Narayana Balakrishnan Nair (1927–2010) was a marine biologist, ecologist and the founder president of Kerala Science Congress.
[9] Balakrishnan Nair focused his researches on organisms that damage the marine ecology and his studies on the wood-boring molluscs helped in understanding the mechanism of their timber boring activities.
[13][note 1] A Textbook of Marine Ecology,[18] The Biology of Woodboring Teredinid Molluscs,[19] Marine Timber Destroying Organisms of the Andaman-Nicobar Islands and the Lakshadweep Archipelago[20] and Advances in Aquatic Biology and Fisheries,[21] in English language and Paristhithivignanam (Environmental Studies) and Kadal: Oru Adbhudam (Ocean: A Wonder), both in Malayalam.
[8] He chaired the Indo-Dutch Mission for the Kallada Environmental Action Programme in 1991 and served as the secretary to the Government of Kerala at the Department of Science, Technology and Environment from 1986 to 1991.
[6] In 1979, he was selected as a National Professor by the University Grants Commission and he received the All India Congress of Zoology Gold Medal in 1980.
[5] The Indian National Science Academy, which elected him as their fellow in 1975, awarded him the Chandrakala Hora Memorial Medal in 1987.