Prof. Janaradhan Venkatesh Bhat was born on March 3, 1913 at Thalassery of Kerala and had his early education at St. Aloysius College, Mangaluru. During 1935-1953, he worked as Researcher and as a teacher at St. Xavier’s College, where he obtained M.Sc. Degree. In 1953, Prof. Bhat was awarded the degree of Doctor of Science of the University of Mumbai, the first D.Sc. degree in Microbiology awarded by the University. His research topic of interest was on the bacterial dissimilation of Lactate and Oxalate. Thereafter, he served for 20 years at the fermentation technology laboratory of the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru.
Prof. J.V. Bhat was at Indian Institute of Science for about 20 years, first as Head of Fermentation Technology Laboratory and later as Professor and Head of the Department of Microbiology and Pharmacology. During his stay at the institute, he was a Visiting Scientist at the National Institute of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, U.S.A. Earlier he had visited U.S.A as a Post-doctoral Fellow to the University of California, Berkeley.
On his retirement from Indian Institute of Science in 1973, Prof. Bhat Joined Kasturba Medical College as Emeritus Professor and Research Director. From 1973-1980 he served at Kasturba Medical College and Academy of General Education, Manipal with distinction.
He was closely associated with various scientific organizations of the country. He was elected Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bengaluru; Indian National Science Academy of New Delhi and was a Fellow of Royal Institute of Chemistry, U.K. He had served as the Secretary of the Current Science Association, Bengaluru and as a President of the Society of Food Scientists and Technologists. He was the President of the Association of Microbiologists of India. He had also served various Research Organizations including Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Department of Science and Technology and University Grants Commission. He was an advisor to the Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore.
Prof. Bhat received a large number of awards. To name a few, Moos Medal in 1954, Purkinje Medal from Czechoslovakia in 1955, Rafi Ahmad Kidwai Memorial Award of the CSIR in 1954 and G.J. Watumull Distinguished Achievement Award in 1982. He was Associated with various Industries and had published over 200 research papers in National and International journals. Prof. Bhat expired in 1985 at Chennai.