Dr S.M. Nair

An interview with Dr S. M. Nair, founder Director of National Museum of Natural History, New Delhi

Jayanta Sthanapati

Forty-four years ago, in 1972, Shrimati Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India had approved a proposal of setting up a Natural History Museum in New Delhi to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of our Independence. She desired the museum to be the first rate. In her letter dated 26^th April 1973, She advised Shri C. Subramaniam, the then Union Minister of Industrial Development and Science & Technology, to appoint a competent inter-disciplinary team consisting of a Botanist, a Zoologist, a Geologist, and an Anthropologist, who would further be assisted by a competent Museologist, to prepare a detailed project proposal for the natural history museum.

One thing led to the other and in 1974, Dr S.M. Nair was appointed as Project Director of the natural history museum. Under his able guidance the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), an institution devoted to environmental education under the aegis of Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, opened its doors to the public on 5^th June 1978, coinciding with the World Environment Day.

Unfortunately, a massive fire had gutted out the National Museum of Natural History, New Delhi in the early hours of 26^th April 2016. The NMNH is now a history.

The present author had interviewed Dr S.M. Nair, Founder Director of NMNH on 15^th July 2013. Dr Nair talked about his personal life, traced the events that laid to the establishment of the museum and its further development.

Dr S. M. Nair in 1986.

Dr Jayanta Sthanapati: Sir, tell us about your early life, hobbies, etc.

Dr S.M. Nair: I was born on 25^th May 1937 in Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram), Kerela.  My father was a teacher and also a headmaster at Trivandrum. My mother was a housewife. My hobbies were exploring the nature and collecting specimens.

Sthanapati: Tell us about your school and college education.

Nair: My schooling was at Trivandrum. It was in a Govt. High School in Trivandrum. I completed my Senior Secondary School and then went to Government College in Trivandrum for Intermediate.

Sthanapati: Did you study B.Sc.?

Nair: Yes, I studied B.Sc. in Trivandrum and then went to Baroda. I did my M.Sc. in Museology from Baroda University.

Sthanapati: What about your PhD degree?

Nair: My PhD was on bio-deterioration of museum materials, which I did in 1972. It was the first PhD in Museology from Baroda University.

Sthanapati: Where did you go from there?

Nair: I was on the faculty of the Department of Museology, M.S. University of Baroda. Subsequently, I joined the Department of Museum studies of the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani as a faculty. I further worked in National Museum Institute in New Delhi.

Sthanapati: Were you a teacher there at National Museum Institute?

Nair: I was an Adjunct Professor, teaching museology to Post Graduate Students.

Sthanapati: How did NMNH happen?

Nair: This was actually a desire of Mrs Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India. She was impressed with the natural history museums she saw in Europe and wanted to have one in India. She wanted to have two projects – one National Museum of Natural History in New Delhi and one Regional Museum of Natural History in Bhopal. In fact, the concerned Ministry people asked many museum professionals like Dr Moti Chandra, Director of Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay; Dr C Shivaramamurti, Director of National Museum, New Delhi; and others to join the project. Finally, my name was recommended to head the project. I was 37 then.

Sthanapati: When did you start work in Delhi?

Nair: I began work for NMNH in 1974. The project was completed in early 1978. It was inaugurated on 5^th June 1978 on the World Environment Day.

National Museum of Natural History, New Delhi.

Sthanapati: Did you conceptualise the Museum?

Nair: I was solely responsible for conceptualising the whole thing.

Sthanapati: Under which Ministry did it come under?

Nair: It was under the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

Sthanapati: Could you recollect who your associates were?

Nair: I remember many of them – D. P Singh, S.K. Saraswat, B. Venugopal and others. We also had a team of trained artists and modellers. I got them trained, and many of them were sent abroad for their training.

Sthanapati: Did you visit foreign natural history museums before starting the project?

Nair: I visited museums in UK, USA, Russia etc.

Sthanapati: Did you visit Natural History Museums in Washington D.C. and London?

Nair: Oh yes!  I was actually a Smithsonian Fellow. I was awarded Smithsonian Fellowship for one year.

Sthanapati: Did you receive the fellowship before or after the opening of NMNH?

Nair: I received the fellowship after the opening of NMNH for the year 1988-89.

Sthanapati: Where was your museum started?

Nair: It started at the FICCI building on Barakhamba Road. It is there even today.

Sthanapati: Was the building constructed to house a museum? Was the place rented?

Nair: Yes. They wanted to build an Industrial and Technological Museum there, but it was lying vacant. So we rented the space.

Sthanapati: What was the floor area of the museum?

Nair: It was 40,000 Sq ft.

Sthanapati: What did the project cost?

Nair: The project cost was 70 Lakhs at that time.

Sthanapati: When did you retire from NMNH?

Nair: I retired in 1995. By that time we had started a regional museum of natural history in Mysore, Bhopal and Bhubaneswar.

Sthanapati: Do you remember which galleries were set up at NMNH during your tenure as Director?

Nair: The museum was opened in 1978 with a gallery on ‘Introduction to Natural History’. Three more galleries were added subsequently, namely, ‘Nature’s Work – Ecology’ in 1983, ‘Conservation’ in 1987, and 'Cell – the basic unit of Life’ in 1989.

Sthanapati: Could you name some of the rare natural history specimens exhibited in NMNH during your time?

Nair: There were many, but let me talk about one fossilised Ammonite, a pachydesmoceras species, that was 100 million years old. It was found in Anaipadi in Tiruchirapalli. None of its contemporaries lives today. Its nearest relative, surviving now, is called Nautilus. There was another exhibit, a stuffed India rhinoceros displayed on the ground floor of the museum. The India rhinoceros is one of the largest of the living rhinoceros. That rhinoceros was collected from Delhi zoo after its natural death.

A fossilised Ammonite

Sthanapati: What did you do after retirement?

Nair: After my retirement, I worked as Director (Education) World Wildlife Fund (India). I was also a Senior Advisor of the Centre for Environmental Education, at the Delhi office. It is an autonomous body under Ministry of Environment and Forest. Now I am teaching in Prince of Wales Museum in Mumbai.

Sthanapati: Tell us something about your international activities.

Nair: I was chairman of Natural History Museum Committee of ICOM (International Council of Museums). I was also a member of the Joint Museum Committee of the Indo-US Sub-commission on Education and Culture.

Sthanapati: There are four Regional Museums of Natural History in India now. Do you think that is sufficient or we need to have more?

Nair: I believe that we should have more. In fact, every state should have one.

Sthanapati: When did you visit NMNH last? Are you happy with the exhibits and displays?

Nair: I visited NMNH, Delhi couple of months ago. The exhibits were Ok but needed proper maintenance.

Sthanapati: In science museums, the modes of presentation have changed considerably.  At one time they were within their case after that came interactive exhibits and now we have Science Cities. Do you propose any radical change in presentation of exhibitions in Natural History Museums?

Nair: There should be. In fact, they should have more interactive exhibits, more walkthrough dioramas and things like that.

Sthanapati: Sir, tell us about honours and awards you have received.

Nair: Homi Bhabha Fellowship (1982-83); The Rockefeller Fellowship (1985); Smithsonian Institute Fellowship (1988-89); Distinguished Scientist Award of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (2010); Life Time Achievement Award by the Museums Association of India (2010). I am a Member of the Editorial Board of the Britannica Encyclopaedia South Asia Project for the last 10 Years.

Sthanapati: You have written books?

Nair: Yes I have written two books – (i) Endangered Animals of India and their Conservation (1996) and (ii) Bio-deterioration of Museum Materials (2010).

Publication based on this interview: 

1.  Sthanapati, Jayanta. “An interview with Dr S.M. Nair, founder Director of National Museum of Natural History”, Science India (June 2016) 35-39.

Dr Jayanta Sthanapati is former Deputy Director General of National Council of Science Museums. He has written the ‘History of Science Museums and Planetariums in India’, a research project sponsored by the Indian National Science Academy.