PVN Acharya

Prativadi Bhayankara Venkat Narasimh Acharya (1924-1993) was an Indian biochemist.
He graduated from Benares Hindu University, where he studied Oil Technology, and worked at the Shri Ram Institute for Industrial Research and the National Council of Applied Economic Research (New Delhi), where he developed commercial applications for castor oil including detergents and synthetic materials, including Nylon-11.
He received his PhD in Biochemistry with highest honors from the University of Paris-Sorbonne, and published papers with his professor, the French scientist Edgar Lederer. His thesis was on microbial lipids. and was among the earliest scientists to show that "irreparable DNA damage" is caused by low-dose ionizing radiation, environmental pollutants and the food additives nitrites and nitrates, and that such damage to the DNA is a causal factor in premature aging and cancer. "Irreparable DNA Damage" and its contribution to cancer and aging has become an entire research area onto itself.
In addition to receiving his Phd in Biochemistry from the Sorbonne, he also earned a Phd in Social Economics.
However, Acharya was denied tenure at the UW-Madison's Pathology Department and was forced to apply for welfare. Nonetheless, he continued to write and research, authoring two books on environmental carcinogens and industrial pollutants. He also served as a consultant to law firms in cases involving workers exposed to industrial toxins and for several years he gave weekly lectures on Madison's Public-access television cable TV station. He died in 1993 in Madison, WI.

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