| Charu Chandra Bhattacharya | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 19, 1883 South 24 Parganas, Bengal Province, British India |
| Died | August 26, 1961 (aged 78) |
| Resting place | Calcutta, Shantiniketan |
| Occupation | Writer, Teacher |
| Parents | Basanta Kumar Bhattacharya (father), Menaka Devi |
Charu Chandra Bhattacharya (1883–1961) (Bengali: চারুচন্দ্র ভট্টাচার্য) was a prominent science teacher and writer of various scientific articles mainly for children in Bangla.[1] His writings are even popular today.
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He was born to Basanta Kumar Bhattacharya [বসন্তকুমার ভট্টাচার্য] (father) and Menaka Devi [মেনকা দেবী] on 29 June 1883 (১৬ আষাঢ়, ১২৯০ in Bangla calendar). His ancestral house was at Harinavi [হরিনাভি], South 24 Parganas, West Bengal, India. From childhood, he was an extraordinary student. He passed the "Entrance Examination" with first class from Metropolitan Institution, Calcutta in 1899. In 1901, Bhattacharya stood 12th place in the F. A. examination. He did his graduation (B. A.) with an Honours from Presidency College in 1903 and Masters (M. A.) from Calcutta University in 1905 in Physics. His professional career was started through the post of a Demonstrator at Physics department of Presidency College, later he joined the faculty there. Till 1940, he performed this duty for nearly 35 years. He got Jagadish Chandra Bosu [জগদীশচন্দ্র বসু] as a teacher when he was a student; and Meghnad Saha [মেঘনাদ সাহা], Satyendra Nath Bosu [সত্যেন্দ্রনাথ বসু], Shishir Kumar Mitra [শিশিরকুমার মিত্র] & Prashanta Chandra Mahalnabish [প্রশান্তচন্দ্র মহালনবিশ] as students when he was a teacher of Presidency College. Another student, Pratul Chandra Gupta [প্রতুল চন্দ্র গুপ্ত] once told that, "...he could explain complex matters in a very simple way."
He woke up every day in 4 a.m. in the morning and was very punctual. This tall, thin man with a spectacles, though seemed to be profound from outside, but in a close surroundings, he was different. All of his writings are in a simple dialect. He preferred Chalit Bhasha [চলিত ভাষা] than Sadhu Bhasha [সাধু ভাষা] while writing. Bhattacharya died on August 26, 1961.
In 1939, he joined in the publication department of Visva Bharati [বিশ্বভারতী], Shantiniketan. At that time, the world was terrified by the Second World War & the department had not sufficient money. But, even in this situation, Bhattacharya dared to publish the Rabindra Rochonaboli [রবীন্দ্র রচনাবলী] (Collected works by Rabindranath) and finally did it with Prashanta Chandra Mahalnabish, though these books were not of much demand. Later, when Rabindranath Tagore planned to publish BishwaVidyaSongroho [বিশ্ববিদ্যাসংগ্রহ] and LokShiksha [লোকশিক্ষা] series of books to promote literacy, Bhattacharya performed this task. First book of LokShiksha was BishwaPorichoy by Tagore himself, which the poet dedicated to Satyendra Nath Bosu. In 1943, after two years of death of Tagore, Bhattacharya started writing more books of the BishwaVidyaSongroho series. His first book was about the great scientist: Jagadish Chandra Bosu [জগদীশচন্দ্র বসু] and named as JagadishChandrer Abishkar [জগদীশচন্দ্রের আবিষ্কার] (ভাদ্র, ১৩৫০ in Bangla calendar). LokShiksha series was consisted of 10 books, out of which 5 were of science, and out of nearly 150 books of BishwaVidyaSongroho, around 50 books were of science. Pulin Bihari Sen [পুলিনবিহারী সেন], who was among the pioneers of Bengali publication, once told that,
| “ | ...The main achievement of him is that, he has created a new hope in culture of science in Bangla by motivating a group of authors in this way (...তাঁর প্রধান কৃতিত্ব এই যে, তিনি এক লেখকগোষ্ঠীকে এই পথে প্রবর্তিত করে বাংলা ভাষায় বিজ্ঞান চর্চা সম্বন্ধে আশার সৃষ্টি করতে পেরেছিলেন।).[2] | ” |
He can be thought of as a successful successor to Jagadananda Roy [জগদানন্দ রায়] & Ramendra Sundar Tribedi [রামেন্দ্রসুন্দর ত্রিবেদী]. His first book on popular science was Nabya Bijnan [নব্য বিজ্ঞান] (১৩২৫ in Bangla calendar). Later, in 1926, his second book Ban(g)alir Khadyo [বাঙালীর খাদ্য] was published.
He had a deep connection with Bongiya Bijnan Parishad [বঙ্গীয় বিজ্ঞান পরিষদ], founded by Satyendra Nath Bosu. He was an active member of the first executive committee. He was elected the vice-president from 1949 to 1958, president during 1960-61. His article, Acharya JagadishChandra Bosu [আচার্য জগদীশচন্দ্র বসু] was published in the first issue of the famous magazine, Jnan O Bijnan [জ্ঞান ও বিজ্ঞান], published from the organization. Like Visva Bharati, this organization also had LokBijnan [লোকবিজ্ঞান] and Bijnan Probesh [বিজ্ঞান প্রবেশ] series. First book of LokBijnan series was Bhattacharya's Toriter Avyutthan [তড়িতের অভ্যুত্থান] in 1949. The first 4 books of the Bijnan Probesh series were also written by him: Praromvo [প্রারম্ভ], PodarthoVidya [পদার্থবিদ্যা] in 3 volumes; all of these were published in 1949. In 31 December 1956, he was included in the trustee of Bongiya Bijnan Parishad.
After the demise of Rajshekhar Bosu [রাজশেখর বসু], he delivered the First Rajshekhar Bosu Memorial Lecture, which later is published in a book entitled Poromanur Neucleus in 1962. A few more books in this context are: Acharya JagadishChandra Bosu [আচার্য জগদীশচন্দ্র বসু] (1938), Boijnanik Abishkarer Kahini [বৈজ্ঞানিক আবিষ্কারের কাহিনী] (1953), Bishwer Upadan [বিশ্বের উপাদান] (১৩৫০ in Bangla calendar), Byadhir Porajoy [ব্যাধির পরাজয়] (১৩৫৬), PodartoVidyar NoboJug (১৩৫৮) [পদার্থবিদ্যার নব যুগ].
In first life, Bhattacharya edited a magazine, Beporoya [বেপরোয়া]. Later he edited Bosudhara [বসুধারা] for a long time. Bhandar [ভাণ্ডার], the journal of Samabay Samiti [সমবায় সমিতি] was edited by him (during the Bangla calendar years: ১৩৩৩- ১৩৩৯). This magazine was also edited by Tagore.
Besides writing on popular science, he wrote 2 textbooks of science for classes VI & VIII of West Bengal Board of Secondary Education [পশ্চিমবঙ্গ মাধ্যমিক শিক্ষা পর্ষৎ]. Bhattacharya contributed in making Bangla terminology a lot. Calcutta University once established a committee regarding this, where Rajshekhar Bosu was the president and Bhattacharya was the secretary. He also helped the Central Government of India regarding various measurement and terminologies of science. His articles are often found in many school level textbooks of literature in West Bengal.