Badri Nath Uppal received PhD (1925) from Iowa State University, USA and DSc (hc) from Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. He worked as Instructor, Department of Botany, Iowa State University; Fellow, Iowa Experiment Station; Plant Pathologist to the Bombay Government; Professor of Plant Pathology and Principal, College of Agriculture, Pune; Director of Agriculture (also of R&D), Mumbai; Agricultural Commissioner to the Government of India; and Honorary Agricultural Adviser, Punjab Government.

Academic and Research Achievements: Uppal did some work on crop diseases and described some new species of fungi and bacteria. His contributions lay, however, in building up infrastructure for agricultural research. He established a plant virus center at Pune, a cotton wilt center also at Pune, a wheat research center at Mhabaleshwar, and regional centers for intensive research on cotton, oilseeds, and millets. Besides, he set up a fertilizer plant, a wasteland survey and reclamation outfit and vocational schools for farmers.

Other Contributions: Uppal served as Member, Gamma, Sigma, Delta, Kappa Phi, and Sigma Xi.

Awards and Honours: Professor Uppal received the MBE (1945), Iowa State University Centennial Year Award (1958) and Padma Shri (1959). He was elected Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore and Indian Phytopathological Society.