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{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{Use Indian English|date=March 2022}}

{{Short description|Indian inorganic chemist and historian of chemistry}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Priyadaranjan Ray
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1888|1|16}}
| birth_place = Noāpāra, [[Chittagong District]], [[Bengal Presidency]], [[British Raj]]<br/><small>(now Chattogram District, [[Bangladesh]])</small>
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1982|12|11|1888|1|16}}
| death_place = [[Kolkata]], [[West Bengal]], India
| residence =
| fields = {{ublist | [[Inorganic chemistry]] | [[History of chemistry]] }}
| workplaces = {{ublist | [[University of Calcutta]] }}
| alma_mater = {{ublist | [[Presidency University, Kolkata|Presidency College]] | [[University of Calcutta]] }}
| known_for = [[Ray–Dutt twist]]
| awards =
}}

'''Priyadaranjan Ray''' [[Indian National Science Academy|FNA]], [[Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science|FIAS]] (16 January 1888 – 11 December 1982) was an [[Indian people|Indian]] [[Inorganic chemistry|inorganic chemist]] and [[History of chemistry|historian of chemistry]] noted for proposing the [[Ray-Dutt twist]] mechanism.<ref name="bio_INSA">{{Cite journal | last1 = Chatterjee | first1 = S. D. | last2 = Banerjea | first2 = D.| url = https://www.insaindia.res.in/BM/BM11_8601.pdf | title =Priyadaranjan Rây (1888–1982) | journal = Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy | volume = 11 | pages = 1–20 | year = 1982}}</ref>

==Life and career==
Ray was born in [[Chittagong District]], [[Bengal Presidency]] (now in [[Bangladesh]]) to a ''[[zamindar]]'' family originally from [[Hooghly district]] (now in [[West Bengal]]), which had first migrated to the princely state of [[Tripura]] in the late 17th century, and had subsequently entered the service of the [[Nawabs of Bengal and Murshidabad|Nawabs of Bengal]]. The family were granted the estate of Noapara in the early 18th century by Nawab [[Murshid Quli Khan]], the first Nawab of Bengal.<ref name="bio_INSA"/> After matriculating with distinction from the [[Chittagong Collegiate School and College|Chittagong Collegiate School]] in 1904, Ray secured a scholarship to the [[Chittagong College|Chittagong Government College]] and in 1906 joined the [[Presidency University, Kolkata|Presidency College Calcutta]] as an undergraduate.<ref name="bio_INSA"/> He secured an honours degree in chemistry and physics in 1908, and then studied under [[Prafulla Chandra Ray]] for his [[master's degree]], which he secured with the highest honours in 1911.<ref name="bio_INSA"/>

In 1911, Ray began work under P. C. Ray as a senior research scholar in inorganic chemistry. He began a research project on the formation of chemical complexes between [[Copper(I) thiocyanate]] and [[potassium thiocyanate]], but on 12 August 1912, he was severely injured in an explosion when potassium thiocyanate reacted with hot [[sulfuric acid]]; the accident left him completely blind in his left eye and deprived him of most of the sight in his right.<ref name="bio_INSA"/> After two years of recuperation, he joined the [[City College, Kolkata]] as a chemistry professor. In 1919, he was appointed assistant professor of inorganic chemistry in the University Science College (now the [[Rajabazar Science College]]) of the [[University of Calcutta|University of Kolkata]], where he remained until his retirement in 1952, being appointed Khaira Professor of Chemistry in 1937 and Palit Research Professor of Chemistry in 1946. Apart from a trip to Europe in 1929–1930, where he worked with Fritz Ephraim and Frederic Emich and underwent surgery to improve his remaining vision, he never left India.<ref name="bio_INSA"/>

Ray was a founding fellow of the [[Indian Chemical Society]] in 1924, serving as its president in 1947–1948.<ref name="bio_INSA"/> From 1945 to 1953,<ref>{{cite book|pages=15|title=The Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science: Annual Report for the Year 1945 |year=1945}}</ref><ref name="IACS_admin_52">{{cite web|title=The Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science: Annual Report for 1952-53|url=http://arxiv.iacs.res.in:8080/jspui/bitstream/10821/462/1/ANNUAL%20REPORT-1952-53.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170703041428/http://arxiv.iacs.res.in:8080/jspui/bitstream/10821/462/1/ANNUAL%20REPORT-1952-53.pdf |website=Archive - IACS|access-date=7 October 2017|archive-date=3 July 2017}}</ref> he served as the Honorary Director (Honorary Secretary until 1947) of the [[Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science]] (IACS), and again as its officiating Director from 1956 until 1958, when he largely retired from scientific research, having supervised a number of doctorates.<ref name="bio_INSA"/> In 1951, in recognition of his accomplishments in [[Microscale chemistry|microchemistry]] and [[Colorimetry (chemical method)|colorimetry]], he was appointed a member of a [[International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry|IUPAC]] Commission of New Reactions and served for eight years, during which time he contributed towards a comprehensive review of [[colorimetric analysis]]. In 1979, he was appointed President of the 20th International Conference on Coordination Chemistry.<ref name="bio_INSA"/>

A bachelor, Ray lived simply and remained indifferent towards academic honours and distinctions throughout his life, never aspiring to a doctorate despite a record of accomplishments which would have qualified him for one.<ref name="resonance"/> In 1935, he was appointed a Foundation Fellow of the National Institute of Sciences of India (FNI, now the [[Indian National Science Academy]]).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://insa.nic.in/writereaddata/UpLoadedFiles/PINSA/Vol01_1935_1_Art10.pdf |title=National Institute of Sciences of India: List of Foundation Fellows |date=1935 |website=[[Indian National Science Academy]] |publisher= |access-date=4 March 2022}}</ref>{{refn|Prior to 1970, the [[Indian National Science Academy]] was named the "National Institute of Sciences of India", and its fellows bore the post-nominal "FNI". The post-nominal became "FNA" in 1970 when the association adopted its present name.|group= n}} In 1944, he was further appointed a Fellow of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (FIAS).<ref>{{cite book|pages=2|title=The Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science: Annual Report for the Year 1943 |year=1943}}</ref> Completely blind and deaf in his final years, he died on 11 December 1982 after a period of failing health, aged 94.<ref name="bio_INSA"/>

==Scientific and historical studies==
During his career, Ray conducted research in [[Coordination complex|coordination chemistry]] and [[magnetochemistry]].<ref name="resonance">{{cite journal |last1=Ghosh |first1=Rajarshi |date=January 2021 |title=Priyadaranjan Rây: Contributions to Chemical Science |url=https://www.ias.ac.in/article/fulltext/reso/026/01/0073-0087 |journal=Resonance |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=73–87 |doi=10.1007/s12045-020-1106-8 |s2cid=231792356 |access-date=4 March 2022|url-access=subscription }}</ref> He designed several organic
reagents including [[Dithiooxamide|rubeanic acid]], bismuthiol-I and [[biguanide]] for detecting and estimating metal ions with volumetric, [[Gravimetric analysis|gravimetric]] and [[Spectrophotometry|spectrophotometric]] methods. A great deal of his work concerned the chemistry of the biguanide [[ligand]], in connection with which he discovered its third- and fourth-order inner metallic complexes and proposed the rhombic-tetragonal [[Ray-Dutt twist]] mechanism with his colleague Nihar Kumar Dutt; the mechanism was intended to explain the [[racemization]] of tris(BigH)cobalt(III) ion, [Co(BigH)3]3+. Ray also conducted research into the higher [[Oxidation state|oxidation states]] of metals and the [[Polyhalogenated compound|polyhalogen]] compounds of hydrogen.<ref name="resonance"/> Also a noted historian of Indian science, Ray published and edited a number of works on popular science and the history of Indian chemistry in both English and Bengali; after his retirement from the IACS in 1958, he continued to conduct and direct historical research as a supervisor of the History of Science Section of the Indian National Science Academy.

== Global policy ==
He was one of the signatories of the agreement to convene a convention for drafting a [[world constitution]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Letters from Thane Read asking Helen Keller to sign the World Constitution for world peace. 1961 |url=https://www.afb.org/HelenKellerArchive?a=d&d=A-HK01-07-B149-F04-022.1.8 |access-date=2023-07-01 |website=Helen Keller Archive |publisher=American Foundation for the Blind}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Letter from World Constitution Coordinating Committee to Helen, enclosing current materials |url=https://www.afb.org/HelenKellerArchive?a=d&d=A-HK01-07-B154-F05-028.1.6 |access-date=2023-07-03 |website=Helen Keller Archive |publisher=American Foundation for the Blind}}</ref> As a result, for the first time in human history, a [[World Constituent Assembly]] convened to draft and adopt the [[Constitution for the Federation of Earth]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Preparing earth constitution {{!}} Global Strategies & Solutions {{!}} The Encyclopedia of World Problems |url=http://encyclopedia.uia.org/en/strategy/193465 |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=The Encyclopedia of World Problems {{!}} Union of International Associations (UIA)}}</ref>

==Notes==
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==References==
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{{World Constitutional Convention call signatories}}

[[Category:1888 births]]
[[Category:1982 deaths]]
[[Category:Bengali chemists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian chemists]]
[[Category:Indian inorganic chemists]]
[[Category:People from Chittagong District]]
[[Category:Chittagong College alumni]]
[[Category:Presidency University, Kolkata alumni]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Presidency University, Kolkata]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Calcutta]]
[[Category:Scientists from Kolkata]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy]]
[[Category:World Constitutional Convention call signatories]]

Priyadaranjan Ray - Revision history

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