| Great Scientists |
 |
| Biographies of Great Indians & Hindus |
Dr.P.C.RAY |
|
| For The
Sake Of Science Prafulla Chandra said on one occasion that when the people of Europe did not know how to make clothes, and were still wearing animal skins and wandering in forests, Indian scientists were manu- facturing wonderful chemicals. This is something we should be proud of. But Prafulla Chandra also knew that it is not enough to be proud of our past. We should follow the example of ourancestors and seek knowledge and progress in science. Prafulla Chandra did not rest content with giving such advice. He worked hard to practice it. In 1916 he retired from the Presidency College. Sir Asuthosh Mukherjee, the vice-chancellor of Calcutta University, appointed him as professor of Chemistry at the University Science College. Here Prafulla Chandra trained many talented students and with them made famous discoveries. The University Science College had been started just then. Facilities for experiments were very meager. Hence it became difficult to do advanced work. According to the rules of the college, all the Professors had to be Indians. Perhaps because of this the British Government did not make adequate grants to the college. However, Prafulla Chandra and his students used whatever facilities were available and did remarkable work. And soon the college became very famous. Prafulla Chandra worked in this college for twenty years. He remained a bachelor all his life. All these twenty years he lived in a simple room on the first floor of the college. Some of his students who were poor and could not live anywhere else shared his room. In 1936, when he was 75 years old, he retired from the Professorship. In 1921 when Prafulla Chandra reached 60 years he donated, in advance, 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. The value of this endowment was about two lake rupees. In addition, he gave ten thousand rupees for an annual research prize in Chemistry named after the great Indian Chemist Nagarjuna and another ten thousand for a research prize in Biology named after Sir Asuthosh Mukherjee. In recognition of Prafulla Chandra's great work he was elected President of Indian Science Congress and Indian Chemical Society more than once. Many Indian and Western Universities conferred honorary doctorates on him. |
|
