About Prafulla Chandra Ray, Srinivasa Ramanujan

                                  Prafulla Chandra Ray   Prafulla Chandra Ray was an eminent Indian scientist who is hailed as the “Father of Indian Pharmaceuticals”. His work on the nitrites and hyponitrites of metals, especially mercury, earned him fame worldwide. He was a recipient of the ‘Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire’, an honour that was conferred upon him in the year 1911.

Prafulla Chandra Ray was born on 2 August 1861 in Raruli-Katipara, a village in the District of Khulna (in present day Bangladesh). His early education started in his village school. He often played truant and spent his time resting comfortably on the branch of a tree, hidden under its leaves.  After attending the village school, he went to Kolkata, where he studied at Hare School and Metropolitan College. The lectures of Alexander Pedler in the Presidency College, which he used to attend, attracted him to chemistry, although his first love of subject was literature. He continued to take interest in literature and taught himself Latin and French at home. After obtaining a F.A. diploma from the University of Calcutta, he proceeded to the University of Edinburgh on a Gilchrist scholarship where he obtained both his B.Sc. and D.Sc. degrees.
            In 1888, Prafulla Chandra made his journey home to India. Initially he spent a year working with his famous friend Jagadish Chandra Bose in his laboratory. In 1889, Prafulla Chandra was appointed an Assistant Professor of nitrite and its derivatives brought him recognition from all over the world. 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.
Prafulla Chandra believed that the progress of India could be achieved only by industrialization. He set up the first chemical factory in India, with very minimal resources, working from his home. In 1901, this pioneering effort resulted in the formation of the Bengal Chemical and Pharmaceutical Works Ltd.

            He retired from the Presidency College in 1916, and was appointed as Professor of Chemistry at the University Science College. 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 lakh rupees. He eventually retired at the age of 75. He lived an astute life and spent most of his life serving the poor and contributing toward scientific advancements. He remained associated with the ‘Sadharan Brahmo Samaj’ for most of his life and was even nominated the President of the division. A revered figure, many institutions have named after this scientist such as the ‘Acharya Prafulla Chandra College’, ‘Prafulla Chandra College’ in Calcutta, and the ‘Bagerhat P.C College’ of Bangladesh. In Prafulla Chandra, the qualities of both a scientist and an industrial entrepreneur were combined.

SHORT NOTE ABOUT:

Prafulla Chandra Ray (1861 – 1944) Dr. P. C. Ray was the legendary Indian chemist, Academiclan and entrepreneur. He was the founder of the Bengal Chemical Plant, India's first pharmaceutical company. He discovered Mercury nitrite and the Indian calcium tonic. Apart from or great scientist, he was also a freedom fighter and a great revelation of science. His book The Life and experience of a Bengali chemist was popular during British rule in India. He had a strong belief in Indian culture and Mahatma Gandhi. AIT Chandra Ray Prafulla was an Indian scientist with a time and a close friend of Sir J. C. Bose. The Government of India has paid homage to the form of publishing a postage stamp to its glory.

Prafulla Chandra's early upbringing began in her father's school. But he often stayed out of school. His master, a search for the missing in almost every house in the village, would be the culprit sitting comfortably in the branch of a tree, hidden beneath his leaves!

1870 he moved his family to Calcutta so that his children could have a better upbringing. This is where Prafulla Chandra was admitted to the Hare School. He took a great interest in the books and read a lot of them. But a severe Ruhr crisis forced him to leave school. The disease has been slowly overcome, but it has irreversibly damaged its health; He has become a lifelong victim of chronic digestion and insomnia. In his last days he thought sometimes as a blessing in disguise. For the rest of his life he was very stern about his food; And he had regular exercises.

Prafulla was now free from the tyranny of the boring school routine; Therefore he found time to satisfy his passion for the study of English and Bengali literature. When he was only ten years old, he learned Latin and Greek (languages of the ancient Europe). He also studied the history of England, Rome and Spain.

Two years later, Prafulla Chandra resumed her studies and changed 1874 to École Albert. He loved the attitude of the teachers of this school and his teaching method. The professors in turn were very impressed by their knowledge of English literature and other topics. They had the hope of their brilliant success in the

Tests. But Prafulla Chandra suddenly went to her village without resting on exams. I still had a secret desire to go back to Hare School. But when he sat down on the exams. He was sure to win prizes. Then it would be unfair to leave Albert School. So he left school before the exams.

However, Prafulla Chandra returned to Calcutta 1876 and continued her studies at the Albert School. His loving teachers allowed him not to leave school to return to Hare School. This time, Prafulla Chandra worked hard and got the first place on the exams. He won a number of awards. In 1879, he went to the entrance exam and entered the Metropolitan Institute (now called Vidyasagar College).

The financial situation of Henley Chandra was bad. It's getting worse. He was forced to sell the characteristics of the ancestors to pay his creditors. To save money, he changed his family back to Raruli. The children lived in the rooms of Calcutta

The Gilchrist Award

During his studies at the Metropolitan Institute, Prafulla Chandra attended the University of the presidency of Alexander's lectures on chemistry. The itinerary was an inspiring teacher and a skillful experiment. Her speeches influenced PrafullaChandra, the chemistry for her graduate studies in B.A.

The University of London has been conducting competitive trials at this time for the "Gilchrist Award" scholarship. Successful candidate for higher education could go abroad.

What a coincidence-if only he could get the purse!

Prafulla Chandra to prepare for the exam in secret. He was born into a very wealthy family, but now the wealth has disappeared. It was the only chance to go abroad. His knowledge of languages was very useful because one of the requirements was knowledge of Greek, Latin, Sanskrit and French or German. But he had to compete with thousands of others.

Only his brother and cousin knew at first. By and by the secret was laughed by a classmate who had a high on college exams, Prafulla Chandra said: "Oh, this very clever man name will soon be in the special edition of London's University Calendar"!»

A few months after the tests, the results were published in the state. Prafulla Chandra and an analysis of Bombay with the name Bahadurji had won the scholarship. The manager was full of joy and praise to Prafulla Chandra.

 

PrafullaChandra has now decided to go abroad. Her father gave her consent easily, but Martine Chandra worried about her mother's feelings. Consolation of his mother, by saying, "When I come from England, I will get a high position." "My first duty will be to settle the debt and repair our ancestors at home."

In England

En 1882 Prafulla Chandra went to Great Britain. The long ride in the seas was quite boring. Because of the stun, I couldn't eat enough food and it felt very low.

After a trip that lasted 33 days, came to London. The Indian students helped him in a number of ways. It was with enough wool clothing to withstand the bitter cold of Edinburgh where it had to go.

Edinburgh was 400,000 from London. Prafulla Chandra joined the B.SC class at the university. He was very influenced by the chemistry professor, Mr. Crum Brown, at the university. Chemistry became his first love.

Prafulla Chandra took the title of B.SC in 1885. He then made research in chemistry for the D.Sc. University degree. In 1887, he received this title on the basis of a diploma thesis on the results of his original work. Was only twenty seven years old at the time

The Professor-scientist

En 1888  Chandra returned to India. He had received letters from his director and professors. He hoped that with his help he could get a good position in the Department of Education. But at that time all the high places in this department were reserved for the English. Although Chandra had a doctorate in science, he found it difficult to obtain recognition in his own country. For a year he spent his time with his famous friend who was from his laboratory.

In 1889, Chandra was appointed an adjunct professor of Chemistry 4 at the University of the presidency of Calcutta. His salary was only 250 rupees per month. But he was very happy with his work. To teach with great enthusiasm. Soon he gained a great reputation as a successful and inspiring teacher.

 Chandra is not tired of saying that India's progress can only be achieved through industrialisation.

He advocated the use of the mother tongue as a means of teaching in schools. To write the text of the scientific books in Bengali.

Why should our patients depend on other countries?

85 years ago,  Chandra realized that India's progress was linked to industrialisation. Without them, there could be no salvation. Also the medicines for Indian patients had to come from foreign countries at that time. This put money in the pockets of traders in these countries. That must have been stopped. The drugs are supposed to be made in India. Martine Chandra wanted to do a start at the same time. But who wanted to do it?

 Chandra was not rich. The family estate was sold to repay his father's debts. Martine Chandra's salary was also rare. He was still daring in this groundbreaking attempt. He has prepared chemicals at home. Their work developed so quickly that their own society had to be formed.

But he needed capital--a capital city of only 800 rupees. But it has become difficult to even increase this small amount.

Despite all these difficulties, he founded "The chemical and pharmaceutical works of Bengal". 1894 died his father. It was a big hit for Chandra. The father was still in debt and needed thousands of rupees. Only a small part of the property remained. Even this was sold, so the debts could be refunded.

 

 Chandra has bravely followed the execution of the new plant. Initially, it was difficult to sell the chemicals produced there. They could not compete with imported materials. But a few friends, especially Dr. Amulya, Charlie, Bose, support his efforts. Dr. Bose was a leading physician and he has the support of many other doctors. The Bengal chemist has become a famous factory. But Dr. Bose died suddenly in 1898 because of a plague attack. His brother-in-law Sinha Chandra, who was an enthusiastic chemist in the company, died of accidental poisoning in the laboratory. One hit followed another and Chandra was very unhappy. The entire responsibility of the plant fell on his shoulders. He always confronted everything with courage.

This realization itself was great, however. Chandra's contribution to the Indian industry was even greater. directly or indirectly, it has helped to start many other factories. Textile factories, soap factories, candy, chemical industries, ceramics factories and publishers were fixed in time with their active cooperation. It was the driving force of the industrialisation of the country that began at that time.

                                             Srinivasa Ramanujan

Introduction:
Srinivasa Ramanujan, a poor uneducated Indian, was one of the greatest and most unusual mathematical geniuses who ever lived, was born on 22nd December in 1887 in Erode in Tamilnadu. He grew up in Kumbakonam where his father K. Sirnivasa Iyengar worked as an accountant in a sari shop. His mother Kamalat Ammal was a house wife and also sang songs at local temple.

Childhood:
Srinivasa Ramanujan started his schooling in 1892. He did not like school though he completed high school and tried twice to obtain a college education. But he failed both times because he was so obsessed by mathematics that he simply could not spend anytime on other subjects. He started excelling in mathematics. He came to think of his results or the source of his incredible outpouring of mathematics.

Early Life:
In 1909, when Ramanujan was 22 years old, he married 9 year old Janaki and took a clerical position in Madras Port Trust Office to support her and his mother who lived with them. While working as clerk, Ramanujan continued to pour out math results on wrapping paper in the office. He was tied up with mathematics in such a way that he forgot event to eat. His wife and his mother used to feed him at meal times so that he would continue writing while he ate.

Education & Research:
Fortunately, both the chairman and manager of  Madras Port Trust Office were engineers who recognized his extraordinary mathematical talent. They urged him to send his results to English mathematics. He wrote to HF Baker & E.W. Hobson of Cambridge University. Both returned his letters without comment.
Then on 16th June 1913, he wrote to G.H Hardy. He invited Ramanujan to come to England to study with him  Ramanujan accepted his invitation and arrived at Trinity college in April 1914. Hardy characterizes Ramanujan as a very great mathematician full of paradoxes, who defies all judgment. Ramanujan worked very hard in collaboration with G.H Hardy. He used to work 24 to 36 hrs at a stretch and collapse and sleep for 12 hrs or more at a time. As he was a vegetarian it was difficult for him for food in England. It resulted that he was affected by mysterious illness that might be vitamin B2 deficiency caused by his poor diet. He returned to India in 1919. He died a year later at the age of 32.

Conclusion:
Ramanujan left behind 3 notebooks, which he wrote before coming to England and which are filled with as many as 4000 results. GH Hardy showed a colleague of his Ramanujan’s strange letter which was crammed with as many as 60 mathematical theorems and formulas stated without any proofs. He made a significant contribution to mathematical analysis, number theory and continued fractions.