26 Facts About Madhav Gadgil

Madhav Dhananjaya Gadgil was born on 24 May 1942 and is an Indian ecologist, academic, writer, columnist and the founder of the Centre for Ecological Sciences, a research forum under the aegis of the Indian Institute of Science.

Madhav Gadgil is a former member of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India and the Head of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel of 2010, popularly known as the Gadgil Commission.

Madhav Gadgil received the Champions of the Earth in 2024.

Madhav Gadgil was born on 24 May 1942 in Pune, in the western Indian state of Maharashtra.

Madhav Gadgil's parents were Pramila and Dhananjay Ramchandra Gadgil, a Cambridge scholar, economist, former director of the Gokhale Institute and the author of the Gadgil formula.

Madhav Gadgil graduated in biology from Fergusson College of the University of Pune in 1963, and secured a master's degree in zoology from the Mumbai University in 1965.

Madhav Gadgil was encouraged to join Harvard University by Giles Mead, then curator of fishes at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology.

Madhav Gadgil returned to India in 1971 and took up a job as a scientific officer at Agharkar Research Institute of the Maharashtra Association for Cultivation of Science, Pune where he stayed for two years.

Madhav Gadgil worked as a visiting professor at Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley.

In 1976, when the Government of Karnataka decided to look into protecting the bamboo resources of the state, Madhav Gadgil was asked to conduct a study, which is reported to have influenced the government to curb the subsidies provided to forest based industries.

Madhav Gadgil served as a member of the environmental education panel of the National Council of Educational Research and Training and as a member of the National Advisory Council.

Madhav Gadgil is a member of the National Tiger Conservation Authority and is the chairman of the committee proposing Environmental Education Curriculum at School level.

Madhav Gadgil has represented Pune University at the All India University Athletic meet.

Madhav Gadgil is married to Sulochana Gadgil, a noted meteorologist and a Harvard scholar, whom he met during his Fergusson College years.

One of the major contributions of Madhav Gadgil is his effort towards the preservation of ecology of India.

Madhav Gadgil has been credited by many with the introduction of quantitative investigations of ecology and animal behaviour in India and for including humans as a vital part of ecosystems.

Madhav Gadgil is still associated with the Authority in the preparation of a biodiversity inventory at the local bodies' level.

Madhav Gadgil is known to have done extensive researches in the areas of population biology, conservation biology, human ecology and ecological history.

Madhav Gadgil's researches have been documented by over 250 scientific articles, published in various journals and magazines.

Madhav Gadgil developed a penchant for writing at an early age and his first publication was a series of ten articles on animal behaviour, published in Srishtidnyan, a Marathi language science magazine, when he was studying in the 10th standard.

Madhav Gadgil published his first book in English, This Fissured Land, a book on the ecological history of India, in 1992.

Madhav Gadgil has published two books, Nisarganiyojan Lokasahabhagane being one among them, and over 40 articles in Marathi and handled a fortnightly column on natural history, in The Hindu, from 1999 till 2004.

Madhav Gadgil is Fellow of the Third World Academy of Sciences, an honorary Fellow of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation and a recipient of the National Environment Fellowship of the Ministry of Environment and Forests for his field research in the Western Ghats.

Madhav Gadgil was elected as a Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Sciences in 1991 and he serves as a member of the British Ecological Society and Ecological Society of America.

Madhav Gadgil is a recipient of the Vikram Sarabhai Award and Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar Award.

Madhav Gadgil received the Fergusson Gaurav Puraskar 2019, for being an Outstanding Alumnus from his Alma Mater, Fergusson College on 6 January 2019.