This is the third in a series of articles about female role models we can all look up to.
As the first woman to get a Doctor of Science degree from Calcutta University, Asima Chatterjee is someone we should know about. She was one of the leading Indian organic scientists of the twentieth century. She is also a symbol of national pride having received the Padma Bhusha, the third-highest civilian honour in India, in 1975.
You might be tempted to ask why I chose Dr. Chatterjee in this list of female role models after an African American astronaut and a trailblazer of women’s education in India. The answer is simple. As an ambitious academic, Dr. Chatterjee is a person that I personally look up to. She has not only contributed greatly to her field as well as to society in general but also has an impeccable reputation as a teacher.
She had worked with various eminent members of her field both in India and abroad. She had published over 400 peer-reviewed articles in her lifetime and she held some of the most prestigious positions in Indian academia.
Born in Calcutta, Dr. Chatterjee’s story is not one of social struggle but of passion and a thirst for knowledge. One of her student-biographers has written that she had once stated a desire to work as long as she lived. At the same time, making a mark in a profession dominated by men could not have been easy. But she had the constant support of her husband, a physical chemist himself, and mentors like Acharya P. C. Ray, P. C. Mitter. P. Ray, P. B. Sarker, J. N. Mukherjee, P. K. Bose and J. C. Bardhan.
Her father, Dr. Indra Narayan Mukherjee, a man of medicine with a keen interest for botany, introduced her to the powers of Indian herbs. She took this interest and turned it into a passion and then a profession. She is responsible for developing the the anti-epileptic drug, Ayush-56 from Marsilia minuta and the anti-malarial drug from Alstonia scholaris, Swrrtia chirata, Picrorphiza kurroa and Ceasalpinna crista.
In 1940, Dr. Chatterjee founded the Chemistry department at Lady Brabourne College. She is also responsible for the foundation of a regional research institute in Kolkata in the form of the Central Research Institute of Ayurveda which is now known as the National Research Institute of Ayurvedic Drug Development.
She was the first woman to be elected president of the Indian Science Congress Association in 1975. She has also served as a member of the Rajya Sabha as a presidential nominee. However, in the early years, despite her eminence and multiple achievements, her work was impeded by the general lack of funding for research. As S. C. Pakrashi, one of her earliest Ph.D. students recounts, “Those were trying days for research, particularly in the most ill-equipped university laboratories with inadequate chemicals and meager financial assistance.”
Dr. Chatterjee enjoyed her work and did it with a real visceral passion. She did not let too much faze her. She paid for research expenses out of her own pocket and negotiated collaborative usage of better equipped labs for herself and her research scholars. She also represented India on internationally attending and sometimes chairing symposia in the fields of physical and organic chemistry.
When she passed away in 2006, Dr. Chatterjee had left behind her an enviable legacy. Nonetheless, envy is not the purpose of this article. Dr. Chatterjee’s life is one of immense hard work and a true search for knowledge almost as idealistic as that of Ulysses. She should be an inspiration to us all.
References:
Pakrashi, S. C. “Asima Chatterjee.” Lilavati's Daughters, edited by Rohini Godbole, Indian Academy of Sciences, 2008, pp. 9–12.
Banerjee, Julie. “Women Scientists of India: Dr. Asima Chatterjee - Indian Academy of Sciences - Google Arts & Culture.” Google, Google, artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/women-scientists-of-india-dr-asima-chatterjee-indian-academy-of-sciences/rgKiCdKgS8UJIw?hl=en.
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