DR. S. K. SHOME: 1933 – 1976
Dr. (Mrs.) Usha Shome, Scientist at the National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow donated a sum of Rs. 5,000/- to the Mycological Society of India to be used in a fitting manner to commemorate her husband the Late Dr. S. K. Shome’s contribution in the field of Mycology. With much pleasure the Society accepted the donation and decided to treat it as an endowment for arranging a lecture – The Shome Memorial Lecture – to be delivered every year by a distinguished mycologist under the auspices of the society. We have pleasure in publishing in this issue a photograph of the Late Dr. S. K. Shome and a brief biographical sketch.
Dr. Sarit Kumar Shome was born on 15th February, 1933 at Lucknow, U.P. He obtained his Master’s degree in Botany in 1955, Ph. D. in Medical Mycology in 1959 from Lucknow University under Prof. S. N. Das Gupta and was appointed as an Assistant Professor in the same university in 1960. In 1961, he went to Instituto De Micologis, Universidade do Recife as research visitor and was appointed as a “Mycological Specialist” from September 1961 in the same institute. During his stay in Brazil Dr. Shome participated in the XVIII Brasilian Dermatological Congress, Fortaleza, Ceara, 1961, and the “XIII Botanical Congress of Brazil, 1962” on behalf of the Instituto de Micologia, Universidade do Recife. He was invited by the Ministry of Education to deliver a course of lectures on Mycology and its Applied Branches at the Escola de Agronomia Universidade Rural, Recife. On return to India in 1962, he joined University of Kalyani, West Bengal and shifted to National Institute of Communicable Diseases as an Assistant Director in Microbiology Division in the year 1967 where he established the Medical Mycology Laboratory. His practical contribution to national public health includes investigation of mycotic infection (superficial and deep) in the rural areas of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Delhi and Haryana in India; Recife and Manaus in Brazil and South America among the population under tropical conditions. His outstanding work on mycoses in these areas bears testimony to his dynamic drive and dedication to work.
Dr. Shome attended a number of conferences and seminars and presented several papers in them. He was invited by the Director of T. B. Demonstration and Training Centre, Agra, in 1975, to help in developing their Mycology Unit. He was a special invitee in the Symposium “Human Mycoses and Micangole”, organised by Ethnor Limited in 1974.
In a short span of his life rime, Dr. Shome published over 60 papers in various journals of national and international repute. In addition to these, several of his works remained unpublished due to his sudden demise.
Dr. Shome survived by his wife, daughter Anuradha and son Anupam.