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Sir Upendranath Brahmachari ( bn, উপেন্দ্রনাথ ব্রহ্মচারী) (19 December 1873 – 6 February 1946) was a leading Indian

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosop ...

of his time. He synthesised

Urea Urea, also known as carbamide, is an organic compound with chemical formula . This amide has two amino groups (–) joined by a carbonyl functional group (–C(=O)–). It is thus the simplest amide of carbamic acid. Urea serves an important ...

-Stibamine (carbostibamide) in 1922 and determined that it was an effective treatment for Kala-azar (Visceral leishmaniasis).

Early life

Upendranath Brahmachari was born on 19 December 1873 in Sardanga village near Purbasthali, District Burdwan of West Bengal, India. His father Nilmony Brahmachari was a physician in East Indian Railways. His mother's name was Saurabh Sundari Devi. He completed his early education from Eastern Railways Boys' High School, Jamalpur. In 1893, he passed BA degree from Hooghly Mohsin College with honours in Mathematics and Chemistry. Thereafter he went to study Medicine with Higher Chemistry. He passed his master's degree in 1894 from the Presidency College, Kolkata. In M.B. Examination of 1900 of the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a public collegiate state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered one of best state research university all over India every yea ...

, he stood first in Medicine and in Surgery for which he received Goodeve and Macleod awards. He obtained his MD degree in 1902, and was awarded a PhD degree in 1904, for his research paper on "Studies in Haemolysis" both from the

. In 1898, he married Nani Bala Devi.

Life and career

In 1922, Brahmachari also discovered a new, deadly form of

leishmaniasis Leishmaniasis is a wide array of clinical manifestations caused by parasites of the trypanosome genus '' Leishmania''. It is generally spread through the bite of phlebotomine sandflies, ''Phlebotomus'' and ''Lutzomyia'', and occurs most freq ...

. He called it dermal leishmanoid, marked by the appearance of sudden eruptions on the face of the patients without fever or other complaints. He observed it as a disease in partially cured cases of kala-azar, along with those who had no history of the disease at all. It has since been termed as

post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis Post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL) is a complication of visceral leishmaniasis (VL); it is characterised by a macular, maculopapular, and nodular rash in a patient who has recovered from VL and who is otherwise well. The rash usually start ...

(PKDL).

Awards and honours

Upendranath Brahmachari Road - Kolkata 2011-10-16 160462

He was awarded the title of

and awarded the Kaisar-i-Hind Gold Medal, 1st Class by the Governor General Lord Lytton (1924), In 1934, he was conferred a

knighthood A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the ...

by the British Government (1934) Brahmachari was a nominee for the Nobel Prize twice in 1929 and 1942 in the category of physiology and medicine. He was president of the 23rd session of the Indian Science Congress in Indore (1936). He was the President of the Indian Chemical Society, Calcutta (1936). He was honoured with the fellowships of the Royal Society of Medicine, London and the Indian National Science Academy as well as the President of the Asiatic Society of Bengal for two years (1928–29). He was also the Vice-chairman of the board of Trustees of the Indian Museum.

Important works

# Studies in Haemolysis, Calcutta University, 1909. # Kala-Azar : Its treatment, Butterworth & Co. Ltd. Calcutta 1917. # Kala-Azar in Doctor Carl Mense’s Handbuch der Tropenkranahaiten, vol. IV, 1926. # Treatise on Kala-Azar, John Bale, Son’s & Danielsson Ltd., London, 1928. # Campaign against Kala-Azar in India, Jubilee Publication on the 80th birthday of Dr. Prof. Bernhard Nocht, Hamburg, clique aqui 1937. # Progress of Medical Research work in India during the last 25 years, an progress of Science in India, during the past 25 years, Indian Science Congress Association 1938. # Gleanings from my Researchers Vol. I, Calcutta University 1940 # Gleanings from my Researchers Vol. II Calcutta University 1941 # Infantile Biliary Cirrhosis in India in British Encyclopedia of Medical practice. Edited by Sir Humphrey Rolleston

Notes

References

# ''Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy'' Vol. 4., Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi, 1976. # ''Dictionary of Medical Biography'' Vol. 1 A-B, Edited by W. F. Bynum and Helen Bynum, Greenwood Press, 2006

External links

Profile in ''Dream 2047''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brahmachari, Upendranath 1873 births 1946 deaths Presidency University, Kolkata alumni Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata 19th-century Indian medical doctors Knights Bachelor Indian Knights Bachelor Medical doctors from Kolkata University of Calcutta alumni University of Calcutta faculty Bengali Hindus People of British India Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy Presidents of The Asiatic Society 20th-century Indian medical doctors Dhaka Medical College and Hospital faculty Hooghly Mohsin College alumni Medical doctors from West Bengal