October 2023 | VOL.1.1 | HYDERABAD |
Sir Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray (P C Ray) is the "Father of Indian Chemistry." Isn't it exciting to hear that he is known as the "Father of Indian Chemistry" and the modern generation knows little about him? So, this is a humble effort to bring his remarkable work to the relevant people and make his inspiration alive again. On August 2nd, 1861, Prafulla Chandra Ray was born as one of seven children to a Zamindar family in the village of Raruli-Katipara (now in Bangladesh) in the eastern region of the Bengal Presidency of British India. P C Ray focused on history and literature at an early education age. He has learnt multiple foreign languages, Sanskrit, to mention specifically. While doing a First Arts degree at the Metropolitan Institution in Kolkata, chemistry was a compulsory subject; due to a lack of faculty, he had to attend Physics and Chemistry lectures at the Presidency College as an external Student. He was especially attracted to chemistry courses taught by Alexander Pedlar, an inspirational lecturer and experimentalist. At that stage, P C Ray decided to continue his career in Chemistry and recognised that the country's future was significantly dependent on scientific progress.
His passion for experimentation made him set up a small-scale laboratory at a very early age at a friend's lodging. After FA, P C Ray went to the University of Edinburgh in 1882 on scholarship to obtain a B.Sc. and then continued for a doctorate.
In 1895-96, P C Ray invented stable ammonium nitrite, immensely contributing to the development of pesticide applications. In 1892, he started Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceutical in a rented house in Kolkata, intending to foster the spirit of entrepreneurship in Bengali youth, which became India's First Pharmaceutical company.
At 75, he retired from active service and became a professor emeritus. Before that, he gave his entire salary to Calcutta University to spend on developing Chemical research at the Development of Chemistry in the University College of Science.
British government honoured him as Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire and Knight Bachelor. This is not exclusive to the content of his work. I have tried to pick up a few notable examples of his contributions to chemical research, industry & society. I want to leave thoughts with readers to take forward from where I leave the content. Imagine, 70 years before India's independence, when the whole of India was fighting for freedom, this man was doing silent nation-building with the strong belief that only independence is not sufficient if it is not dependent on science for its growth. What he believed, he has done, and today, we see all the fruits. In the last two decades, we have seen abundant resources like infrastructures, chemicals, knowledge availability, and work speed coupled with advanced information technology with investment from government and private institutes. One hundred fifty years before, nothing was available, and things were driven by the personal qualities of visionary leaders through dedicated work, passion & perseverance. We combine present resources and the legacy of our past leadership, which continues in us in various forms; nothing stops us from achieving what we dream of!