Meet Indian genius left penniless by partition, struggled to feed family, joined Army, become one of world’s most famous

Hidden in the sands near the Thar Desert, a young boy's fascination with mushrooms would spark a legacy in mycology and linguistics. This is the story of Lekh Raj Batra, a man whose journey from a small village in Western Punjab to the forefront of scientific discovery is extraordinary.

Born on November 26, 1929, in Nawan Jandanwala, Batra was the first in his family to receive a formal education. His path was marked by tragedy; ethnic violence during the 1947 partition of British India claimed his relatives on his mother’s side, and his family was left destitute in Punjab, India. Yet, it was this hardship that ignited his passion for mycology as he found edible mushrooms to sustain his family.

Batra's academic expertise earned him a Bachelor's and Master's in Botany with Honors from Panjab University. In 1956, he ventured to the United States, securing his Doctorate in Botany from Cornell University under renowned mycologist Richard P. Korf by 1958.

Batra’s career in the U.S. flourished. He briefly lectured at Deshbandhu College in Delhi and served in the Indian army before moving back to the U.S., where he taught at Swarthmore College and met his wife, Suzanne W. Tubby. His research on the symbiotic relationships between fungi and beetles at the University of Kansas led to numerous groundbreaking discoveries.

By 1963, Batra had become a U.S. citizen and later joined the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center as a senior scientist. His work included translating Khrushchev's famous speech and discovering 38 new fungal species. He retired in 1994 but continued contributing to global scientific projects until his death on May 20, 1999.

Batra's funeral, marked by servings of various mushrooms, was a fitting tribute to his life's work. His legacy, encapsulated in over 130 publications, continues to inspire the scientific community.