been devotion and enthusiasm.
set up in a number of states; 50-MW and 100-MW
systems are planned for Gujarat and Tamil Nadu H.T. – I believe you worked for WMO for short periods?
respectively, in the framework of a national target of
at least a gigawatt of aeolian power by the year 2000. A.M. – For two periods of three months each: in
I have recently become a climatologist, therefore, in 1967 at the WMO headquarters to revise the WMO
addition to being an instrument expert. But I have Guide to Instruments and Observing Practices; and
always felt that climate is far more important than in Egypt in 1975 as expert on radiation. I am just
back from the Region 11/ Region V training seminar
on the presentation and use of meteorological
data for solar and wind energy that took place
at Kathmandu, Nepal, in March 1991. lt was an
exhilarating experience since there were 30 lively
participants from 16 Asian countries. lt is amazing
how radiation measurements are still not being
made using instruments recommended by WMO. lt
is crucially important to have reliable observations,
and not only to serve as ground truth to validate
satellite data. So, the sooner all countries start using
Tokyo, Japan, 1965 - CIMO-IV: Miss Mani with (from left reliable instruments, the sooner they will have a firm
to right) Messrs Wallen, Rockney, Hinzpeter, Treussart data base for assessing their solar energy potential.
and Kronebach.
H.T. – How do you feel about meteorology today in
weather. It is mainly in mid-latitude temperate zones India and elsewhere?
that the accent has been placed on short-term weather
forecasting. Since there is an inherent limitation on A.M. – We still have a long way to go—particularly in
the time-range of deterministic weather forecasting, forecasting the monsoon—despite more than a hundred
it is beyond my comprehension, though, how anyone years of concentrated effort. I still place measurements
can contemplate predicting the climate. first. Neither models nor supercomputers can give
reliable short- and medium-range forecasts unless
H.T. – Which of the many scientists you have met during their input of observed data (especially for the upper
your career left the greatest impression? air) is reliable. I would also like to see better education
and training in meteorology—the universities should
A.M. – It has been my privilege to meet many be leading in this, but at present they are not. I am
outstanding scientists both at home and abroad. Your currently involved in the publication of a series of
question puts me in an invidious position because textbooks by Indian meteorologists which should, one
obviously I can name only a few. Professor Raman, hopes, fill the lacunae that exist in books on Indian
of course, had the greatest influence on my whole life weather and climate.
and outlook. Professor Ramanathan has been a great
source of encouragement and advice, demonstrating H.T. – What are your chief interests outside your
what can be achieved in meteorology.Then there were, professional activities?
inter alios, A. Angstrom, M I. Budyko, G. M. B. Dobson,
A. Drummond, H. U. DUtsch, H. Landsberg, F. Moller, W. A.M. – I am very lucky because work in my professional
Morikofer and C. D. Walshaw. Among my other Indian capacity has been a hobby and joy to me. I should be
colleagues, I should like to mention P. R. Krishna Rao most unhappy to wake up without the prospect of some
and Professor P. R. Pisharoty. I owe far more than I can work to do. But when I have done it, I enjoy reading and
listening to music. I love going to the mountains and 'The pursuit of science; its motivations'. He concluded:
to the sea; in short, I love nature and try to do some
bird-watching and learn about trees and flowers and "The pursuit of science has often been compared to the
plants. I used to do a lot of photography, but nowadays scaling of mountains, high and not so high. But who
cameras seem to get heavier and heavier. Finally, I amongst us can hope, even in imagination, to scale
have my dog to ensure that I keep active. Everest and reach its summit when the sky is blue and
the air still; and in that stillness of the air survey the
H.T. – How do you see the future of meteorological
instrumentation? Are the technological advances
keeping pace with scientific theory?

A.M. – Never forget that there can be no synoptic

meteorology, no weather forecasting and no
climatology without measurements.To a considerable
extent, technological developments determine the
rate of advance of scientific theory because they
provide a wider range of the raw material, namely
data. Any measuring system consists of a sensor, a
signal-conditioning unit and a recorder or display. We Bangalore, India, May 1991 - Miss Mani with Dr Taba
have made tremendous progress in the latter two, but
less in the case of sensors. The sensor is, after all, the entire Himalayan range in the dazzling white of the
heart of the instrument, and if the data it acquires are snow stretching to infinity. None of us can hope for a
wrong, the processor unit cannot correct them. In comparable vision of nature and the universe around
some cases the expenditure on data-processing and us. But there is nothing mean or lowly in standing
-logging is not justified by the quality of the initial data in the valley below and awaiting the sunrise over
acquired. I have already referred to the reliance we Kangchenjunga."
place on ground truth for attributing absolute values
to the radiometric patterns obtained from satellite data. H.T. – That is a picturesque thought on which to close
Radiometry from satellites is one of the greatest gifts this interview. Thank you very much indeed, Miss
to meteorology this century. Most of the Earth can Mani, for your frank and interesting recollections of
be scanned by one and the same radiometric sensor, a career in which so many opportunities were taken
whether it be for temperature or precipitable water to benefit the community.
profiles, cloud-top or surface temperatures, ozone
mapping, or other purposes. So all sensors (both the
radiometers and the ground-based instruments) must
be accurate, reliable and robust.

H.T. – Finally, Miss Mani, have you any advice to offer a

young person thinking of meteorology as their future
profession?

A.M. – Young people nowadays neither seek nor need

advice, least of all from someone of another generation.
But since the question is framed in an impersonal
way, I feel I can venture to say: 'We have only one life.
First equip yourself for the job, make full use of your
talents and then love and enjoy the work, making the
most of being out of doors and in contact with nature'.
Professor S. Chandrasekhar once gave a talk entitled