Sir Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray, an eminent Indian chemist, educationist, historian, industrialist and philanthropist established the first modern Indian research school in chemistry (post classical age) and is regarded as the Father of Indian Chemistry.
Education:
In 1870 his family migrated to Calcutta after which Ray and his elder brother were admitted to Hare School. In 1874, he suffered from a severe attack of dysentery, which hampered his health throughout his life due to which Ray had to postpone his studies for a couple of years and return to his ancestral home in the village due to the severity of the attack.
In 1879, he passed the Entrance Examination and took admission into the Metropolitan Institution established by Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, a prominent Indian educator and social reformer.
Here are some Unknown Facts about Prafulla Chandra Ray:
As the Metropolitan Institution offered no facilities for science courses at the time, Ray attended physics and chemistry lectures as an external student at the Presidency College, Kolkata.
He was attracted to chemistry after attending the lectures of Alexander Pedler, an inspiring lecturer and experimentalist who was among the earliest research chemists in India in the Presidency College. Although He was keenly interested in literature before that and continued to take interest in literature, and taught himself Latin and French at home.
While pursuing his BA examination, he applied for and was awarded one of the two Gilchrist Prize Scholarships after an all-India competitive examination.
After obtaining a F.A. diploma from the University of Calcutta, he moved to the University of Edinburgh on a Gilchrist scholarship where he obtained both his B.Sc. and D.Sc. degrees.
In 1888, Prafulla Chandra returned to India and spent a few initial years working with his friend Jagadish Chandra Bose in his laboratory.
In 1889, Presidency College appointed him Assistant Professor of Chemistry, the college from where he had gradauted.
After obtaining his BSc degree from the University of Edinburgh, Ray embarked on his doctoral thesis (DSc) in the same university and completed his doctorate in 1887.
His publications on mercurous nitrite and its derivatives brought him recognition from all over the world.
He remained a bachelor throughout his life who took active participation in politics. His father Harish Chandra Ray, was strongly associated with Brahmo Samaj.
Equally important was his role as a teacher – he inspired a generation of young chemists in India thereby building up an Indian school of chemistry.
Famous Indian scientists like Meghnad Saha and Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar were among his students.
He set up the first chemical factory in India, with very minimal resources, working from his home as he believed India could progress only after the process of industrialization.
British Government awarded him as Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire in 1911.
Prafulla Chandra Ray was an honorary fellow of the Chemical Society and Deutsche Akademie, Munich.
British government also awarded him knighthood in 1917.
He retired from the Presidency College in 1916, and was appointed as Professor of Chemistry at the University Science College.
Philanthropy
He donated all his salary for the rest of his service in the University to the development of the Department of Chemistry and to the creation of two research fellowships.
In 1923, Northern Bengal suffered a flood which made millions of people homeless and hungry. Prafulla Chandra Ray organised Bengal Relief Committee, which collected nearly 2.5 million rupees in cash and kind. He distributed relief material in the affected area in an organised manner.
The great chemist died on 6 June 1944 in Calcutta at the age of 82.
