write a biography of prafulla chandra roy

Famous Scientists

Prafulla Chandra Ray

Known as “Father of Indian Chemistry”, Prafulla Chandra Ray was a well-known Indian scientist and teacher and one of the first “modern” Indian chemical researchers.

He discovered the stable compound mercurous nitrite in 1896 and established Bengal Chemical and Pharmaceutical Works Ltd, India’s first pharmaceutical company in 1901.

Also a very passionate and devoted social worker, he did not support the caste system.

Early Life and Education:

Prafulla Chandra Ray was born on 2 August 1861, the younger of two brothers, in the village of Raruli-Katipara, now in Bangladesh. His father, Harish Chandra Ray was a landlord who loved learning and he built up an extensive library in his home. Prafulla’s mother, Bhubanmohini Devi was well educated with liberal views.

The family moved to Kolkata when Prafulla was nine years old and he attended the Hare School. Unfortunately, Prafulla fell ill and returned to his village in 1874. It took two years for Prafulla to recover and he was left permanently frail with digestive issues and insomnia. During his recovery he enjoyed reading in his father’s well equipped library.

He returned to Kolkata and attended Albert School and in 1879 and, after passing the entrance exam, began studies at the Metropolitan College (now Vidyasagar College). Prafulla also studied chemistry at the Presidency College and this soon became his favorite subject; he built a laboratory at home and began experimenting.

In 1882, Prafulla won a scholarship to Edinburgh University, UK and he gained his degree there in 1885. Remaining at Edinburgh to undertake research, he was awarded a D. Sc. in 1887 and the “Hope Prize” for his thesis on “Conjugated Sulphates of the Copper-Magnesium Group: A Study of Isomorphous Mixtures and Molecular Combinations”.

Contributions and Achievements::

Prafulla Ray returned to Calcutta in 1888 and became an assistant professor of Chemistry at the Presidency College in Calcutta in 1889. He established a research laboratory and slowly gathered a group of dedicated students who researched with him.

He published around 150 research papers during his lifetime. Many of his articles on science were published in renowned journals of his time. His research included the discovery of the stable compound mercurous nitrite in 1896 while studying nitrite and hyponitrite compounds and their compounds.

He also researched organic compounds containing sulphur, double salt, homomorphism and fluorination.

In 1892 with a small capital of 700 INR, he established Bengal Chemical Works. It flourished under his management. The company initially produced herbal products and indigenous medicines. In 1901 the enterprise became a limited company, Bengal Chemical and Pharmaceutical Works Ltd (BCPW) and India’s first pharmaceutical company. Gradually, the company expanded and became a leading chemicals and medicine producer.

Prafulla Ray was interested in ancient texts and after much research published “The History of Hindu Chemistry” in two volumes in 1902 and 1908. The work detailed the extensive knowledge of metallurgy and medicine in ancient India.

In 1916 Prafulla Ray retired from President College and joined Calcutta University where he worked for more than 20 years.

He represented many Indian universities at international seminars and congresses. He was elected as the Indian Science Congress President in 1920.

His autobiography “Life and Experiences of a Bengali Chemist”, published in two volumes in 1932 and 1935 documents his own motivations as a scientist and the sweeping changes India was experiencing during his lifetime.

Prafulla Ray wanted to use the marvels of science for lifting up the masses. He was a very passionate and devoted social worker and he participated eagerly and actively in helping famine and flood struck people in Bengal during the early 1920s. He promoted the khadi material and also established many other industries such as the Bengal Enamel Works, National Tannery Works and the Calcutta Pottery Works. He was a true rationalist and he was completely again the caste system and other irrational social systems. He persistently carried on this work of social reformation till he passed away.

Remaining a bachelor throughout his life, Prafulla Ray retired becoming professor emeritus in 1936 aged 75. He died on 16 June 1944, aged 82.

More from FamousScientists.org:

Alphabetical List of Scientists

Ernesto Illy | Jan Ingenhousz | Ernst Ising | Keisuke Ito

Hans Christian Oersted | Georg Ohm | J. Robert Oppenheimer | Wilhelm Ostwald | William Oughtred

Adolphe Quetelet | Harriet Quimby | Thabit ibn Qurra

Harold Urey

Chen-Ning Yang

Ahmed Zewail

Prafulla Chandra Ray Biography

Table of Contents

About Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray

Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray (1861-1944) was a renowned Indian chemist , educationist, and industrialist who is considered the Father of Indian Chemistry . He is known for his contributions to chemistry and for founding Bengal Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals , the first pharmaceutical company in India. Dr Prafulla Chandra Ray was Born on 2 August 1861 in Raruli-Katipara, Jessore District, Bengal Presidency (now in Khulna District, Bangladesh). He passed away on 16 June 1944 in Calcutta, Bengal Presidency (now Kolkata, West Bengal, India) at the age of 82.

Fill Out the Form for Expert Academic Guidance!

Please indicate your interest Live Classes Books Test Series Self Learning

Verify OTP Code (required)

I agree to the terms and conditions and privacy policy .

Fill complete details

Target Exam ---

Name	Prafulla Chandra Ray
Profession	Indian chemist, educationist, historian, industrialist, and philanthropist
Born	2 August 1861 in Raruli-Katipara, Jessore District, Bengal Presidency, India (now in Khulna District, Bangladesh)
Died	16 June 1944 in Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, India (now Kolkata, West Bengal, India) at the age of 82
Nationality	British Indian

Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray Education and Early Life

Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray, known as the father of Indian chemistry, was born on August 2, 1861 in the village of Raruli-Katipara, now in Bangladesh. He was the younger of two brothers born to Harish Chandra Ray, a landlord who loved learning and built an extensive library in his home, and Prafulla Chandra Ray mother name was Bhubanmohini Devi, a well-educated mother with liberal views.

The family moved to Kolkata when Prafulla was nine years old and he attended the Hare School. Unfortunately, Prafulla fell ill in 1874 and returned to his village, where it took two years for him to recover. During his recovery, he enjoyed reading in his father’s well-equipped library.

After recovering, Prafulla returned to Kolkata and attended Albert School in 1879. He passed the entrance exam and began studies at the Metropolitan College (now Vidyasagar College). Prafulla also studied chemistry at the Presidency College, which soon became his favorite subject. He built a laboratory at home and began experimenting.In 1882, Prafulla won a scholarship to Edinburgh University in the UK. He gained his degree there in 1885 and remained at Edinburgh to undertake research. He was awarded a D.Sc. in 1887 and the “Hope Prize” for his thesis on “Conjugated Sulphates of the Copper-Magnesium Group: A Study of Isomorphous Mixtures and Molecular Combinations”.

Acharya Prafulla Chandra Family

Father : Harish Chandra Ray, was a well-educated man who valued learning and instilled a love for knowledge in his children. He was deeply involved in local community affairs and was known for his progressive views.
Mother : Bhubanmohini Devi, played a significant role in Prafulla Chandra Ray’s upbringing. She was supportive of her children’s education and encouraged them to pursue their interests.
Siblings : Prafulla Chandra Ray had several siblings. However, detailed information about his siblings is not widely documented. The supportive and nurturing environment provided by his family was crucial in shaping his academic and professional pursuits.

Prafulla Chandra Ray Contribution and Achievements

Prafulla Chandra Ray, known as the “Father of Indian Chemistry,” was a prominent scientist, educator, and industrialist. His contributions include establishing modern Indian research in chemistry, discovering Mercurous Nitrite, and founding Bengal Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals. Ray’s legacy extends to social reform, nationalism, and significant advancements in the field of chemistry, earning him recognition as a key figure in India’s scientific and industrial development.

Prafulla Chandra Ray Invention and Discovery

Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray’s contributions to the field of chemistry are noteworthy and have had a lasting impact on scientific research in India. His most significant invention was the discovery of mercurous nitrite in 1896. This groundbreaking discovery led to a series of studies on the nitrites and hyponitrites of various metals, which greatly enhanced the understanding of these compounds.

Ray’s research extended beyond this single discovery. He conducted extensive studies on the compounds of mercury and sulfur, contributing valuable insights to inorganic chemistry. His work was characterized by meticulous experimentation and a deep commitment to advancing chemical knowledge.

In addition to his research, Ray authored several important publications, including “A History of Hindu Chemistry,” which traced the development of chemical practices in ancient India. This work highlighted the rich heritage of Indian science and its contributions to global knowledge.

Ray’s dedication to applying scientific principles for societal benefit was evident in his efforts to promote indigenous industries. He founded Bengal Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals in 1901, India’s first pharmaceutical company. This venture aimed to produce essential medicines and chemicals locally, reducing dependency on foreign imports and fostering self-reliance.

Ray’s inventions and discoveries not only advanced the field of chemistry but also played a crucial role in promoting scientific education and industrial development in India. His legacy as a pioneering chemist and visionary continues to inspire future generations of scientists.

Prafulla Chandra Ray Recognition and Honors

Honors and orders.

Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (1912) Knight Bachelor (1919)

Academic honors and Fellowships

Faraday Gold Medal of the University of Edinburgh (1887)
Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal
Fellow of the Chemical Society (1902)
Honorary Member of the Deutsche Akademie, Munich (1919)
Foundation Fellow of the National Institute of Sciences of India (1935)
Fellow of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (1943)

Honorary Doctorates

Honorary Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Calcutta (1908)
Honorary D.Sc. degree from Durham University (1912)
Honorary D.Sc. degree from Banaras Hindu University (1920)
Honorary D.Sc. degree from the University of Dhaka (1920 and 28 July 1936)
Honorary D.Sc. degree from the University of Allahabad (1937)

Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray Awards

Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray, widely regarded as the “Father of Indian Chemistry,” has left an mark on the scientific landscape of India. To honor his remarkable contributions and legacy, several awards have been given in his name:

Acharya P.C. Ray Memorial Award

The Acharya P.C. Ray Memorial Award is presented annually by the Indian Chemical Society, which was founded by Ray himself. The award, established in 1948, recognizes outstanding contributions in the field of chemical sciences. It includes a cash prize of Rs. 500 and a medal.

ICC Acharya P.C. Ray Award for Development of Indigenous Technology

The Indian Chemical Council (ICC), the apex organization of chemical manufacturers in India, presents the ICC Acharya P.C. Ray Award for Development of Indigenous Technology. This prestigious award recognizes technological advancements and contributions made by organizations in the field of science.

In 2020, Tata Chemicals was honored with this award for its development and commercialization of nano zinc oxide (nZnO) using innovative nanotechnology. The company’s nZnO product, developed through a patented eco-friendly process, has unique properties such as antiviral, antimicrobial, and UV blocking capabilities, making it suitable for various industrial, textile, and cosmetic applications.

Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray & Ambuja’s Best Design Project Report Awards

The Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray & Ambuja’s Best Design Project Report Awards are presented by the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers (IIChE) to encourage and recognize excellence in chemical engineering design projects.

Prafulla Chandra Ray Books

Some of the notable books by Prafulla Chandra Ray include:

A History of Hindu Chemistry
Chemical Research in India
Life and Experience of a Bengali Chemist
The Origin and Growth of the Indian Pharmaceutical Industry
The Life and Work of Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray

FAQs About Prafulla Chandra Ray

Who is the indian father of chemistry.

Prafulla Chandra Ray, also known as Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray, is widely regarded as the Father of Indian Chemistry. He made significant contributions to the field of chemistry in India during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Who invented mercurous nitrate?

Prafulla Chandra Ray discovered the stable compound mercurous nitrite (Hg2NO3) in 1896, which was a breakthrough in inorganic chemistry. This discovery earned him recognition as one of the first modern Indian chemical researchers.

Who is the father of inorganic chemistry in India?

Prafulla Chandra Ray is considered the father of inorganic chemistry in India. His groundbreaking work on the preparation of a new stable chemical compound, mercurous nitrite, and subsequent research on nitrites and hyponitrites of different metals laid the foundation for the development of inorganic chemistry in the country.

What is Prafulla Chandra Roy famous for?

Prafulla Chandra Ray is famous for his contributions to the field of chemistry, his role in establishing India's first pharmaceutical company, and his dedication to the upliftment of the downtrodden. He published over 150 research papers and cultivated a generation of young, brilliant chemists.

What was invented by Prafulla Chandra?

rafulla Chandra Ray is best known for his discovery of the stable compound mercurous nitrite in 1896, which was a significant breakthrough in inorganic chemistry. He also founded Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals, India's first pharmaceutical company, in 1901.

rafulla Chandra Ray is best known for his discovery of the stable compound mercurous nitrite in 1896, which was a significant breakthrough in inorganic chemistry. He also founded Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals, India's first pharmaceutical company, in 1901.

While Prafulla Chandra Ray is considered the Father of Indian Chemistry, he was not the first Indian chemist. Some of the earliest Indian chemists include Acharya Charaka, who wrote the Charaka Samhita, a foundational text on Ayurvedic medicine and chemistry, and Nagarjuna, who made significant contributions to the field of alchemy and metallurgy in the 2nd century AD.

Select your Course

Please select class.

Prafulla Chandra Ray Biography

Birthday: August 2 , 1861 ( Leo )

Born In: Khulna

Recommended For You

Indian Celebrities Born In August

Died At Age: 82

father: Harish Chandra Ray

Philanthropists Chemists

Died on: June 16 , 1944

place of death: Kolkata

Founder/Co-Founder: Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals

education: University of Calcutta, Presidency University, Kolkata, Vidyasagar College, University of Edinburgh, Hare School, 1887 - University of Edinburgh

Humanitarian Work: Founder of ‘Bengal Relief Committee’

Recommended Lists:

See the events in life of Prafulla Chandra Ray in Chronological Order

How To Cite

Remembering Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray, Father of Indian Chemistry

Aug 1, 2023

write a biography of prafulla chandra roy

Sir Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray (August 2, 1861 – June 16, 1944) was a remarkable scientist, literary figure, professor, industrialist, philanthropist, and much more. Widely revered as "the father of Indian chemistry," Ray was a pioneer and figurehead of modern chemical research in India.

Born in Raruli, Khulna District (now in Bangladesh), Ray excelled in his academic studies from an early age. He went on to complete his F.A. degree at the Metropolitan Institution (now Vidyasagar College), and he simultaneously began his first chemistry classes as an external student at Presidency College (now University) under Professor Alexander Pedler. He was immediately drawn to the field and decided to pursue a career in chemistry with dreams of helping India become a leader in scientific innovation. He continued his chemistry studies under the prestigious Gilchrist Prize Scholarship at the University of Edinburgh, where he went on to receive his B.Sc. and D.Sc.

Ray's research career spans numerous areas of chemistry, but he is most famously known for his work on organic and inorganic nitrites—earning him the nickname "Master of Nitrites." One of his most notable contributions in this area is the discovery of the stable compound mercurous nitrite in 1896, which laid the groundwork for years of discoveries and published research on the synthesis, structure, and decomposition of nitrites and hyponitrites of different metals. He authored more than 150 original research articles across all fields of chemistry.

As a professor, Ray was loved by his students and seen as a visionary ahead of his time, understanding the importance of the amalgamation of ancient and modern science and working to bring India to the forefront of scientific advancement and discovery. He believed in the ancient Indian philosophy: “Wish for victory everywhere except from your son and from your disciple.”

Even after his death, Prof. Ray's impact lives on in innumerable present-day research publications. To honor Prof. Ray's remarkable legacy, we have gathered a collection of articles published in ACS journals that build upon his seminal work and illustrate his lasting influence in the fields of organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, and beyond.

Remembering Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray: Articles from ACS Journals

Nitrate and Nitrite Reductions at Copper(II) Sites: Role of Noncovalent Interactions from Second-Coordination-Sphere Aditesh Mondal, Kiran P. Reddy, Shubham Som, Deepak Chopra, and Subrata Kundu * DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.2c02775

Design and Synthesis of Amphiphilic Catalyst [C 16 mim] 5 VW 12 O 40 Br and Its Application in Deep Desulfurization with Superior Cyclability at Room Temperature Xiao-Xiao Xing, Hui-Li Guo, Tong Feng, Tian-Meng He, Wen-Shuai Zhu, Hua-Ming Li, Jing-Yu Pang * , Yan Bai * , and Dong-Bin Dang * DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.3c00376

Helical {[HgS]} n Chain-Induced Balanced Nonlinear-Optical Performance for Trigonal Mercury Sulfide Mei Yan, Wen-Dong Yao, Wenlong Liu, Ru-Ling Tang*, and Sheng-Ping Guo* DOI : 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.1c02980

Exploration of the Atomic Pathway of Seed-Mediated Growth from Icosahedral [Au 25 (SR) 18 ] − to Bi-Icosahedral Au 38 (SR) 24 and Au 44 (SR) 26 Clusters Based on the 2 e – Hopping Mechanism Jiao Peng and Yong Pei * DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.2c03997

In Vitro and In Vivo of Triphenylamine-Appended Fluorescent Half-Sandwich Iridium(III) Thiosemicarbazones Antitumor Complexes Mingxiao Shao, Meimei Yao, Xicheng Liu*, Chao Gao, Weiyan Liu, Jinghang Guo, Jiawen Zong, Xinzhuo Sun, and Zhe Liu* DOI : 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.1c02250

Mechanism of the Aryl–F Bond-Forming Step from Bi(V) Fluorides Oriol Planas, Vytautas Peciukenas, Markus Leutzsch, Nils Nöthling, Dimitrios A. Pantazis, and Josep Cornella* DOI : 10.1021/jacs.2c01072

Visible Light-Mediated Thiolation of Substituted 1,4-Naphthoquinones Using Eosin Y as a Photoredox Catalyst Bhawana Nagar and Basab Bijayi Dhar* DOI : 10.1021/acs.joc.1c02924

Synthesis, Crystal Structure, and Nonlinear Optical Property of an Anhydrous Sulfate KTb(SO 4 ) 2 Qi Wu * , Can Yang, Jie Ma, Fei Liang * , Chunlin Teng, and Yeshuang Du DOI : 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.1c01401

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Prof. Chittaranjan Sinha (Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India), Prof. Ayan Datta (IACS Kolkata, India), and Dr. Gourisankar Roymahapatra (Haldia Institute of Technology, Kolkata, India) for their valuable contribution in collecting the information and identifying the articles in the diverse area of chemistry influenced by Acharya P. C. Ray.

Special thanks and appreciation to Mr. Bitihotra Roymahaptra (DAV Public School Haldia, Kolkata India) for creating the artwork of Acharya P. C. Ray.

Prof. Chittaranjan Sinha is a Professor at Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India. His research interests are ions/molecules sensing, CPs/MOFs, photoluminescence, CO 2 reduction etc. He was the Honorary Secretary, Indian Chemical Society (Founded by Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray, Founder President) and currently serves as Secretary for the Indian Photobiology Society.

Prof. Ayan Datta is a Professor at the Indian Association for the cultivation of Science (IACS) Kolkata, India. His research focuses on the application of quantum chemical descriptors of structure and reactivity of molecules, clusters and materials. His strong association with ACS has been as a former Editorial Advisory Board Member of the Journal of Physical Chemistry and Mentor for the IACS-ACS Student Chapter.

Dr. Gourisankar Roymahapatra is currently working as an Associate Professor of Chemistry at the Haldia Institute of Technology (HIT) Haldia, India. His area of research interest includes NHC complexes, organometallics, catalysis, antibiotics, anti-carcinogenic, gas adsorption, super alkali, computational chemistry and DFT. Dr. Roymahapatra is a Life Fellow of the Indian Chemical Society (FICS).

Want the latest stories delivered to your inbox each month?

Schools & departments

Prafulla Chandra Ray

Prafulla Chandra Ray was a chemist, an industrialist who established the first Indian research school in chemistry.

By Vidhipssa Mohan

Prafulla Chandra Ray was a chemist, an industrialist as well as a Bengali nationalist. He was born on 2 August 1861 in Bengal Presidency in British India, and later founded Bengal Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals, India’s first pharmaceutical company. He also established the first Indian research school in chemistry and is regarded as the father of chemical science in India (Dasgupta, 2011). In addition, he was the author of A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of Sixteenth Century (1902).

Ray was only 21 when he came to Edinburgh, having already graduated from the University of Calcutta in 1879 (Gillespie, 1975). He completed his BSc in 1885 and DSc in 1887 , funded by a Gilchrist Scholarship. He was subsequently awarded the Hope Prize which allowed him to work on his research for a further period of one year after completion of his doctorate. After completing his DSc in 1888 he was elected Vice-President of the University of Edinburgh Chemical Society ( Ray, 1932 ) . Inspired by his teachers in Calcutta, Ray decided to make chemistry his career, as he recognised that his country’s future would greatly depend on her progress in science (Journal of Indian Chemical Society, 1944).

One of his classmates in Edinburgh, the geographer Hugh Robert Mill, remembered him as “the most enlightened Hindu I ever met, speaking and writing English with grace and fluency, and singularly at home in European modes of thought.” (Mill, 1951).

Prize-winning essay

He published an essay named India Before And After The Mutiny in 1886 as his entry in the competition for a prize offered by the Rector. English was not his native language and yet he was able to win joint second prize which was a remarkable achievement. In this essay, he critiqued the British Raj. He dedicated his essay to the students of the University of Edinburgh, many of whom might be called upon “to assume civic functions, and to exercise a potent influence in the affairs of Empire. Tomorrow you will be arbiters of the destinies of 250 millions of human beings, your own fellow-subjects.” At that time India was still under British rule and his work gave an insight into the struggles of Indians studying in Britain, many of whom were at the University of Edinburgh. He hoped the new generation would lead to “the dawn of a brighter and happier era for India.” About the Indian Rebellion, he said, “lamentable condition of India at present is due to England’s culpable neglect of, and gross apathy to, the affairs of that Empire. England has hitherto failed – grievously failed – in the discharge of her sacred duties to India.” (Ray, 1886, p2).

While many believed that the British rule of India had brought economic benefits to the country, Ray dismissed that view. He reflected on the poverty in the country and said, “India is a country of famished peasants, rather than of Rajas and Nawabs.” (Ray,1886, p55). High taxes were imposed on people which yielded little or no return in the form of community or social services. These taxes were imposed to increase the expenditure on British defence. Thus, the Indian economy was subordinate to the needs of Britain. He said, “Japan is governed for the Japanese by the Japanese; India is governed by an alien nation, to a large extent, if not mainly, for the benefit of itself.” (Ray, 1886, p60).

Like many of his contemporaries, Ray believed that these problems could be addressed by reducing bureaucracy and by localising the administration. However, the Raj was deeply resistant to change.

Ask the Government of India to create a new bureau, and it responds to your call with singular alacrity and promptitude; ask the Indian Government to abolish a department, then evasion and procrastination become its watchwords. The superior claims of the natives of India are beyond question … their competence has been fully established as far as we can judge. Of late years (in rare cases) some of them have been raised to the bench, and in no instance that we know of have they proved unworthy of the confidence reposed in them, As regards their marvellous administrative and financeering capacities, they are only conspicuous by their superiority to, and excellence over, Englishmen. Ray, 1886, p65

He believed that with a newly revitalised public service, government expenditure could be better prioritised to meet identified economic and social needs. Scientific knowledge and technical education would play a critical role in ensuring these initiatives were realised.

The poverty of India lies chiefly in the fact that she has to depend on agriculture, and agriculture alone. If India is to prosper she must adopt the tactics of the European nation and industrialise. But no significant progress would be made until there was major investment of personnel and resources in education with a scientific and technical focus. A government that can squander ten million pounds on ‘palatial’ barracks, but which cannot spare a farthing for laboratories, should forfeit the title of a civilised government. Ray, 1886, p68

Underlying Ray’s proposals was an awareness of the growth of nationalist sentiment in India. He saw that “ideas which pervade the upper strata of society are now percolating through the lower; even the masses are now beginning to be moved and influenced. England unfortunately now refuses to recognise the hard and irresistible logic of facts, and does her best to strangle and smother the nascent aspirations of a rising nationality.”

While many of his British contemporaries endorsed imperial interests and helped consolidate the Raj, Ray’s questioning of the legitimacy of imperial control, and his views on India’s future, are an important indicator of how opinion in India was likely to evolve. His views were probably shared by some of his fellow Indian students at the University of Edinburgh at this time.

After his return from Edinburgh, Ray joined Presidency College, Calcutta as temporary Assistant Professor of Chemistry in 1889. He was the president of the 1920 session of the Indian Science Congress. Over the course of his career, Ray published innumerable papers. He had written 107 papers in all branches of Chemistry by 1920 (Petitjean et al. 1992). In 1902, he published the first volume of A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of Sixteenth Century. The second volume was published in 1909. He donated money regularly towards welfare of Sadharan Brahmo Samaj, Brahmo Girls’ School and Indian Chemical Society (Lourdusamy, 2004). He remained a bachelor throughout his life. A remarkable man, Prafulla Chandra Ray passed away in Calcutta on 16 June 1944 aged 82.

Dasgupta, U, 2011, Science and Modern India: An Institutional History, C. 1784–1947. Pearson Education India. p. 137, available at https://books.google.com/books?id=lrx3wLz4itkC&pg=PA137

Gillespie. C. C.. (Ed.). 1975, Dictionary of Scientific Bioaraohv. 16 Vols., New York, Charles Scribner’s Sons for the American Council of Learned Societies, Vol 11, pps. 318-19.

Lourdusamy, J, 2004, Science and National Consciousness in Bengal: 1870–1930, Orient Blackswan.

Mill, H. R., Autobiography, London, Longman Green & Co.,1951, p.38.

“Obituary: Sir Prafulla Chandra Ray”. Journal of the Indian Chemical Society. XXI: 253–260. 1944

Patrick Petitjean, P, Jami, C and Moulin, A.M., 1992, Science and Empires: Historical Studies about Scientific Development and European Expansion, Springer, available at: https://books.google.com/books?id=JnUeeLgYaowC&pg=PA66 . Retrieved 30 September 2013.

Ray, P. C., 1886, India Before and After the Mutiny. Edinburgh, E. & S. Livingstone

Ray, P.C.,, 1932, Life and Experiences of a Bengali Chemist, Volume One, The Asiatic Society, Calcutta

This article was published on 2024-06-24

Select your language English हिंदी

QR Code for http://indianculture.gov.in/other-collections/acharya-prafulla-chandra-ray-life-legend

Social Share

Acharya prafulla chandra ray: life of legend.

Alternative Title: Propagation: A Journal of Science Communication

Author: Chakrabarti, Syamal

Keywords: Acharya Sir Prafulla Chandra Acharya Sir Prafulla Chandra- Bengali Chemist Science Communication Propagation- Science Communication

Publisher: National Council of Science Museums, Kolkata

Description: Acharya Sir Prafulla Chandra was a Bengali chemist, educator and entrepreneur. And founder of the Indian School of modern chemistry, and also was a pioneer of chemical industries in India. He is a symbol of plain living and self-denial. He always come forward in disastrous situation like floods or famines in Bengal, and as a scientist, he donated all of his earnings to the victims and downtrodden people.

Source: National Council of Science Museums

Type: Article

Received From: National Council of Science Museums

Dublin Core View
Parts of PDF & Flipbook


	Propagation: A Journal of Science Communication
	Chakrabarti, Syamal
	2017-06-15T05:02:40Z
	2017-06-15T05:02:40Z
	Acharya Sir Prafulla Chandra was a Bengali chemist, educator and entrepreneur. And founder of the Indian School of modern chemistry, and also was a pioneer of chemical industries in India. He is a symbol of plain living and self-denial. He always come forward in disastrous situation like floods or famines in Bengal, and as a scientist, he donated all of his earnings to the victims and downtrodden people.
	National Council of Science Museums
	6p.
	application/pdf
	English
	National Council of Science Museums, Kolkata
	Acharya Sir Prafulla Chandra Acharya Sir Prafulla Chandra- Bengali Chemist Science Communication Propagation- Science Communication
	Article
	2010
	text
	application/pdf

Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

Phone . [email protected]
Email . +54 356 945234

The Indian Culture Portal is a part of the National Virtual Library of India project, funded by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. The portal has been created and developed by the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. Data has been provided by organisations of the Ministry of Culture.

Email Id : [email protected]

Notice Board
Article / Story
Trivia Quiz

Ongoing Series

Collaborations
Newsletters
Opportunities

#2 : Last Week in Culture [July 8-15, 2024]

#1 : last week in culture [july 1-7, 2024], muso: designing ‘museum of solutions’.

Photo Albums

Indian Art Memes

Create, discover, download, share and have fun with indian art.

Each template features an open-access artwork & can be turned into a meme (or card!). You can also recaption existing memes and customize them further. Have fun as you create with TheHeritageLab !

Make an art-meme

Choose an image to meme from the template-carousel below. We may take between 1 hour to 1 day to publish submitted memes. You can download and save your meme (or those created by others). Use #THLArtMemes to be featured on our social media channels. You can leave your name in the 'Title' section or make it an anonymous contribution!

We can't wait to see what you create!

Published Memes

The life and legacy of p.c ray : an indian scientist who helped build a nation.

PC Ray's contribution to the field of Science was a step towards nation-building. He was also a scholar who championed educational reforms, promoted employment through industry, and rallied for political advancement. Jashaswi Ghosh reflects on the legacy of an ancestor.

In a world engulfed by the COVID-19 pandemic, when the leaders of several countries have called for national self-sufficiency, I am prodded to reflect upon the immortal philosophy and works of my paternal Great Great Grand Uncle, Acharya Sir Prafulla Chandra Ray [P.C Ray] . Anointed the father of chemistry in India, Prafulla Chandra Ray was a strong advocate of making India industrially self-sufficient – a cause to which he dedicated his entire life.

The Making of the Acharya

P.C Ray was born on August 02, 1864 to a Zamindari family, in the village of Raruli-Kathpara, in the then Jessore district, which was a part of the Bengal Presidency of British India (current day Bangladesh). His family was a part of the affluent landed aristocracy and were the erstwhile Dewans of the Krishnanagar and Jessore Districts of the Bengal Presidency under the British East India Company.

Being born to educated and culturally refined parents (Harish Chandra and Bhubonmohini Devi), Prafulla Chandra Ray was encouraged into a life of learning and self-development. After an initial education at Raruli and Calcutta (in the later years), the Acharya wonthe Gilchrist scholarship offered by the University of Edinburgh and went on to pursue further education in Britain. After completing his B.Sc. and subsequently D.Sc. degree from the University of Edinburgh, Prafulla Chandra Ray was awarded the ‘Hope Prize’ for the thesis he had submitted for his D.Sc. degree which enabled him to continue his research for another year 1 .

P.C Ray : Teacher, Scientist and Entrepreneur

After his return from England, the Acharya pursued his calling as a teacher, and researcher while spreading knowledge about chemistry in India. His utmost pursuit was to develop and encourage a scientific bent of mind in his students, which would free them from the prejudices that commonly infested the minds of Indians at the time. He encouraged the youth to have a free and rational thought process.

The Acharya was an immensely gifted scholar; he discovered several ground-breaking chemical compounds (eg: mercurous nitrite), published more than hundred and fifty research papers in famous science journals (eg: Journal of the Chemical Society of London); authoring many books on chemical sciences (eg: Life and Experience of a Bengali Chemist).

Amidst his other scholarly work, he also documented the history of Chemistry in India (ancient to medieval times).

His work was fuelled and guided by an inherently nationalistic spirit . He realized that for India to break the shackles of the overbearing colonial rule, the country needed to build a strong and independent scientific research base – something that was sorely lacking. This research base would then be the foundation on which the country could augment industrialization and thus ensure self-dependence and self-sustenance.

In Europe, industry and scientiﬁc pursuits have gone hand in hand · · · one helping the other · · ·the gigantic progress in industry achieved in Europe and America is a history of the triumph of researches in the laboratory. These thoughts were weighing heavy on me at the very threshold of my career at Presidency College. How to utilize the thousand and one raw products which Nature in her bounty has scattered in Bengal? How to bring bread to the mouths of the ill-fed… P. C Ray

It is important to understand the economical and political backdrop of the country which catalysed and triggered his above stated thoughts. The markets of India at that time were infested with goods which were manufactured in Britain using raw materials which had been supplied from India. These raw materials were sourced at a very cheap rate and the manufactured / finished goods which reached the markets of the country were heavily overpriced! This systematic drainage of wealth from India had seeded a bitter resentment and dissatisfaction amongst the larger Indian crowd fuelling movements favouring swadeshi goods and the boycott of British goods.

P.C Ray : Founder of Bengal Chemical & Pharmaceutical Works

The Acharya, fuelled by the same sentiment took a step to facilitate the industrialisation of India and create jobs by founding the Bengal Chemical & Pharmaceutical Works, in 1901. The Bengal Chemical & Pharmaceutical Works was a success and with the help of several other scientists and nationalistic leaders it grew in size and multiple factories were established in different parts of Bengal and India.

If any one of you have used common household sanitisation products such as phenyl or naphthalene balls, you have been touched upon by the legacy of the Acharya!

Though multiple accolades were showered on him throughout his life (the most noteworthy being Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire in 1912 and the title of Knight Bachelor in 1919), he led a very simple and almost frugal life which he dedicated to the service of his Motherland!

Ray spent the last few years of his life in a laboratory room converted to a small apartment within the University College of Science at Calcutta University. This apartment now houses the P. C. Ray Museum. PC Ray imagined a nation’s growth to be the result of industrial, social, scientific and educational reform and he wholeheartedly contributed towards these. The moniker ‘Acharya’ is thus, apt for him – he who leads by example.

[bg_collapse view=”link-inline” color=”#ffb500″ expand_text=”Notes” collapse_text=”Hide” ]

Choose a Citation format

20th century
Incredible Indians
nationalism

Others are reading:

Vasantasena on stage : the timeless sanskrit drama, ‘mricchakatika’ (the little clay cart), the mughal charbagh : paradise gardens on earth, how this statue of shivaji at the gateway of india replaced a ‘black horse’, looking at the art of amrita shergil : feat. activity sheet, meghdoot : a kalidas masterpiece painted by ramgopal vijaivargiya, click culture.

Submit a photo of your favourite object from a museum collection to help us improve the coverage of Indian culture, art and heritage related content on the internet beginning with Wikipedia.

Add your Museum Photo

"What is this?" is a crowdsourced campaign featuring museum objects. You can share a photo of an object, and we will share its historical and cultural context for further use with an open license as part of our ongoing endeavour to make culture & knowledge accessible to everyone.

See Examples

GLAM Partnerships
Download / Create Art Memes
Download Art GIFs
IG Stickers + GIFs

Embrace Digital : Resources for Museums

Heritage digitised : the discourse on digital cultural heritage, social media handbook: for cultural institutions & professionals, decoding digital leadership, quick access.

Share this story via

Or copy the link

To join The Heritage Lab as a publisher, please request an invite here

Your browser is not supported

Sorry but it looks as if your browser is out of date. To get the best experience using our site we recommend that you upgrade or switch browsers.

Find a solution

Skip to main content
Skip to navigation
hot-topics Extras
Newsletters
Reading room

Tell us what you think. Take part in our reader survey

Celebrating twenty years

Back to parent navigation item
Collections
Chemistry of the brain
Water and the environment
Chemical bonding
Antimicrobial resistance
Energy storage and batteries
AI and automation
Sustainability
Research culture
Nobel prize
Food science and cookery
Plastics and polymers
Periodic table
Coronavirus
More navigation items

PC Ray: A genius chemist who dreamed of a modern India

By Dinsa Sachan 2022-03-07T09:42:00+00:00

Dinsa Sachan re-tells the story of the inorganic chemist who put Indian chemistry on the map

When he wasn’t teaching or immersed in research, Prafulla Chandra Ray sometimes sauntered into college hostels and gave his favourite students a pep talk or drew them into a discussion about social issues concerning India, which was suffering under British rule at the time. It may seem like an odd pastime for a chemistry professor, but Ray’s work and public life were shaped by the politically charged times he lived in.

Ray, now regarded as one of the researchers who helped usher in an era of modern science in India, sailed back to his homeland in 1888 after acquiring a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Edinburgh. Around this time, important events leading up to India’s independence in 1947 were just beginning to take place. Even as Ray’s academic career at the Presidency College in Calcutta (now Presidency University in Kolkata) took off, he kept pondering how to exploit his scientific expertise for the greater good. ‘The history of the gigantic progress of industry achieved in Europe and America is a history of the triumph of researches in the laboratory,’ Ray reflected in Life and Experiences of a Bengali Chemist , his two-part autobiography.

The discovery of mercurous nitrite opened a new chapter in my life

When Ray founded Bengal Chemical and Pharmaceutical Works Limited (BCPW), the country’s first drugmaker, in the early 1890s, he hoped it would set a precedent for the youngsters of his home province. ‘In Bengal the one thing needful was not so much the establishment of Technological Institutes as the initiative, the dash, the pluck, the resourcefulness in our youths that go to the making of a businessman or an entrepreneur or a captain of industry,’ Ray lamented in his book. ‘The college-bred youth has been found to be a hopeless failure; there is no driving power in him; at best he can only shine as a tool or as an automaton.’

Ray’s firm, which is now a state-run entity, rolled out a slew of patent medicines, such as Aitken’s Tonic Syrup, Syrup of Hypophosphite of Lime and Tonic Glycerophosphate, to compete with British imports on drugstore shelves. Historians consider BCPW an important example of a movement called Swadeshi (a Hindi word that roughly translates to indigenous), that was launched in 1905 in response to the British government’s decision to partition Bengal into two provinces, widely seen as a divisive political act. As people spilled out on the streets to oppose the move, they also refused to buy British-made goods. The movement, which championed economic self-sufficiency, spurred an entire generation of entrepreneurs to make products locally. And using local raw materials had been top of Ray’s mind when he ventured into manufacturing pharmaceuticals. ‘To a large extent, for him, the matter of being a scientist and also being an entrepreneur was about bringing a strong new country into being,’ according to Benjamin Zachariah , a historian at the University of Trier in Germany .

Ray’s company may have been floated many years before the Swadeshi movement officially kicked off, but Zachariah and others believe that Ray was a pioneer of the movement. ‘But for him, Swadeshi was not this kind of trying to build an abstract indigenous Indian culture; he was interested in science,’ he says, adding that Ray tried not to get too involved in the country’s mainstream politics as he depended on the government for his paycheck.

While he juggled BCPW responsibilities along with university duties, Ray was indefatigable: ‘When work is coupled with a keen sense of enjoyment it does not tell upon your health; the very idea of locally manufacturing pharmaceutical preparations, which hitherto had to be imported, acted like a tonic.’ With the help of Ayurvedic experts, he even produced some traditional medicines. ‘[He] tried to see scientifically which of these were efficacious, and which were just superstition,’ says Zachariah. ’ Contrary to the way it’s done today, where a claim is made that the ancient Indians knew better than anybody else, he always made the claim that there’s a lot in the ancient Indian tradition which is just rubbish.’

Ray’s interest in traditional drugs stemmed from an authentic curiosity about the origins of chemistry. A little nudge from the eminent French chemist and science historian Pierre-Eugène-Marcellin Berthelot was sufficient for Ray to write A History of Hindu Chemistry . For the two-part treatise, Ray researched original Sanskrit and Pali texts to trace the evolution of the chemical sciences, as well as alchemy, through India’s earliest periods. It also, Zachariah says, translated scientific concepts in ancient Indian tradition into modern scientific vocabulary. Discussing ancient Indians’ metallurgical prowess, for example, Ray noted no rust had formed on the centuries-old Iron Pillar that continues to attract tourists in New Delhi.

Terming it a ‘classic’ in a 2014 Indian Journal of History of Science essay, Dhruv Raina , historian and philosopher of science at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, notes that the work equips ’practising Indian chemists with an anchor for their own historical and cultural bearings’. ’It’s one of the first disciplinary histories of science written by an Indian in English,’ explains Raina. The book also identified the socio-cultural reasons that derailed India’s early scientific progress. For example, as the society began to re-organise around caste, the higher castes began to steer clear of artistic as well scientific jobs: ‘The very touch of a corpse, according to Manu, is enough to bring contamination to the sacred person of Brahmin,’ Ray wrote in A History of Hindu Chemistry . ‘Thus we find that shortly after the time of Vagbhata, the handling of a lancet was discouraged and anatomy and surgery fell into disuse and became to all intents and purposes lost sciences to the Hindus.’ There is noticeable remorse and anger in his voice when he writes, ‘Her soil was rendered morally unfit for the birth of a Boyle, a Descartes or a Newton and her very name was all but expunged from the map of the scientific world.’

But Ray’s genius wasn’t just restricted to public engagement – it glowed equally brightly inside the lab. While the inorganic chemist racked up more than 150 papers in international publications through his career, Ray is celebrated for uncovering the chemical intricacies of nitrites , particularly mercurous nitrite that showed up as ‘yellow needles resembling prismatic sulfur’ while he was actually trying to prepare another compound using mercury and nitric acid as part of routine lab work during those days.

Ray bemoaned the absolute absence of mercurous nitrite from any reference literature on chemistry at the time in his 1896 paper in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal , where he revealed his discovery and described a method for preparing the elusive compound and the analysis that helped him identify it. ‘The discovery of mercurous nitrite opened a new chapter in my life,’ he remarked in the autobiography. Ray was elated because his international contemporaries noticed his work: ‘The appreciative and congratulatory letters from eminent chemists like Roscoe, Divers, Berthelot, Victor Meyer, Volhard and others not only filled me with inspiration but stimulated me to further activity.’

He had a very keen sense of his own public duty

Indeed, Ray and his group continued to tease apart the traits of mercurous nitrite over the next few years, also expanding their investigation to ammonium and alkylammonium nitrites. ‘In general, it got established that as a class nitrites are far more stable than chemists had supposed so far,’ wrote Animesh Chakravorty , an emeritus professor of chemistry at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, in the Indian Journal of History of Science .

Ray may have stumbled across mercurous nitrite by chance, but Rajarshi Ghosh, associate professor of chemistry at the University of Burdwan in West Bengal, India, told Chemistry World it is the ‘brilliance of PC Ray that he didn’t ignore’ that yellow substance, something an ordinary researcher may have easily dismissed: ‘He had a very sharp chemical eye.’

The finding, however, remained controversial for some time. Other researchers couldn’t replicate it, and the compound’s structure remained a mystery. A few years ago, a group of Indian researchers, including Chakravorty, determined its structure using x-ray crystallography.

Throughout his career, Ray cultivated an army of young, brilliant chemists, who took on leadership roles in the scientific community. ‘He initiated a process of the institutionalisation of chemistry research [in India],’ says Raina.’

Ray deeply cared about the next generation and wrote his autobiography with them in mind. ‘This volume is affectionately inscribed in the hope that its perusal may in some measure stimulate them to activities,’ his dedication note stated. ‘There’s a lot of writing where he basically trying to insult people enough so that they realise that they’re just lazy, and they’re not doing anything, and then explaining to them what their own potential was, so that they would actually know what to aim,’ says Zachariah. Many of Ray’s mentees, including the Indian soil scientist Nil Ratan Dhar and astrophysicist Meghnad Saha , did groundbreaking work in their fields.

To help spruce up the chemistry department at the University College of Science, where he went to work after leaving Presidency College in 1916, Ray pledged his entire teaching income for almost 15 years. ‘He had a very keen sense of his own public duty,’ says Zachariah. ‘He felt he had a relatively privileged life. And that, therefore, he had to do to give back something to education, to the less privileged and to an abstraction called the country.’

Had Ray lived just three years longer, he would have been able to experience India as a free, independent country.

Dinsa Sachan is a science writer based in New Delhi, India

Culture and people
Significant figures

India should become the talent incubator for the global south

2023-03-02T09:30:00Z

By Rajesh Parishwad

Outcry among scientists as Indian government moves to slash awards

2022-10-12T08:30:00Z

By Sanjay Kumar

Profile: Sandeep Verma

2022-09-15T08:30:00Z

Cryptic chemistry crossword #054

2024-09-13T13:30:00Z

By Paul Board

Quick chemistry crossword #054

2024-09-13T13:20:00Z

Chemistry wordoku #061

2024-09-13T13:10:00Z

By Hamish Kidd

1 Reader's comment

Only registered users can comment on this article., more culture.

Matt Gunther filling out the Chemistry World crossword

September 2024 puzzles

2024-09-02T09:30:00Z

Carol Robinson: ‘I really wanted to wave the flag about technicians’

2024-08-30T08:34:00Z

By Rebecca Trager

An illustrated portrait of Ijeoma Uchegbu

Ijeoma Uchegbu: ‘My approach is always to be kind’

2024-08-02T08:35:00Z

By Ada McVean

August 2024 puzzles

2024-08-01T09:30:00Z

July 2024 puzzles

2024-07-01T09:30:00Z

Emmeline Edwards: ‘I connect the dots’

2024-06-24T12:55:00Z

Contributors
Terms of use
Accessibility
Permissions
This website collects cookies to deliver a better user experience. See how this site uses cookies .
This website collects cookies to deliver a better user experience. Do not sell my personal data .
Este site coleta cookies para oferecer uma melhor experiência ao usuário. Veja como este site usa cookies .

Site powered by Webvision Cloud

₹ 10 Lakh,1" data-value="Loan ₹ 10 Lakh">Loan ₹ 10 Lakh
Games & Puzzles

Entertainment
Latest News
Arvind Kejriwal bail hearing live
Kolkata rape case live updates
Web Stories
Mumbai News
Bengaluru News
Daily Digest

Prafulla Chandra Ray: Icon of Science, pharma sector

His manifold achievements in the fields of scientific research, pharmaceuticals as well as entrepreneurship, earned him the sobriquet ‘Father of pharmaceuticals in India’.

Prafulla Chandra Ray published over a hundred papers on Chemistry, its history and practical applications, many of which were published in the Journal of Indian Chemical Society.(ILLUSTRATION: Rushikesh Tulshiram Gophane)

Born to Harish Chandra Ray, a wealthy landlord, and Bhubanmohini Devi in Raruli-Katipara village in Bangladesh on August 2, 1861, Prafulla Chandra Ray attended a school founded by his family till he was 9. After that, the family moved to Calcutta where he and his elder brother enrolled at the Hare School. In 1874, Ray had a bout of illness that forced him to take a break from studies.

With hindsight, he looked back at that tough period in life as a blessing in disguise as it enabled him to read extensively. He absorbed himself in biographies, articles on science, modern English and Bengali literature, history, geography, Greek, Latin, French and Sanskrit. He completed matriculation from Albert School in 1879 and enrolled in Vidyasagar College but since it did not offer science courses, he attended lectures in physics and chemistry at the Presidency College. Prompted by a keen interest in chemistry, he set up a laboratory at home to conduct experiments.

In 1882, he won the Gilchrist Scholarship to pursue a bachelor’s degree in science from the Edinburgh University. He received his doctorate degree in 1877. Besides science, he had also academic interests in literature, history and political science.

Ray began working at the Presidency College in 1889. He also discovered a chemical compound that was named mercurous nitrite. He was an active member of the Brahmo Samaj. Many institutions honoured his name such as the Prafulla Chandra College in Calcutta, and the Bagerhat PC College in Bangladesh.The British conferred on him with the Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire in 1911. He was also received honorary doctorates from the Durham and Dhaka universities.

A bachelor, he dedicated himself to scientific work and for the uplift of the downtrodden. In 1901, he set up the Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Works Ltd with an initial capital of ~ 700 and the company grew manifold during his lifetime. In 1916, he left his job at Presidency College and took up the post of Palit Professor at the Rajabazar Science College. He also conducted research on platinum, iridium and sulphides of organic substances. He published over a hundred papers on Chemistry, its history and practical applications, many of which were published in the Journal of Indian Chemical Society. He was also deeply interest in ancient scientific texts and read ancient Sanskrit manuscripts in this connection. The result was a two-volume work titled A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of Sixteenth Century which was published in 1902.

PHILANTHROPY

Ray was instrumental in organising relief work during the severe floods in Bengal in 1923. A rationalist who campaigned for social reforms, he opposed the caste system.His autobiography was titled Life and Experience of a Bengali Chemist. He instituted the Nagarjuna Prize for chemistry and the Ashutosh Mukherjee Award for biology.When Ray passed away in Calcutta on June 16, 1944, the mourners included thousands of his students.

INTERESTING FACTS

1. Prafulla Chandra Ray’s autobiography, Life and Experiences of a Bengali Chemist, was published in two volumes in 1932 and 1935. It describes his work as a scientist and the changes in India during his time.

2. 1921 onwards, he donated his entire salary to the University of Calcutta to conduct chemical research and for the development of the chemistry department. When he retired in 1936, he was made Professor Emeritus.

3. Ray set up the Bengal Relief Committee when north Bengal was severely affected by floods in 1923. The committee collected ~ 2.5 million in cash and kind and distributed it to the flood victims.

4. Ray donated money for the welfare of Sadharan Brahmo Samaj, the Brahmo Girls’ School and the Indian Chemical Society. He also made donations to institute the Nagarjuna Prize in 1922 in recognition of the best work in chemistry. Later, he also instituted the Ashutosh Mukherjee Award in 1937 for honouring those who put in outstanding work in the fields of zoology as well as botany.

SOURCES: Thefamouspeople.com, Famousscientists.org, Softschools.com

Terms of use
Privacy policy
Weather Today
HT Newsletters
Subscription
Print Ad Rates
Code of Ethics

India vs Sri Lanka
Live Cricket Score
Cricket Teams
Cricket Players
ICC Rankings
Cricket Schedule
Shreyas Iyer
Harshit Rana
Kusal Mendis
Ravi Bishnoi
Rinku Singh
Riyan Parag
Washington Sundar
Avishka Fernando
Charith Asalanka
Dasun Shanaka
Khaleel Ahmed
Pathum Nissanka
Other Cities
Income Tax Calculator
Petrol Prices
UGC NET Answer Key 2024 Live
Diesel Prices
Silver Rate
Relationships
Art and Culture
Taylor Swift: A Primer
Telugu Cinema
Tamil Cinema
Board Exams
Exam Results
Admission News
Employment News
Competitive Exams
BBA Colleges
Engineering Colleges
Medical Colleges
BCA Colleges
Medical Exams
Engineering Exams
Love Horoscope
Annual Horoscope
Festival Calendar
Compatibility Calculator
Career Horoscope
Manifestation
The Economist Articles
Lok Sabha States
Lok Sabha Parties
Lok Sabha Candidates
Explainer Video
On The Record
Vikram Chandra Daily Wrap
Entertainment Photos
Lifestyle Photos
News Photos
Olympics 2024
Olympics Medal Tally
Other Sports
EPL 2023-24
ISL 2023-24
Asian Games 2023
Public Health
Economic Policy
International Affairs
Climate Change
Gender Equality
future tech
HT Friday Finance
Explore Hindustan Times
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use
Subscription - Terms of Use

wikiscientists.com

Prafulla chandra ray wiki, age, death, wife, family, biography & more.

Prafulla Chandra Ray (1861-1944) was an Indian scientist, professor, industrialist and philanthropist. He is known as the “father of Indian chemistry.” He established India’s first pharmaceutical company, ‘Bengal Chemical and Pharmaceuticals.’ He discovered the compound Mercurous Nitrite. Prafulla Chandra Ray also established the first modern Indian Research School in Chemistry.

Table of Contents

Wiki/Biography

Prafulla Chandra Ray was born on Friday, 2 August 1861 ( age 82 years; at the time of death ), in Bengal Presidency, British India (now in the Khulna District, Khulna Division, Bangladesh). His early education started in his village school. He then went to Kolkata, where he studied at Hare School. In 1878, he was admitted to Metropolitan College (now, Vidyasagar College) as an F.A. student. He then pursued a B.A. course at the University of Calcutta. While studying at Metropolitan College, he studied physics and chemistry at Presidency College. In 1885, he received a B.Sc degree from the University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom.

Parents & Siblings

Prafulla Chandra Ray was the son of Harish Chandra Ray and Bhubanmohini Devi. His father was a landlord, and his mother was a well-educated woman. Prafulla Chandra Ray had six siblings – four brothers, and two sisters.

Wife & Children

Prafulla Chandra Ray never got married.

Signature/Autograph

Prafulla Chandra Ray’s signature

Scientific Work

Nitrite chemistry, mercurous nitrite.

In 1895, Prafulla Chandra discovered the mercurous nitrite. The preparation of mercurous nitrite was an accidental discovery. He wanted to prepare water-soluble mercurous nitrate as an intermediate for the synthesis of calomel. Accordingly, dilute aqueous nitric acid was reacted with excess mercury. This resulted in the formation of yellow crystalline mercurous nitrate.

The first page of Prafulla Chandra Ray’s paper on nitrites of mercury

Ammonium and alkylammonium nitrites

A remarkable contribution of Prafulla Chandra Ray was the synthesis of ammonium nitrite in the pure form via double displacement between ammonium chloride and silver nitrite. The success with the preparation of ammonium nitrite led Prafulla Chandra to develop the chemistry of alkylammonium nitrites. He prepared a family of such compounds by double displacement of alkylamine hydrochlorides and silver nitrite.

Literary Work

Life and experience of a bengali chemist.

‘Life and Experience of a Bengali Chemist’ is an autobiography of Prafulla Chandra Ray. The first volume of his autobiography was released in 1932, and the second volume was released in 1935.

‘Life and Experiences of a Bengali Chemist’ – Autobiography of Prafull Chandra Ray

A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of Sixteenth Century

He published ‘A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of Sixteenth Century’. The first volume was published in 1902, and the second volume was released in 1909.

A picture of Prafulla Chandra Ray in 1909

Academic Work

University of edinburgh.

In 1888, he was elected the Vice President, of the Edinburgh University Chemical Society.

Presidency College

In 1889, he worked as Assistant Professor of Chemistry, at the Presidency College.

University College of Science

In 1916, he joined the University College of Science, Kolkata as a Palit Professor of Chemistry.

Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray Laboratory, University College of Science and Technology, Calcutta

Indian Science Congress

In 1920, he was elected the President of the Indian Science Congress.

Industrial Work

In 1892, Prafulla Chandra Ray established India’s first pharmaceutical company, ‘Bengal Chemical and Pharmaceuticals.’ He also established the first modern Indian Research School in Chemistry in 1924.

Prafulla Chandra Ray working at Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals

Awards, Honours, Achievements

Academic/fellowship.

In 1887, the Faraday Gold Medal of the University of Edinburgh
In 1943, Fellow of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science
In 1935, Foundation Fellow of the National Institute of Sciences of India
In 1919, Honorary Member of the Deutsche Akademie, Munich
Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal
In 1902, Fellow of the Chemical Society

Honorary Doctorates

In 1912, Honorary D.Sc. degree from Durham University
In 1920, Honorary D.Sc. degree from Banaras Hindu University
In 1908, Honorary Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Calcutta
In 1920 and 1936, Honorary D.Sc. degree from the University of Dhaka
In 1937, Honorary D.Sc. degree from the University of Allahabad

Other Awards and Honours

In 1932, Felicitated by the Corporation of Calcutta on his 70th birthday
In 1933, Felicitated by the Corporation of Karachi
In 1936, ‘Title of Jnanabaridi’ from Korotia College, Mymensingh (now the Government Saadat College)
In 1941, Felicitated by the Corporation of Calcutta on his 80th birthday
In 1912, awarded the Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire
In 1919, the title of Knight Bachelor

Bust of Prafulla Chandra Ray in Kolkata

Prafulla Chandra Ray died on 16 June 1944 at the age of 82 in his room at Calcutta University.

Facts/Trivia

A documentary film about Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray was made by Indian filmmaker Harisadhan Dasgupta in 1961.
He delivered his last lecture on 24 April 1943.

A postage stamp honouring Prafulla Chandra Ray

At the age of 60, he donated all of his salary from that date onwards to the development of the Department of Chemistry.
Prafulla Chandra Ray retired at the age of 75 in 1936.
The nickname of Prafulla Chandra Ray was Fulu. (( Science India Forum-UAE ))
In 1887, Prafulla Chandra Ray got the ‘Hope Prize’ for his thesis ‘Conjugated Sulphates of Copper Magnesium Group: A study of Isomorphous Mixtures and Molecular Combination.’
Mahatma Gandhi invited Prafulla Chandra Ray to inaugurate the Gujarat Vidyapeeth in 1920.

Anil Kakodkar Wiki, Age, Wife, Family, Biography & More

Tapan Mishra Wiki, Age, Family, Biography & More

Satyendra Nath Bose Wiki, Age, Death, Wife, Children, Family, Biography & More

Moumita Dutta Wiki, Age, Husband, Family, Biography & More

Birbal Sahni Wiki, Age, Death, Wife, Family, Biography & More

Wilhelm Röntgen Wiki, Age, Death, Wife, Family, Biography & more

Add comment cancel reply.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

West Bengal
Hyderabad Mukti Sangram
Get Involved

ఎమర్జెన్సీ: ప్రజాస్వామ్య పునరుద్ధరణ కోసం మహిళా కార్యకర్తల పోరాటం

ప్రజాకవి, భక్తి ఉద్యమకారుడు, సమాజిక సంస్కర్త సంత్‌ కబీర్‌దాస్‌

Nirgun Poems Of Kabir Das… Devotion to the Formless Divine

ఆధునిక దధీచి డాక్టర్‌ హెడ్గేవార్‌

ఆనంద సాధనం… భారతీయ యోగా

Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray: The Father of Hindu Chemistry

Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray lived a life of extreme self-denial and became a symbol of plain living.

Only three months junior to Rabindra Nath Tagore, Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray was born on August 2, 1861, in the village Raruli-Katipara in Khulna (now in Bangladesh) and died on June 16, 1944. Remarkably enough, Mahatma Gandhi was a few months junior to him – still Prafulla Chandra was a follower of Gandhiji’s ideology. In fact, Prafulla Chandra had started a campaign to propagate Khadi in the nook and corner of Bengal. A true patriot as he was, Prafulla Chandra never failed to help the revolutionaries of the country because he had full faith in their devotion and dedication to the country. His patriotism had started from the very grass roots of the country. His dress, his food, his behaviour and his everything was Indian. For teaching science, he preferred mother tongue to English language. For breakfast or lunch, he used to prefer puffed rice (in Bengali we call it Muri). His disciples used to recollect his words, why go for foreign things when alternatives are available indigenously.

The decade of 1860-69 in the nineteenth century was very important in India’s history. Thus, Animesh Chakraborty, a well-known inorganic chemist, wrote: “It was the best of times – the second half of the nineteenth century. The decade of 1860 – 69 alone saw the birth of Rabindranath Tagore, Motilal Nehru, Swami Vivekananda, Madan Mohan Malaviya, Asutosh Mookerjee, Lala Lajpat Rai, Srinivas Sastri and Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. And of Prafulla Chandra Ray. A season of light and hope was descending on a languishing India.”

He lived a life of extreme self-denial. He became a symbol of plain living. Mahatma Gandhi said: “It is difficult to believe that the man in simple Indian dress wearing simple manners could possibly be the great scientist and professor.” He lived in a single room of University College of Science, Calcutta University. Its furniture consisted of an iron bedstead, a small table, a smaller chair and an almirah with shelves full of books, most of which are English classics. Prafulla Chandra was unmarried.

His father Harish Chandra Ray was a zamindar (landlord), who was closely associated with the cultural and intellectual leaders of those days in Bengal. For his liberal views Harish Chandra was branded a Mlechcha (foreign heretic) by his fellow villagers. Ray’s mother, Bhubanmohini Devi, was also an accomplished lady of enlightened views.

Ray’s early education was in his village school, founded by his father. However, he made very little progress in this school as he used to be frequently absent from the school. In 1870 his father permanently shifted to Calcutta mainly for proper education of his children. Describing his first impression of Calcutta, Ray, in his autobiography wrote: “In August 1870, I came to Calcutta for the first time. I spent the month of August in Calcutta, to my great joy, almost every day seeing new sights. I caught glimpses of a new world. A panorama of gorgeous vistas was opened to me. The new water-works had just been completed and the town enjoyed the blessings of a liberal supply of filtered drinking water; the orthodox Hindus still hesitated to make use of it as being impure; but the superior quality of water carried its own recommendation, by slow degrees, reason and convenience triumphed over prejudice, and its use became almost universal. The construction of underground drains had just been taken in hand.”

In 1871, Ray and elder brother Nalinikanta were admitted into the Hare School, founded by David Hare, and then located in one storey building. The school was shifted to its present location in 1872. While studying in Hare School, he suffered from a severe attack of dysentery, which hampered his health throughout his life. Later, he studied at Albert School, Calcutta.

In 1879 he passed the Entrance Examination of Calcutta University and entered the Metropolitan Institution. PC Ray developed his interest in science after reading the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin and his famous “kite experiment”. At that time, the Metropolitan Institution had no science classes or laboratories and Prafulla Chandra attended classes of physics and chemistry at the Presidency College, Calcutta. Here he was specially attracted by the chemistry courses of Professor Alexander Pedler. It was Pedler who first awakened his interest in natural science. While taking the science course for the BA degree, he was awarded in 1882 one of the two Gilchrist Prize Scholarships after an all India competitive examination. Without completing the course for his degree, Prafulla Chandra proceeded to the United Kingdom for further study and entered the Edinburgh University. In Chemistry, he was a pupil of Professor Alexander Crum Brown, FRS noted for his philosophical outlook and engaging personality. He obtained the B.Sc. degree in 1886 and the D.Sc. degree in 1887. He was awarded the Hope Prize. While being a student of Edinburgh University he was elected vice-president of Edinburgh University Chemical Society in 1888.

Prafulla Chandra returned to India in 1889 and joined Presidency College, Calcutta as Assistant Professor of Chemistry. Though at that time, the Chemistry Department of Presidency College did not boast of any well-equipped world standard laboratory, but a lot of original chemical experimentation occurred there. In 1896, he published a paper on preparation of a new stable chemical compound Mercurous Nitrite. This work made way for a large number of investigative papers on nitrites and hypernitrites of different metals, and on nitrites of ammonia and organic amines. He started a new Indian School of Chemistry in 1924. Ray retired from the Presidency College in 1916 and joined the Calcutta University College of Science (popularly known as Rajabazar Science College) as its first Palit Professor of Chemistry.

On the completion of his 60th year in 1921, he made a free gift of his entire salary to the Calcutta University from that date onward, to be spent for furtherance of chemical research, and the development of the Department of Chemistry in the University College of Science.

The first volume of Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray’s celebrated work, The History of Hindu Chemistry, was published in 1902. The second volume was published in 1908. It was Marcellin Pierre Eugene Berthelot (1827 – 1907), who inspired Ray to undertake this monumental work. In the preface to the edition Ray wrote: “…I was brought into communication with M. Berthelot some five years ago – a circumstance which has proved to be a turning point, if I may so say, in my career as a student of the history of chemistry. The illustrious French savant, the Doyen of the chemical world, who has done more than any other persons to clear up the sources and trace the progress of chemical science in the West, expressed a strong desire to know all about the contribution of the Hindus, even went the length of making a personal appeal to me to help him with information on the subject. In response to his sacred call I submitted to him, in 1898, a short monograph on Indian alchemy; it was based chiefly on Rasendra Samgraha, a work which I have since then found to be a minor importance and not calculated to throw much light on the vexed question as to the origin of the Hindu Chemistry. M. Berthelot not only did me the honour of reviewing it at length but very kindly presented me with a complete set of his monumental work, in three volumes, on the chemistry of the Middle Ages, dealing chiefly with the Arabian and Syrian contributions on the subject, the very existence of which I was not till then aware of. On perusing the contents of these works I was filled with the ambition of supplementing them with one on Hindu chemistry.”

In his Presidential address to the Indian National Social Conference in 1917, Prafulla Chandra made a passionate appeal for removal of the caste system from the Hindu society. Ray was an ardent advocate of the use of the mother tongue as medium of instruction in schools and colleges. In recognition of his contribution towards the advancement and enrichment of Bengali language, he was elected the president of Bangiya Sahitya Parishad (1931-34). He realised that advancement of Indian and its people can happen only by economic advancement through development of new industries on scientific lines. He showed the way by investing his own money into forming Bengal Chemical and Pharmaceutical Works in 1893. This company culminated into the pioneer of chemical industry in India. Employment generation among Indians was another motto for establishing such an industry. In 1902, it became a limited company and grew up under his guidance.

Prafulla Chandra gave away most of his earnings in charity. According to one estimate, he spent nine-tenths of his income on charity. In 1922 he made an endowment of Rs. 10,000 for an annual prize in chemistry, named after the great Indian alchemist Nagarjuna. He also made an endowment of Rs. 10,000 in 1936 for a research prize in zoology and botany named after Asutosh Mookerjee. He supported many poor students. At the time of his retirement, Ray donated Rs. 1,80,000 to the Calcutta University for the extension and development of the Chemistry Department.

Prafulla Chandra is remembered for his part in the Bengal famine of 1922. A correspondent for Manchester Guardian wrote: “In these circumstances, a professor of Chemistry, Sir PC Ray, stepped forward and called upon his countrymen to make good the Government’s omission. His call was answered with enthusiasm. The public of Bengal, in one month gave three lakhs of rupees.” In 1923, Northern Bengal suffered a flood which made millions of people homeless and hungry. Prafulla Chandra organised Bengal Relief Committee, which collected nearly 2.5 million rupees in cash and kind and distributed it in the affected area in an organised manner.

Before I conclude this article, let me quote from the lecture of Rabindranath Tagore which he delivered while presiding over Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray’s 70th birthday celebration: “It is stated in the Upanishads that The One said, ‘I shall be Many’. The beginning of Creation is a move towards self-immolation. Prafulla Chandra has become many in his pupils and made his heart alive in the hearts of many. And that would not have been at all possible had he not unreservedly made a gift of himself. Decrepitude will never wear the glory of this power in Prafulla Chandra as teacher out. It will extend further in time through the ever growing intelligence of youthful hearts; by steady perseverance countrymen, they will win new treasures of knowledge.”

Reference: 1. Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray-Dr Subodh Mohanti: Vigyan Prasar. 2. Life and Experiences of a Bengali Chemist (Vol. 1 & 2) by P.C. Ray, The Asiatic Society 3. Wikipedia.

Courtesy : ORGANISER

This article was first published in 2021

నియంతృత్వ ఎమర్జెన్సీకి 49 ఏళ్లు

EDITOR PICKS

EVEN MORE NEWS

Gyanvapi permises survey – allahabad high court informed of threat to..., మాతృ భూమి కోసం అద్వితీయ పోరాటం సలిపిన ధీర వనిత రాణి దుర్గావతి, అక్కల్‌ కోట్‌ స్వామి వారిని దర్శించుకున్న సరసంఘచాలక్ మోహన్ భాగవత్, popular category.

Telugu 2251
Telugu Articles 1845
English Articles 1252
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh 1104

TRAFFIC ALERT: Beginning Monday, September 23, 51st Street between Cherry Street and Rockhill Road will be permanently closed .

Friday, September 13, 2024

Open today 4 PM - 11 PM

Postage stamp honoring Prafulla Chandra Ray on the 100th anniversary of his birth, India Post, 1961 (Wikimedia commons)

Prafulla Chandra Ray

Scientist of the day - prafulla chandra ray.

Prafulla Chandra Ray, an Indian chemist, was born Aug. 2, 1861. Ray is often referred to as the father of chemistry in India. Showing great promise in his studies as a young man in Bengal, he was awarded a fellowship to the University of Edinburgh in 1882, where he received his BS and then his PhD in 1887. In a day when organic chemistry was all the rage, he chose to pursue inorganic chemistry, becoming an expert in mineral salts, such as sulfates and nitrites. He returned to India in 1888 and the next year received a position at the Presidency College in Calcutta. He was unable to obtain a position in the imperial service because he was Indian, an affront to which he took public offense. Ray was an ardent Bengali nationalist for his entire life, and unfortunately did not live quite long enough to see that dream become reality.

First page of Chandra Ray’s paper on nitrites of mercury, in which he announced his discovery of mercurous nitrite, Journal of the Chemical Society of London , 1897 (Linda Hall Library)

In 1896, he announced a major discovery of a new compound, mercurous nitrite. It is hard to believe that in a millennia of alchemical and chemical investigations, no one had discovered this particular compound, which was quite stable once one figured out how to make it. He published the discovery in several papers, including one in the Journal of the Chemical Society of London in 1897 which we have in our collections ( second image ). The discovery spawned a novel field of research, allowing Ray to establish a new school of chemistry in India and attract a considerable number of students. In 1916, he joined the faculty of Calcutta University College of Science, where he established another chemical school. He retired in 1936 and died in 1944.

Exhibition at Science City, Kolkata, India, 2011, honoring the 150th birthday of Chandra Ray (Wikimedia commons)

Ray was noteworthy for his passion for Indian independence and for his philanthropy. He lived extremely frugally, needed little money, and beginning in 1921, he donated his entire salary back to the Calcutta Department of Chemistry for research and student support. His humility and life style were as much a model for his students and contemporaries as was his expertise in inorganic chemistry. He also had an intense interest in the history of chemistry, and in 1902-08, he published A History of Chemistry in Ancient and Medieval India ; we have a later edition in the Library, retitled A History of Hindu Chemistry (1956). We hope to acquire the first edition at some point.

Another view of the exhibition honoring Chandra Ray in Kolkata, 2011 (Wikimedia commons)

According to the Times of India in 2011 , the Royal Society of Chemistry awarded a Chemical Landmark Plaque to Ray in 2011, the first plaque ever given to a chemist outside of Europe. This story has been picked up by all the Wikipedia-style biographies, but there is something odd about it, since Landmark Plaques are given to places, not people, and there is no mention of this on the RSC website . We hope something about the story is true, since Ray certainly deserves more attention from the West. In India, he is a scientific hero, as he should be, and he was honored with a special exhibition at the Science Centre in Kolkata in 2011. We show here some photographs of that event ( fourth image ).

Bust of Prafulla Chandra Ray, Kolkata, India (Wikimedia commons)

In India, Ray is always referred to as Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray, Acharya being an honorary title meaning “one who leads by example.” It would be nice if we had a title for exemplary lifestyle in the West.

Dr. William B. Ashworth, Jr., Consultant for the History of Science, Linda Hall Library and Associate Professor, Department of History, University of Missouri-Kansas City. Comments or corrections are welcome; please direct to [email protected] .

Preparatory study in clay for a bronze bust of Walter Reed, by Cecil Howard, 1947 (Wikimedia commons)

Library Hours

Monday - Friday 10 AM - 5 PM

NotesFinder

Find your notes here

Latest Notes

Biography of Prafulla Chandra Roy
Paragraph Writing/Essay Writing

Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy

Prafulla Chandra Roy is one of the famous scientists that India has ever produced. He was born on 2nd August, 1861 at Khulna (now Bangladesh). He started his primary education in a village Pathsala. Later he had his education in some well-known schools like Hare School and Albert School. He passed the entrance examination in 1879, F.A. from Metropolitan College in 1882. He won Gilchrist scholarship in 1882 and went to London for further study. He earned the degrees of B.Sc. and D.Sc. from Edinburgh University. He returned to Calcutta and joined as a Professor of Chemistry in the Presidency College in 1889. He was the first scientist to prepare Mercurous Nitrite in laboratory in 1896. In 1901, he single handedly established ‘The Bengal Chemicals, the first Indian Pharmaceutical company. Later he joined Science College as palit Professor. He is considered as the ‘Father of the modern Indian chemical Industry’. He breathed his last on June 16th,1944.

Environment Pollution paragraph | Environmental Pollution

Child Labour Paragraph | Child Labour in India

Students and Social Services

You cannot copy content of this page

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

We're Hiring!
Help Center

Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray: A Revisit to His Life and Work (PART-1)

Related Papers

Science and Culture

Professor Manas Chakrabarty

Benjamin Zachariah

Empfohlene Zitierung / Suggested Citation: Zachariah, Benjamin: The chemistry of a Bengali life : Acharya/ Sir Prafulla Chandra Ray in his times and places. In: Rehberg, Karl-Siegbert (Ed.) ; Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Soziologie (DGS) (Ed.): Soziale Ungleichheit, kulturelle Unterschiede: Verhandlungen des 32. Kongresses der Deutschen Gesellschaft fur Soziologie in Munchen. Teilbd. 1 und 2. Frankfurt am Main : Campus Verl., 2006. ISBN 3-593-37887-6, pp. 4316-4332. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/ urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-142121

Pratik Chakrabarti

Indian Journal of History of Science

Dhruv Raina

Amongst the histories of science produced in early twentieth century India, the History of Hindu Chemistry, authored by the `founder’ of the school of chemistry in modern India, P. C. Ray, has acquired the status of a classic. This paper explores, as part of a more detailed study, the nineteenth century histories and historiography of chemistry as presented in the works of Thomson, Hoefer and Kopp, that shaped the writing of Ray’s History. More specifically, it seeks to identify the historiographic elements and contexts of nineteenth century chemistry that Ray drew upon and subsequently improvised in order to insert the history of Indian alchemy and chemistry within the mainstream narrative of the histories of science of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.

“Curiosity”, VIPNET NEWS—VIGYAN PRASAR NETWORK OF SCIENCE CLUBS

Rajeev Singh

Madhumita Mazumdar

Science Technology & Society

... The Young PC Ray and the Inauguration of the Social History of Science in India (1885-1907)DHRUV RAINA* Dhruv Raina is at NISTADS, Dr KS Krishnan Marg, New Delhi 110 012. ... In early 1901, Gopalkrishan Gokhale was in Calcutta and Mahatma Gandhi was his guest. ...

South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies

marika vicziany

HARDEV SINGH Virk , Devinder Pal Singh

Indian Journal of the History of Science

This paper takes a close look at the chemist Nilratan Dhar's memoirs published as Reflections on Chemical Education in 1974 and tries to understand how Dhar's renditions of his life and career bore the imprints of his teacher and mentor Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray. It argues that Dhar drew upon Ray's historicizing impulse to tell us not only a story of his own life but also a larger history of chemical research under colonial conditions on the one hand and the Great Wars on the other.

Loading Preview

Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.

RELATED PAPERS

Dr Jayanta Sthanapati

Sethuraman Jambunathan

Gaurangi Maitra

Klaus Hentschel

African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development

Notes and Records of The Royal Society

Kanchan Kamila

Charu Singh

HARDEV SINGH Virk

Rajesh Kochhar

Orient Blackswan

Aditya Mukherjee

shakunt pandey

QUEST JOURNALS

Sociological Bulletin

Sambit Mallick

Journal of Asian Studies

leonard Blusse

Syed Ziaur Rahman

RAM BILAS MISRA

syamal chakrabarti

Statistical Science

Malay Ghosh

Paragraph, Essay and Biography on “Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy” , Paragraph for Class 9, Class 10, Class 12 Class Exams.

Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy

The 150th birth anniversary of the great scientist Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy is being celebrated throughout the state and the country throughout the state and the country throughout this year. He was not only an accomplished scientist but also a true humanitarian. He also encouraged others to become self-sufficient. He himself started a small-scale industry to inspire others. He also got himself involved in providing relief to helpless and distressed people. He also wrote some thoughtful books. He tried to engage himself for the benefit and welfare others.

Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy was born on the 2nd day of August in the year 1861 at the village named Raruli Katipara in the district named Khulna. After coming to Calcutta (Presently known as Kolkata) he was admitted to Hare School In 1879 he passed the Entrance Examination. Thereafter, he was admitted to the Metropolitan College. He was a truly brilliant student and got the Gilchrist Scholarship. After getting the scholarship he started for London. He got his B. Sc. Degree from the well known Edinburge university work on Chemistry. Later, he became to be known as a good scientist. He also got the D. Sc. title from the same university. He then started for Calcutta (Presently known as Kolkata).

After returning to Kolkata he started his career as a professor at the Presidency College. He also began his research here. He in fact started true research in Chemistry in our country. After strenuous research he invented Mercurous Nitrate. Accordingly, he became well-known as a great scientist. He also enriched Chemistry in many other manners. He (Later) became the Principal of Science College in 1913. He continued Ws research work there.

He also encouraged entrepreneurship. He always inspired others to start small scale industries and cottage industries. He himself got established the well-known, ‘Bengal Chemical and Pharmaceutical Works’. He wanted the Bengali people to become self-sufficient and hated slavery. He felt that the Bengalees must be strong-willed, confident and enthusiastic, so that they could become free not only the fetters of British rule but also from the shockless of unemployment. Thus the country would also get truly progressed and developed.

He also wrote some books. Some of his books are ‘History of Hindu Chemistry’, ‘Banglar Anna-Samasya’ and Ayurveder Prachinate’ etc. This books contained thoughtful essays. It is evident that he studied other subject besides Chemistry and had profound knowledge about the society, Economics and the people. He also felt for the sufferings of the impoverished people. He thought about the problems of starvation. He tried to find out the solution to eradicate starvation from the country.

He always wanted to help the helpless people. He established a ‘Relief Society’ to support the victims of famine and flood of North Bengal. So those people were immensely benefited. He inspired others also to help others. He thought that everyone should be kind for true progress. He wanted others to become useful to the society.

This great scientist breathed his last in the year 1944. He was a science on the society and human being. He made it clear how science could be used for the benefit of science could be used for the benefit of helpless people. It’s due to him that proper research work in Chemistry started in this country. But his research work was intended for the welfare of the society. Therefore, his contribution to in the field of science and towards the humanity is immense.

We should try to follow his ideals in our everyday lives. We need to realize his ideas and endeavor to the true to his thoughts and humanitarian nature and mind. Then the celebration and observance of the 150th birth anniversary of Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy will become truly meaningful, significant, successful and purposeful. So, we all must realize this.

Hindi Paragraph, Essay and Speech on “ Prafulla Chandra Ray” , “आचार्य प्रफुल्ल चंद्र राय” Paragraph for Class 9, Class 10, Class 12 Class Exams.
Paragraph, Essay and Biography on “Pandit Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar ” Paragraph for Class 9, Class 10, Class 12 Class Exams.
Paragraph, Essay and Biography on “Raja Ram Mohan Roy” Paragraph for Class 9, Class 10, Class 12 Class Exams.
Paragraph, Essay and Biography on “Jagadish Chandra Bose” Paragraph for Class 9, Class 10, Class 12 Class Exams.
Paragraph, Essay and Biography on “Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar ” Paragraph for Class 9, Class 10, Class 12 Class Exams.
Paragraph, Essay and Biography on “Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose” Paragraph for Class 9, Class 10, Class 12 Class Exams.
Hindi Essay “Bharatiya Rasayan ke Janak Dr. Prafulla Chandra Ray” Hindi Essay for Class 9, Class 10, Class 12 and other Classes Exams.

About The Author

NotesEra.com is an one stop destination of Notes (Class 10, 11 and 12), Essays, Stories, Poems and Science Projects etc. Website provides authentic information and notes from experts. We provide Educational Information specifically from Class 1st to 12th. Science Projects are available in simplified form with Pictures.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

IMAGES

Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy
Prafulla Chandra Ray Biography
Biography of Prafulla Chandra Roy
WRITE A BIOGRAPHY OF PRAFULLA CHANDRA ROY IN ENGLISH
Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy
World Of Science And Technology: Brief Biography Of Prafulla Chandra

VIDEO

Prafulla Chandra Ray // Biography Writing
The short biography of Krishnacharya
Birthday of Prafulla Chandra Roy
West Bengal Best College Name Of The:ACHARYA PRAFULLA CHANDRA ROY Government #college #sillguri#vlog
Biography of Prafulla Chandra Roy... class 7 page no 97/activity 12
Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy Government College, Siliguri

COMMENTS

Prafulla Chandra Ray
Sir Prafulla Chandra Ray, CIE, FNI, FRASB, FIAS, FCS (also spelled Prafulla Chandra Rây and Prafulla Chandra Roy; Bengali: প্রফুল্ল চন্দ্র রায় Praphulla Chandra Rāy; 2 August 1861 - 16 June 1944) [2] was an Indian chemist, educationist, historian, industrialist and philanthropist. [2] He established the first modern Indian research school in chemistry ...
Prafulla Chandra Ray
Early Life and Education: Prafulla Chandra Ray was born on 2 August 1861, the younger of two brothers, in the village of Raruli-Katipara, now in Bangladesh. His father, Harish Chandra Ray was a landlord who loved learning and he built up an extensive library in his home. Prafulla's mother, Bhubanmohini Devi was well educated with liberal views.
Prafulla Chandra Ray Biography
About Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray. Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray (1861-1944) was a renowned Indian chemist, educationist, and industrialist who is considered the Father of Indian Chemistry.He is known for his contributions to chemistry and for founding Bengal Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals, the first pharmaceutical company in India.Dr Prafulla Chandra Ray was Born on 2 August 1861 in Raruli ...
Prafulla Chandra Ray Biography
Born In: Khulna. Born to a rich land owner Harish Chandra Ray in Raruli-Katipara village, Bangladesh, on August 2, 1861, Prafulla Chandra Ray, was the younger of two brothers. He was enrolled at a local school founded by his well-to-do family, for his early education till 1870, when they moved to Calcutta. In Calcutta, the two brothers enrolled ...
Remembering Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray, Father of Indian Chemistry
Sir Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray (August 2, 1861 - June 16, 1944) was a remarkable scientist, literary figure, professor, industrialist, philanthropist, and much more. Widely revered as "the father of Indian chemistry," Ray was a pioneer and figurehead of modern chemical research in India.
Prafulla Chandra Ray
Prafulla Chandra Ray was a chemist, an industrialist as well as a Bengali nationalist. He was born on 2 August 1861 in Bengal Presidency in British India, and later founded Bengal Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals, India's first pharmaceutical company. He also established the first Indian research school in chemistry and is regarded as the father ...
Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray: Life of Legend
Author: Chakrabarti, Syamal. Publisher: National Council of Science Museums, Kolkata. Description: Acharya Sir Prafulla Chandra was a Bengali chemist, educator and entrepreneur. And founder of the Indian School of modern chemistry, and also was a pioneer of chemical industries in India. He is a symbol of plain living and self-denial.
Prafulla Chandra Ray: Biography & Quotes
Prafulla Chandra Ray was born in a small Indian village on August 2, 1861 and died on June 16, 1944. As a child, he had a passion for learning, which on one occasion led him to be sick for two years.
The Life and Legacy of P.C Ray
In a world engulfed by the COVID-19 pandemic, when the leaders of several countries have called for national self-sufficiency, I am prodded to reflect upon the immortal philosophy and works of my paternal Great Great Grand Uncle, Acharya Sir Prafulla Chandra Ray [P.C Ray].Anointed the father of chemistry in India, Prafulla Chandra Ray was a strong advocate of making India industrially self ...
PC Ray: A genius chemist who dreamed of a modern India
PC Ray: A genius chemist who dreamed of a modern India. Dinsa Sachan re-tells the story of the inorganic chemist who put Indian chemistry on the map. When he wasn't teaching or immersed in research, ...
Ray, Prafulla Chandra
RAY, PRAFULLA CHANDRA. (b.Raruli, Khulna, India [now Bangladesh], 2 August 1861; d.Calcutta, India, 16 June 1944) Chemistry, history of science. Ray was the third of seven children born to Harishchandra and Bhuvamohini Ray. After attending the village school he was sent to Calcutta in 1871, where he studied at Hare School.
Prafulla Chandra Ray: Icon of Science, pharma sector
1. Prafulla Chandra Ray's autobiography, Life and Experiences of a Bengali Chemist, was published in two volumes in 1932 and 1935. It describes his work as a scientist and the changes in India ...
PDF Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray
Prafulla Chandra in 1896. Prafulla Chandra, the teacher Prafulla Chandra returned to India in 1888 with a hope to get an opportunity of pursu-ing teaching and research. But as a part of colonial rule the British education depart-ment had created two types of posts — the imperial service, and the provincial service.
Prafulla Chandra Ray Wiki, Age, Death, Wife, Family, Biography & More
Prafulla Chandra Ray (1861-1944) was an Indian scientist, professor, industrialist and philanthropist. He is known as the "father of Indian chemistry." He established India's first pharmaceutical company, 'Bengal Chemical and Pharmaceuticals.' ... Wiki/Biography. Prafulla Chandra Ray was born on Friday, 2 August 1861 (age 82 years; ...
Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray: The Father of Hindu Chemistry
Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray lived a life of extreme self-denial and became a symbol of plain living. Only three months junior to Rabindra Nath Tagore, Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray was born on August 2, 1861, in the village Raruli-Katipara in Khulna (now in Bangladesh) and died on June 16, 1944. Remarkably enough, Mahatma Gandhi was a few ...
Scientist of the Day
Prafulla Chandra Ray, an Indian chemist, was born Aug. 2, 1861. Ray is often referred to as the father of chemistry in India. Showing great promise in his studies as a young man in Bengal, he was awarded a fellowship to the University of Edinburgh in 1882, where he received his BS and then his PhD in 1887. In a day when organic chemistry was ...
Biography of Prafulla Chandra Roy
He breathed his last on June 16th,1944. Spread the love. On September 17, 2022. Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy Prafulla Chandra Roy is one of the famous scientists that India has ever produced. He was born on 2nd August, 1861 at Khulna (now Bangladesh). He started his primary education in a village Pathsala.
Prafulla Chandra Ray: Books, Inventions & Achievements
Achievements. Prafulla Chandra Ray loved learning from the beginning. Many believed that his love for learning came from his accomplished father, who built a library within their home. At one ...
PDF Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray: a Revisit to His Life and Work
with that in the first part. The concluding portion of this write-up would appear in Part-3. ARTICLE P.C. Ray's Laboratory: Nursery of Modern Indian ChemistsR esearchers started working with P.C. Ray since 1900. In 1909, some brilliant students, including Jnanendra Chandra Ghosh, Jnanendra Nath Mukherjee, Manik Lal Dey, Satyendra Nath Bose, Pulin
PDF Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray: a Revisit to His Life and Work
MANAS CHAKRABARTY*. Continuing from Part-2 [Sci. Cult., 88 (3-4), 108-118 (2022)], this concluding part embodies the activities of P.C. Ray as a social reformer (against casteism and for women's freedom and education), on education, philanthropy, charka and khaddar, insurance, his munificence, patriotic and nationalistic activities, as a ...
Chemical Research of Sir Prafulla Chandra Ray
proposal in Prafulla Chandra's time because structural prin ciples were in their infancy. A direct experimental proof of the structure of the above nitrite is still awaited. Subsequently, Prafulla Chandra became interested in the chemis try of hypo nitrites. Structure the hyponitrite anion (N 202)2-is shown in Figure 3.
Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray: A Revisit to His Life and Work (PART-1)
Introduction A mammoth task ahead - I am to write a short account of the life and work of the great Indian savant Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray whose activities covered nearly all aspects of human interest, viz. pioneering research in chemistry in modern India, inspiring students for research and entrepreneurship, founding and promoting ...
Paragraph, Essay and Biography on "Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy
Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy. The 150th birth anniversary of the great scientist Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy is being celebrated throughout the state and the country throughout the state and the country throughout this year. He was not only an accomplished scientist but also a true humanitarian. He also encouraged others to become self-sufficient.

Prafulla Chandra Ray

Early Life and Education:

Contributions and Achievements::

More from FamousScientists.org:

Alphabetical List of Scientists

Prafulla Chandra Ray Biography

About Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray

Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray Education and Early Life

Acharya Prafulla Chandra Family

Prafulla Chandra Ray Contribution and Achievements

Prafulla Chandra Ray Invention and Discovery

Prafulla Chandra Ray Recognition and Honors

Academic honors and Fellowships

Honorary Doctorates

Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray Awards

Acharya P.C. Ray Memorial Award

ICC Acharya P.C. Ray Award for Development of Indigenous Technology

Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray & Ambuja’s Best Design Project Report Awards

Prafulla Chandra Ray Books

FAQs About Prafulla Chandra Ray

Who invented mercurous nitrate?

Who is the father of inorganic chemistry in India?

What is Prafulla Chandra Roy famous for?

What was invented by Prafulla Chandra?

rafulla Chandra Ray is best known for his discovery of the stable compound mercurous nitrite in 1896, which was a significant breakthrough in inorganic chemistry. He also founded Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals, India's first pharmaceutical company, in 1901.

Related content

Select your Course

Prafulla Chandra Ray Biography

Remembering Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray, Father of Indian Chemistry

Remembering Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray: Articles from ACS Journals

Acknowledgements

Want the latest stories delivered to your inbox each month?

Prafulla Chandra Ray

Prize-winning essay

Social Share

Ongoing Series

#2 : Last Week in Culture [July 8-15, 2024]

Indian Art Memes

Make an art-meme

We can't wait to see what you create!

Published Memes

The Making of the Acharya

P.C Ray : Teacher, Scientist and Entrepreneur

P.C Ray : Founder of Bengal Chemical & Pharmaceutical Works

Suggested Reading :

Choose a Citation format

Others are reading:

Add your Museum Photo

Embrace Digital : Resources for Museums

Your browser is not supported

PC Ray: A genius chemist who dreamed of a modern India

Related articles

India should become the talent incubator for the global south

Outcry among scientists as Indian government moves to slash awards

Profile: Sandeep Verma

Cryptic chemistry crossword #054

Quick chemistry crossword #054

Chemistry wordoku #061

1 Reader's comment

September 2024 puzzles

Carol Robinson: ‘I really wanted to wave the flag about technicians’

Ijeoma Uchegbu: ‘My approach is always to be kind’

August 2024 puzzles

July 2024 puzzles

Emmeline Edwards: ‘I connect the dots’

Prafulla Chandra Ray: Icon of Science, pharma sector

wikiscientists.com

Wiki/Biography

Parents & Siblings

Wife & Children

Signature/Autograph

Scientific Work

Ammonium and alkylammonium nitrites

Literary Work

A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of Sixteenth Century

Academic Work

Presidency College

University College of Science

Indian Science Congress

Industrial Work