Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray

• 1861 - 1944

• Father of Indian Chemistry

• West Bengal Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals - first pharmaceutical company in India

• Discovered Mercurous Nitrite in 1896

• Knighted by British in 1919

• Established Nagarjuna prize for the best work in chemistry

• Wrote:

  • A HISTORY OF HINDU CHEMISTRY FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE MIDDLE OF SIXTEENTH CENTURY (1902)
  • SARAL PRANI BIJNAN (SIMPLE SCIENCE) (1902)
  • LIFE AND EXPERIENCE OF A BENGALI CHEMIST (1932)
    

• Mentioned in 2. Exploring substances - Acidic, Basic, Neutral - Class 7 Curiosity Science Book

The scientist mentioned in Chapter 2 of your textbook is Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray (P.C. Ray), who is celebrated as the "Father of Modern Indian Chemistry".

Who was Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray?

• Education: He earned his doctorate in chemistry from the United Kingdom (University of Edinburgh) before returning to India to advance scientific research.

• Career: He served as a Professor of Chemistry at Presidency College, Calcutta, where he was known for his engaging and experimental teaching style.

• Entrepreneurship: In 1901, he established Bengal Chemical & Pharmaceutical Works Ltd., India’s first pharmaceutical company, to promote self-reliance during the British Raj.

• Historian of Science: He authored the famous book "History of Hindu Chemistry," which highlighted the scientific achievements of ancient Indian scientists to the modern world.

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Interesting Incidents and Facts

Beyond the textbook, P.C. Ray's life was filled with incidents that showed his dedication and quirky personality:

• The "Crazy" Scientist: In his classroom, Ray was famous for making chemistry come alive. To demonstrate the chemical composition of bones, he reportedly once burned animal bones into ash in front of his students and then ate a bit of the ash to prove it was just calcium phosphate and perfectly clean. This "shock therapy" was his way of removing their superstitions.

• Accidental Discovery of Mercurous Nitrite: His most famous scientific discovery—mercurous nitrite—was actually an accident. In 1895, while trying to prepare water-soluble mercurous nitrate to synthesize calomel, he noticed yellow crystals forming. These crystals turned out to be a stable form of a substance previously thought to be unstable.

• A "Swadeshi" Salesman: When he first started Bengal Chemicals, he didn't just sit in a lab. After his college duties, he would personally go door-to-door to local stores to sell the medicinal products he had prepared in his home laboratory.

• Extreme Simplicity: Despite being a world-renowned scientist and the founder of a major company, Ray lived like a hermit. He kept only a small portion of his salary for himself—enough for a simple diet and plain clothes—and donated the rest to poor students and chemical research.

• The "Science of the Mother Tongue": At a time when English was the mandatory language for education, Ray was a social reformer who strongly advocated for teaching science in the mother tongue (Bengali) so that common people could understand and benefit from scientific knowledge.