Background
Gadagkar, Raghavendra was born on June 28, 1953 in India.
ecologist educator entomologist
Gadagkar, Raghavendra was born on June 28, 1953 in India.
Bachelor of Science with honors in Zoology, Bangalore University, 1972. Master of Science in Zoology, Bangalore University. Doctor of Philosophy in Molecular Biology, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, 1979.
He is currently the President on the Indian National Science Academy. Gadagkar has published over 275 scientific papers and articles in various international journals as well as in Indian journals like Current Science magazine, and the Journal of Biosciences (India), both published from Bangalore. His most important contribution to the field of evolution of eusociality is the theory of "assured fitness returns" which has been verified from empirical data and can be considered as a significant landmark in this field since the seminal work done by West. Doctorate. Hamilton in 1964.
Over the last three decades he has established an active research group that has contributed towards understanding the proximate and ultimate factors of social evolution in wasps.
Some of his opinionated articles on science policy have been controversial, such as his exception to the pay to publish, free to read Open Access science publishing model. His first book, Survival Strategies, has been translated into Chinese and Korean.
lieutenant uses simple language to explain recent advances in behavioural ecology and sociobiology to a general audience. He has also written a more technical book, The Social Biology of Ropalidia marginata: Towards understanding the evolution of eusociality, which puts together over twenty years of his research about the evolution of eusociality.
Since 2002 he is a Non-resident Permanent Fellow at the German institute Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin.
He holds a number of other academic positions. He is the founding chairman of the Centre for Contemporary Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He is an Honorary Professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research and at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata.
He is a Non-resident Permanent fellow of Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin.
He is a Chairman of Research Council for History of Science, Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi. In 2004, Gadagkar pioneered the establishment of the Centre for Contemporary Studies in the Indian Institute of Science.
This department is a platform for bringing together the natural and social sciences for a discourse of mutual benefit.
Fellow: Third World Academy of Sciences (Award in biology 1999), Indian Academy Entomology, National Academy of Sciences, India (United States Srivastava Memorial Lecture award), Indian National Science Academy (Young Scientist medal in animal science 1985), Indian Academy of Sciences (Young Associate 1984). Member: Indian Society Development Biologists, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Indian Science Congress Association, National Institute Ecology, Jaipur, Indian Complex Systems Society, American Society Naturalists, International Society Behavioral Ecology, Bangalore Bee Keepers Association, Association for Tropical Biology, Center for Science and Environment, International Society Hymenopterists, Karnataka Association for Advancement of Science (Young Scientist award in biological science 1984), Bombay Natural History Society, Ethological Society India, International Union for Study of Social Insects, Indian chapter, International Union for Study of Social Insects, North American section, Animal Behaviour Society, National Academy of Sciences, Sigma Xi.
Married; 1 child.
