Ganapathi Thanikaimoni (1 January 1938 – 5 September 1986), often referred to as Thanikaimoni was an Indian palynologist. Early life and education Born on New Year's Day, 1938 in Madras, India, Thani received the Master of Science degree in botany in 1962 at the Presidency College, Madras under the direction of the plant morphologist, Professor B.G.L. Swamy. At the same time Thani was awarded the Fyson Prize in Natural Science, which is reserved for outstanding Indian naturalists. In 1970 Thani was granted a doctorate degree by the university of Montpellier. His thesis was on the pollen morphology, classification and phylogeny of 800 species of extant Palmae (Arecaceae). Scientific career Thani took a position of scientist in the newly founded (1960) Palynology Laboratory of the French Institute of Pondicherry () under the direction of Dr. Prof. Guinet. In a few years Thani's scientific and administrative abilities were recognized by his promotion to the directorship of the laboratory. During the next decade he published numerous significant papers concerning such essentially tropical families as the Araceae, Clusiaceae, Menispermaceae, Mimosaceae and Sonnera tiaceae [see Palynos 8(2): 7, Dec 1985]. In the majority of these publications, he gave a complete and accurate description of the pollen morphology of the species and included the morphology of the other plant organs, to elucidate their probable phylogeny and to justify the classification schemes selected. Although the bulk of Thani's early research dealt with pollen of modern flora, in the late 1970s turned his attention to fossil pollen as well. Thani was invited to conduct a palynological investigation of the Borobudur monument by the Indonesian government and École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO). The palynological analysis and study helped identify six phases in the history of the UNESCO World Heritage Site spanning 600AD to 1900AD. In 1983 he convened a workshop for French and Indian palynologists in Pondicherry with the goal of clarifying the taxonomy of angiosperm pollen previously described from tertiary horizons of tropical Africa and India. For this project Thani's collection of more than 20,000 slides of tropical palynomorphs was of inestimable value. From this cooperative endeavor, a clear synthesis of 47 taxa was obtained and published. Furthermore, he had recently been active in organizing a symposium on tertiary pollen from tropical regions for the 7th IPC in Brisbane, Australia. In recognition of his contributions in the fields of botany, palynology and paleoenvironmental studies, Dr. Thanikaimoni was elected a