Sulochana Gadgil obtained her BSc (1963) and MSc (1965) in Mathematics from the University of Poona, Pune. She did her PhD (1970) in Applied Mathematics from Harvard and has been a post-doctoral Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1970-71), and CSIR Pool Officer at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune (1971-73). She worked at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore (1973-2006) and played a key role in the establishment of the Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (1983). She is currently an Honorary Professor at the Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences of IISc.

Academic and Research Achievements: Sulochana Gadgil has contributed significantly to the understanding of monsoon dynamics, tropical convection, coupling of the tropical atmosphere to the oceans and agricultural strategies for a variable climate. Her research contributions include the discovery of northward propagations of the equatorial cloud band, which maintain the rain belt over the monsoon zone, and of a threshold of 28 degree Celcius for sea surface temperature above which there is a high propensity of organized cloud systems over the tropical oceans. Her recent studies have demonstrated an important link of the droughts and excess rainfall seasons of the Indian monsoon with the equatorial Indian Ocean Oscillation. Her studies have shown that while the adverse impact of droughts has remained unchanged over the last five decades, the beneficial impact of good monsoon has decreased substantially in the last two decades. She has developed a theoretical framework for using information/prediction of climate variability to identify farming strategies for maximizing the long-term average returns. Gadgil has published 65 research papers and edited two books.

Others Contributions: Sulochana Gadgil spearheaded the efforts to formulate the Indian Climate Research Programme (ICRP), with its component Bay of Bengal Monsoon Experiment (BOBMEX), the Arabian Seas Monsoon Experiment (ARMEX) and the Continental Tropical Convergence Zone (CTCZ) Programme. She has served on the Council/Advisory Boards of almost all the meteorological institutions in the country. She has been a Member of the Scientific Committees of the World Climate Research Programme, IGBP and a member of the ICSU panel to review these programmes. She has served as Chair of the Scientific Committee of the Global Change System for Analysis Research and Training (START).

Awards and Honours: Gadgil is a recipient of Vikram Sarabhai Award, Norman Borlaug Award and Astronautical Society Award. She was conferred on the Life Time Achievement Award by the Ministry of Earth Sciences (2008). She is a Fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore and Indian Meteorological Society.