Dr Radheshyam Bhagwandas Somani

Radheshyam Bhagwandas Somani was born on 17 April, 1946 at Washim (M.S.) and did his matriculation in 1961, graduated from
College of Agriculture, Akola in 1965 and acquired M.Sc.(Agri) in plant pathology from Anand Agriculture Institute, Anand Gujrat in 1968. Immediately after post graduation, he served for a year as lecturer of agriculture at Multipurpose higher secondary school, mangrulpir(M.S.) and then joined Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola (1970) as assistant professor and served in various capacities till he retired from the active services in 2003 as Professor & Head. In between he had a chance to peruse doctorate from the Anand Agriculture Institute, Anand Gujrat and awarded the degree in 1993.
He held charge of Associate Dean, Post Graduate Institute and Dean, Post Graduate Studies during his services. He was the founder head of Agro Product Development Research Centre, a unique centre established in the Agriculture universities in the country. During his active service he has guided more than 20 students for their master degree and 5 students for Ph.D.. All his students are presently serving at key position in their respective organisation and still in constant contact for the inspiration. Professor somani is a fellow of Indian Phytopathological Society and Maharashtra Academy of Sciences, life member of Association of food technologists. He has credit of describing two new genera of fungi and 11 new species of fungi from India. He has two patents, published his finding in more than 120 research papers and presented 50 lead papers. He is founder president of Association of Plant pathologist publishing plant disease sciences journal. He was founder Chairman (Edn.) of Brajlal Biyani Vidya Niketan and also President(2003-06) of Rashtrya Vaidyak Prasarak Mandal, Akola. Thorough these activities he is still a very and is a source of inspiration for young generation. He has been invited to deliver lead lectures in many National and International conference. He was identified as key person for Asia and Africa in sorghum and millet processing by ICRISAT, expert for identification of Trichoderma species, member of selection committee, research guide on sweet sorghum at Isfahaan University, Iran, consultant to Natural research Institute, U.K. and many more organisations as a key personal. He also prepared project profiles and project reports for bio fertilizers, bio pesticides, and grain spirit.
His silent, concrete and focused personality has been honoured by various awards viz., Dr. Narula Award (1974); Dr. K.G. Joshi award for his outstanding research in 1988 and 1993; V.P. Gokhale award (1999); Panjabrao Deshmukh Award (Maharashtra Krushak Samaj) in 2002, Vidarbha Mitra Award (1996), Dr. N. Prasad Centenary Memorial Lecture (2013) and YL Nene Outstanding Plant Pathology Teacher Award of the year 2014.

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