L. V. Vaidyanathan ("Vaidy", Palakkad, Kerala, India, 14 September 1928 - 13 November 2000) was a well-known soil scientist. He obtained a first class degree from Government Victoria College, Palakkad, and then spent three years lecturing in chemistry at St. Mary's College, Thrissur, before joining the Coffee Board of India as an advisor. He went to England in 1959 to take up a postgraduate studentship at Rothamsted Experimental Station and obtained a PhD on soil phosphorus under the supervision of O. Talibudeen. He then joined P. Nye at Oxford to work on ion diffusion in soils. He also worked for a year in Vienna with the International Atomic Energy Agency on radioisotopes and then returned to the United Kingdom to join the Agricultural Development and Advisory Service (ADAS). After retirement from the ADAS, he served as an honorary research professor at the University of Birmingham where he passed away on 13 November, 2000.
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