Debabarta Chatterjee (1911–1960) was a

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

from

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, whose primary scholarly focus was the endemic flora of India.

Life

Chatterjee was born in

Hugli-Chuchura Hugli-Chuchura (), also known by its List of renamed places in India, former names Chinsurah or Hooghly-Chinsurah, is a city of Hooghly district and the district headquarters of Hooghly division in the Indian States and union territories of ...

, India on 2 April 1911. He received his Master of Science (M.Sc.) from

Presidency University, Kolkata Presidency University, formerly Presidency College, is a public state university located in College Street, Kolkata. Established in 1817 as the ''Hindoo College'', it was later renamed ''Presidency College'' in 1855 and functioned as a leadi ...

(then called Presidency College) in 1937. He conducted his doctoral work at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

while being mentored by Sir

William Wright Smith Sir William Wright Smith (2 February 1875 Lochmaben, Dumfriesshire – 15 December 1956) was a Scottish botanist and horticulturalist. Life He was born at Parkend farm near Lochmaben in Dumfriesshire, the son of James T. Smith, a farmer. He was ...

and received his Ph.D. in 1939. His first professional posting was as a lecturer at

Mandalay University Mandalay University (also translated as University of Mandalay; ) is a public liberal arts and science university located in Mandalay, Myanmar and one of the sixteen autonomous universities under Ministry of Education (Myanmar), Ministry of Ed ...

(then called Mandalay College) in Burma. Following the invasion of Burma by Japan in 1942 he moved to become a lecturer at

Cotton University Cotton University also known as CU, is a public state university located in Guwahati, Assam, India. It was established in 2017 by the provisions of an Act from the Assam Legislative Assembly which merged Cotton College State University and Cot ...

(then called Cotton College, Guwahati) in

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

, India. In 1946 he became the botanist for India at the

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,10 ...

. From 1949 to 1955 he served as systematic botanist at the

Indian Agricultural Research Institute The Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), commonly known as the Pusa Institute, is India's national institute for agricultural research, education and extension. The name Pusa Institute is derived from the fact that the institute was ...

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

. In 1954 he served as the Vice President of the

International Botanical Congress International Botanical Congress (IBC) is an international meeting of Botany, botanists in all scientific fields, authorized by the International Association of Botanical and Mycological Societies (IABMS) and held every six years, with the locatio ...

in Paris. In 1955 he became the superintendent of the

Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden The Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden, previously known as Indian Botanic Garden and the Calcutta Botanic Garden, is a botanical garden situated in Shibpur, Howrah near Kolkata. They are commonly known as the Calcutta Botanica ...

Shibpur Shibpur is a neighbourhood in Howrah of Howrah district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of West Bengal. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA). It is well known for being the ...

. On 24 September 1960 he was shot and killed by another member of the Botanic Garden's staff.

Work

His Ph.D. thesis was entitled "Endemic Flora of India and Burma" was published by the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. During his career he published on topics including the systematics of endemic plant species in India and Burma, domestication of rice and cultivation of wheat.

Awards

In recognition of his botanical scholarship he was awarded the Special Centenary Medal of the

Société botanique de France The Société botanique de France (SBF) is a French learned society founded on 23 April 1854. At its inaugural meeting it stated its purpose as "to contribute to the progress of botany and related sciences and to facilitate, by all means at its di ...

and in 1955 the Brühl Memorial Medal of

The Asiatic Society The Asiatic Society is an organisation founded during the Company rule in India to enhance and further the cause of " Oriental research" (in this case, research into India and the surrounding regions). It was founded by the philologist Will ...

(then called the Asiatic Society of Bengal).

Legacy

He is the authority for at least 33

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

including:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chatterjee, Debabarta 20th-century Indian botanists Presidency University, Kolkata alumni Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Botanists active in Kew Gardens 1911 births 1960 deaths