Date:20/08/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/08/20/stories/2006082016750200.htm

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

A historic day for science

Special Correspondent

Ronald Ross achieves key breakthrough

Ronald Ross

HYDERABAD: On this day in 1897, the legendary bacteriologist Ronald Ross discovered the parasite that caused malaria, the scourge of mankind then.

This discovery in Begumpet fetched him the Nobel Prize and brought relief to countless millions from malaria that took a heavy toll in tropical countries. The parasite was the female anopheles mosquito that transmitted the disease from one human to another.

Sir Ronald Ross had been toiling for quite some time on identifying the cause of malaria till he shifted to Secunderabad where the disease was more prevalent. Working from a laboratory in the old Begumpet military hospital building, he achieved a breakthrough on August 20, 1897.

He killed a mosquito that had fed on a volunteer Husein Khan and dissected it micron by micron.

Circular outline

To his surprise, he saw a clear and almost circular outline, too small to be the stomach-cell of an ordinary mosquito. "Here is another exactly similar cell," he said, giving it a closer look. His paper was published in the British Medical Journal on December 18, 1997 and the rest is medical history. Located adjacent to the Hotel Ramada near the airport, the ancient building is now a landmark in the city.

Ross summed up the historic day in a brief poem: "This day designing God/Hath put into my hand/ a wondrous thing. And God/Be praised. At His command, I have found thy secret deeds, Oh million-murdering Death? I know that this little thing/A million men will save.../Oh death where is thy sting?/Thy victory oh grave?