My Memories of Professor M. S. Swaminathan

My association with Professor M. S. Swaminathan goes back more than six decades. I first met him at the 11th International Congress of Genetics in The Hague in September 1963. I was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of California, Davis. He was the Head of the Division of Genetics at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, and already a well-known scientist. I approached him hesitantly, but he put me at ease with his welcoming demeanour. I had read his papers on Solanum species, which include cultivated potato. I asked him a few questions about polyploidy in genus Solanum and we had a nice conversation.