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Naturalist Without A Degree
Barefoot, in dhoti and panjabi, he waded in knee-deep water to peep into the private life of fish and insects. He roamed the woods to gather details of the habits of various birds.
"Gopal Chandra Bhattacharya, self-styled researcher, believed that nature was his laboratory," said Dr. Nirmal Das, former professor of the Rabindra Bharati University, while reminiscing on Bhattacharya's life and works at a seminar held recently at the State Resource Centre for Adult Education
(SARCE). The Gopal Chandra Bhattacharya Bigyan Prasar Samiti (GCBBPS) organised the seminar to celebrate the 109th birth anniversary of the entomologist.
A college drop-out, Bhattacharya could not enter mainstream science. But an exciting event paved his way to the Bose Institute. "He used to teach geography at his alma mater, the Lon Singh High School in the Faridpur district of Bangladesh," said Debabrata
Mondal, general secretary, GCBBPS. "He encouraged students to study how insects and plants thrive in nature."
Bhattacharya used to stay back after school hours. "On a rain-lashed evening, confined to the staff room he was looking out the window," said Dr. Prasanta Ray, former director of Bose Institute. "Suddenly, amid darkness, a shuddering light caught his attention." He heard about this peculiar light from his colleagues who discarded it as having a ghostly origin. "One night, he, vowed to unravel the mystery of that light, went close to the light and found that it was emanating from a rotten tree trunk."
Inspired by his finding, Bhattacharya wrote an article, 'Pocha Gachhpalar Alo Bikiran Karbar
Khamata,' ('Rotten Plants' Ability to Give off Light') and sent it to
Prabasi, a Bengali magazine published from Calcutta. The article was published in the winter issue of the magazine in 1919. Now, this light-radiation is known as
'chemoluminescence'.
Jagadish Chandra Bose came across the article and immediately grasped the author's knack of analysing interesting phenomena. Bose invited him to join his institute. On Bose's
advice, he concnetrated on the study of inscet life.
At the Bose Institute, he discovered an ant-mimicking spider that hid among marching ants to trap its prey. In 1934, he wrote about this spider in the
Journal of Bombay Natural History Society. He also studied the role of food in sex determination of ants. His research also shed light on the effects of antibiotics on tadpoles' metamorphosis.
"Bhattacharya was keen to popularise science," said Nandita Kajuri, director,
SARCE. He wrote many essays for children and edited
Gyan O Bijjan, a science magazine published by the Bangiya Bigyan
Parishad. In 1977, his dismissal from the post of editor for not having had a college degree caused a furore among academics. The pain of this humiliation was partly alleviated when the
vice-chancellar of the Calcutta University came down to his house to confer on him the honorary 'Doctor of Science' degree a few months before his death.
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