Mahendra Nath Bose did his BSc, MSc and PhD from the University of Lucknow. After MSc, he joined research under Professor Birbal Sahni (FRS) as a Personal Research Assistant. He was appointed as a Lecturer in the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow and became the Director of the Institute (1985). He went to Reading, England, to work under the supervision of Professor TM Harris (FRS) and then to Stockholm to work under Professor Olaf Selling in Riksmuseum (Natur Historiska) and finally to Olso to work on fossil plants from Zaier under the supervision of Professor Ove Arbo Hoeg.

Academic and Research Achievements: Bose's major contribution was on the Mesozoic palaeobotany of India and Palaeozoic palaeobotany of Zaire. He worked on the Lower Cretaceous plants of Arctic region. Also he made significant contributions on fossil Clitellate cocoons.

Other Contributions: After retirement (1985) Bose went to Geology Institute, Oslo for about 5 years and worked on Sciadopitys like leaves from Arctic region; fossil plants from Andya, Norway; and Clittelate cocoons, and wrote a paper on Palaeozoic-Mesozoic plants from India and Antarctica. He was a Member of Det Norske Vidnskaps-Akademi (1987) and Honorary Corresponding Member of Academy Royal des Sciences D' Outre-Mer. He served as Member of Editorial Boards of: Palaeobotanist; Geophytologist and Palaeontographica.

Awards and Honours: Among several awards and honours that Dr Bose received were: Ruchi Ram Sahni Award (1952); the Palaeobotanical Society International Medal (1998); and Sahni Centenary Medal (1998). He was a Fellow of Indian Academy of Science, Bangalore (1982) and the Palaeobotanical Society (1997).