Search Engine giant Google, on Saturday, paid tributes to Indian scientist Asima Chatterjee with a special doodle, on her 100th birth anniversary.
Chatterjee, arguably the second Indian woman to earn a Ph.D., is the first woman to be elected as the General President of the Indian Science Congress, a premier institution that oversees scientific research.
“When Dr. Asima Chatterjee was growing up in Calcutta in the 1920s and 1930s, it was almost unheard of for a woman to study chemistry. But that didn’t stop Chatterjee: she not only completed her undergraduate degree in organic chemistry, but she also went on to receive a Doctorate of Science,” says Google in a blog post.
Chatterjee’s notable contributions in the field of medicinal chemistry include research on Vinca alkaloids used in chemotherapy and development of anti-epileptic and anti-malarial drugs. Chatterjee has published numerous scholarly articles on medicinal plants.
Her Bengali book on chemistry, Sarai Madhyamic Rasayan , is widely used as reference material for secondary school students.
She was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1975 and the Sir C. V. Raman Award in 1982. She also served as an MP in Rajya Sabha.
She passed away on November 22, 2006.
