Illustrious scientist and philosopher Sir Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray’s 159th birth anniversary was observed in Paikgachha upazila of Khulna on Sunday.
This year the program had to be held in a limited capacity considering the prevailing coronavirus situation.
Local admirers paid their respects by placing floral wreaths before his portrait at village Raruli under the upazila in the morning.
Terming Ray as a social reformer, the attendees recalled the life and works of the brilliant scientist, philosopher and philanthropist.
Eminent scientist Sir PC Ray was born at village Raruli-Katipara under Paikgachha upazila in Khulna on August 2 in 1861.
Following an education in Calcutta, he won a Gilchrist Scholarship to study in Britain in the 1880s. He was met in London by Jagadish Chandra Bose and Satyaranjan Das. A week later he went up to Edinburgh University, with letters of introduction to Edinburgh families provided by Elizabeth Manning.
Ray studied chemistry, physics and zoology for a BSc and was then awarded a DSc in inorganic chemistry in 1887. He was elected Vice-President of the University Chemical Society in 1887. He returned to India in 1888.
PC Ray eventually set up the Bengal Chemical and Pharmaceutical Works in Calcutta, India's first pharmaceutical company.
In 1912, the University of Durham conferred unto him an honorary DSc degree. Ray was awarded with the Companionship of the Indian Empire (CIE) in 1912 and a knighthood in 1919.
In 1916 he took up a position at the University College of Science in Calcutta, where he remained until retirement.
In 1923, Northern Bengal suffered a flood which made millions of people homeless and hungry. Prafulla Chandra organized Bengal Relief Committee, which collected nearly 2.5 million rupees in cash and kind and distributed it in the affected area in an organized manner.
He donated money regularly towards the welfare of Sadharan Brahmo Samaj, Brahmo Girls' School and Indian Chemical Society.
In 1922, he donated money to establish the Nagarjuna Prize to be awarded for the best work in chemistry. In 1937, another award, named after Ashutosh Mukherjee, to be awarded for the best work in zoology or botany, was established from his donation.
This remarkable individual died on June 16 in 1944 at Kolkata in India.
