Gopal Chandra Bhattacharya Biography 
Gopal Chandra Bhattacharya was an entomologist and naturalist who authored several research works in English language. In 1968 he received the prestigious Ananda Purashkar for literature and in 1975, the famous Rabindra Puraskar – the highest literal award of West Bengal. Gopal Chandra Bhattacharyya Smriti Puraskar was instituted by state government of Bengal in 2005. The annual award is given to prominent people who give contributions to the field of science. He published his first research papers in 1932 on the life events of plants and since then published 21 more papers in English. He was given a honorary doctorate by Calcutta University in 1980.
Gopal hailed from Lonesing of Faridpur district of British India, now a part of Bangladesh. He was born on 1 August 1895. His father worked as a priest in a temple. Following his father’s death when Gopal was only 5, Gopal had to take the job of his father. He passed the Matriculation examination with a first division. Due to bad financial condition of his family he discontinued his studies to take a teacher’s job. Since childhood he was an observer of nature. Sir J. C. Bose got impressed by one of his articles on ‘bio-luminescence’ published in a magazine and offered him a job in his Bose Institute. It proved to be the turning point of his life.
Since 1930, he published many science related artists based on his research works. He published his first research papers in 1932. He did research work with famous Satyendra Nath Bose in 1948 to establish the Bangiya Vigyan Parishad, a science society for research purposes. Based on his observations on Indian variety of ants, Occophylia he published an article in 1940 on how, the queen in social insects produces other queens, workers or soldiers, by appropriately altering the nature of the royal jelly fed to the larvae. He discovered queen’s position to be unique way back in the 1940s when he was less known to the outer world. He did many research works observing insects and their behaviors.
Published: N/A
Updated: June 26, 2016
