Sir Prafulla Chandra Ray, CIE, FNI, FRASB, FIAS, FCS (also spelled Prafulla Chandra Rây and Prafulla Chandra Roy; Praphulla Chandra Rāy; 2 August 1861 – 16 June 1944) was an eminent Indian chemist, educationist, historian, industrialist and philanthropist. He established the first modern Indian research school in chemistry (post classical age) and is regarded as the father of chemical science in India. The Royal Society of Chemistry honoured his life and work with the first ever Chemical Landmark Plaque outside Europe. He was the founder of Bengal Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals, India's first pharmaceutical company. He is the author of A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century (1902). Biography Family background Prafulla Chandra Ray was born in the village of Raruli-Katipara, then in Jessore District (subsequently in Khulna District), in the eastern region of the Bengal Presidency of British India (now in present-day Bangladesh). He was the third child and son of Harish Chandra Raychowdhury (d. 1893), a Kayastha zamindar and his wife Bhubanmohini Devi (d. 1904), the daughter of a local taluqdar. Ray was one of seven siblings, having four brothers – Jnanendra Chandra, Nalini Kanta, Purna Chandra and Buddha Dev – and two sisters, Indumati and Belamati, both born after their brothers; of Ray's siblings, all except Buddha Dev and Belamati survived to adulthood. Ray's great-grandfather Maniklal had been a dewan under the British East India Company's district collector of Krishnanagar and Jessore, and had amassed considerable wealth in the service of the company. After succeeding to his father's post, Ray's grandfather Anandlal, a progressive man, sent his son Harish Chandra to receive a modern education at Krishnagar Government College. At the college, Harish Chandra received a thorough grounding in English, Sanskrit and Persian, though he was ultimately forced to end his studies to help support his family. Liberal and cultured, Harish Chandra pioneered English-medium education and women's education in his village, establishing both a middle school for boys and one for girls, and admitting his wife and sister to the latter. Harish Chandra was strongly associated with the Brahmo Samaj, and Ray would maintain his connections with the Samaj throughout his life. Childhood and early education After recovering from an illness, Ray moved to Calcutta in 1876 and was admitted to the Albert School, established by the Brahmo reformer Keshub Chandra Sen; owing to his concentrated self-study over the