New Delhi: When it comes to female empowerment in India, especially in the field of education, the name Asima Chatterjee shines as a bright star. She was the first woman to be awarded a Doctor of Science by an Indian University and it took place in 1944 when it was awarded to her by Calcutta University. Also, she was the first woman to be elected the Indian Science Congress’ General President.
Apart from that, Asima Chatterjee has won several prestigious awards like the C V Raman Award, S S Bhatnagar Award, and the P C Ray Award. She also received the Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian award for her contributions to science.
The early interest in medicine
Born on September 23, 1917, in Kolkata in a middle-class family, Asima Chatterjee grew up at a time when female education was rarely encouraged. However, her father was a doctor and supported the education of Asima which was rare at the time. Her father loved Botany and from there she developed an interest in medicine. However, she really became interested in medicine regarding the medicinal properties of plants. She did higher studies in chemistry and passed from the Scottish Church College.
The works of Asima Chatterjee
Asima Chatterjee contributed significantly to medicinal chemistry with special reference to coumarins, alkaloids, and terpenoids, mechanistic organic chemistry and analytical chemistry. She published around 400 papers in national and international journals. She published over a hundred review articles in reputed serial volumes. Her works have been cited extensively and much of it has been included in several textbooks.
She worked with Prafulla Chandra Ray, who is called the father of chemical science in India and the famous physicist Satyendra Nath Bose. She worked at the University of Wisconsin, Caltech and the University of Calcutta. In India, scientists at that time struggled for funds from the government and Asima invested her own money for research works. In 1967, she lost her father and husband within a span of four months but came back to science after a few months. She continued her research and developed anti-epileptic, anti-convulsive, and chemotherapy drugs to treat patients. Moreover, she also started a chemistry department at Lady Brabourne College in Kolkata. She passed away on November 22, 2006, at the age of 89.
Asima Chatterjee was the first woman to be awarded a Doctor of Science by an Indian University and it took place in 1944 when it was awarded to her by Calcutta University. knowledge Knowledge News, Photos and Videos on General Knowledge
