Kalipada Biswas was born on 3 December 1899. He was an Indian botanist who specialized in the algae of the Indian region and worked at the Calcutta botanical garden erstwhile Royal Botanic Garden, becoming its first Indian director and heading it from 1937 to 1955.
He was awarded the Elliot Gold Medal and Prize in 1928 and again in 1936; the Coronation Medal in 1937 for meritorious service in the Royal Botanical Garden and at the Herbarium; the Paul Johannes Briihl Memorial Medal in 1952 for the best research work in Systematic Botany; the Rabindranath Prize in Science in 1951-52 and the Barclay Memorial Medal in 1969.
He retired in December 1964 but continued to work as an emeritus scientist at the University of Calcutta.
