krishnamurthy acquired a b.a. (1940, at st. joseph's college, affiliated to madras university) and a b.sc. (hons.) degree (1942, presidency college, madras university) at the university of madras. university of madras awarded him with the pulny gold medal. he also gained an m.a. (1947, university of madras), an m.sc. (1952, presidency college, madras university) and a ph.d. (1957, university of manchester, u.k.). at the age of 21 krishnamurthy became a research scholar at the botany laboratory of the university of madras and worked under the father of indian algology, prof. m.o.p. iyengar.