Bishnupada Mukerjee
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Bishnupada Mukerjee (1 March 1903 – 30 July 1979) or Bishnupada Mukhopadhyaya was an Indian pharmacologist and orthopedic surgeon, known for his contributions in the fields of pharmacological research and standardization of drugs in India. The
Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...
honoured him in 1962, with the award of
Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...
, the fourth highest Indian civilian award for his services to the nation.


Biography

Bishnupada Mukerjee was born on 1 March 1903 at
Barrackpore Barrackpore (also known as Barrackpur) is a city and a municipality of urban Kolkata of North 24 Parganas district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is also a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA ...
in the
North 24 Parganas North 24 Parganas (abv. 24 PGS (N)) or sometimes North Twenty Four Parganas is a district in southern West Bengal, of eastern India. North 24 Parganas extends in the tropical zone from latitude 22° 11′ 6″ north to 23° 15′ 2″ north and f ...
district of the Indian state of
West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...
. He did his early schooling at Barrackpore village school and Kolkata to pass the matriculation with a scholarship for further education. He passed the Intermediate examination from
Scottish Church College Scottish Church College is a college affiliated by Calcutta University, India. It offers selective co-educational undergraduate and postgraduate studies and is the oldest continuously running Christian liberal arts and sciences college in A ...
, Kolkata with 13th rank in the
University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate State university (India), state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered ...
and joined the
Calcutta Medical College Calcutta Medical College, officially Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata, is a public medical school and hospital in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It is the oldest existing hospital in Asia. The institute was established on 28 January 1835 by L ...
to secure the degree of Bachelor of Medicine with first rank and honours in pharmacology, midwifery and Gynecology in 1927. Mukerjee did his residency under Green-Armytage at Eden Hospital for 18 months and moved to Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine where he worked under Sir Ram Nath Chopra who is reported to have successfully persuaded Mukerjee to turn to research by abandoning his medical practice. In 1930, he took up the post of an assistant secretary to the Drug Enquiry Commission and assisted the commission in preparing a report advocating for drug standardization and pharmacy control. From 1931 to 1933, he worked at the Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine on research on indigenous drugs when he received a Fellowship from the
Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...
for research on vegetable drugs in China, America and Japan. He moved to Peking Union Medical College where he worked under renowned pharmacologist, H. B. Van Dyke. In 1936, he secured DSc from
University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
, the first doctoral degree awarded by the university in pharmacology. Mukerjee continued his studies at the
University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
under
Joshua Harold Burn Joshua Harold Burn FRS (6 March 1892 – 13 July 1981) was an English pharmacologist and professor of pharmacology at Oxford University. Burn worked on the internal control of the body by the autonomic nervous system, carrying out seminal wor ...
, at the National Institute for Medical Research,
Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...
under
Sir Henry Dale Sir Henry Hallett Dale (9 June 1875 – 23 July 1968) was an English pharmacologist and physiologist. For his study of acetylcholine as agent in the chemical transmission of nerve pulses (neurotransmission) he shared the 1936 Nobel Prize in Ph ...
and at the University of Munich under Geheimrat professor W. Straub. In 1937, he returned to India to be reunited with Ram Nath Chopra at the
All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health (AIIH&PH) is a pioneering Indian institute for research and training in public health and allied sciences in Kolkata. It was established on 30 December 1932 with assistance from the Rockefeller ...
in their newly formed Biochemical Standardization Laboratory and became the director of the institution in 1941 at Kolkata and later at
Kasauli Kasauli is a town and cantonment, located in Solan district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. The cantonment was established by the British Raj in 1842 as a Colonial hill station,Sharma, Ambika"Architecture of Kasauli churches" ''The Trib ...
. In 1947, he was appointed as the director of Central Drugs Laboratory and held the dual responsibility of Pharmacognosy Laboratory as well for three years. During this period, when he put forward the concept of an exclusive laboratory for drug research, the CSIR took it up further to establish the
Central Drug Research Institute The Central Drug Research Institute is a multidisciplinary research laboratory in Lucknow, India, employing scientific personnel from various areas of biomedical sciences. Prof. Tapas Kumar Kundu, a molecular biologist, academician and recipien ...
(CDRI), Lucknow with assistance from
Edward Mellanby Sir Edward Mellanby (8 April 1884 – 30 January 1955) was a British biochemist and nutritionist who discovered vitamin D and its role in preventing rickets in 1919. Education Mellanby was born in West Hartlepool, the son of a shipyard owner, a ...
and Mukerjee was appointed as the first permanent director of the institute. Mukerjee worked at CDRI till 1963 and moved to Chittaranjan National Cancer Research Centre, Kolkata as its director to hold the post till his retirement in 1968. Post retirement, he worked as a visiting lecturer and scientist at the Department of Biochemistry of the
University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate State university (India), state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered ...
and as a consultant to the Kolkata office of the Ford Foundation. Bishnupada Mukerjee died on 30 July 1979, at the age of 76.


Legacy

Bishnupada Mukerjee's contributions covered the fields of
pharmacology Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences concerned with drug or medication action, where a drug may be defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemica ...
,
toxicology Toxicology is a scientific discipline, overlapping with biology, chemistry, pharmacology, and medicine, that involves the study of the adverse effects of chemical substances on living organisms and the practice of diagnosing and treating expo ...
,
endocrinology Endocrinology (from '' endocrine'' + '' -ology'') is a branch of biology and medicine dealing with the endocrine system, its diseases, and its specific secretions known as hormones. It is also concerned with the integration of developmental event ...
,
physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...
,
chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemotherap ...
and standardization of procedures besides his administrative contributions. He was credited with efforts in standardization of drugs by introducing modern protocols of biological standardization and assays. His efforts are also known for putting control measures in place for controlling the pharmaceutical institutions which he worked on during his assignment with the Drugs Enquiry Committee. The
Central Drug Research Institute The Central Drug Research Institute is a multidisciplinary research laboratory in Lucknow, India, employing scientific personnel from various areas of biomedical sciences. Prof. Tapas Kumar Kundu, a molecular biologist, academician and recipien ...
at Lucknow was his brainchild and the institute helped in promoting pharmacological research in India. He was also instrumental in the establishment of such institutions like Indian Brain Research Association, Indian Biophysical Society and Indian Association for Biological Sciences as well as many research laboratories. His contributions led to the publication of ''Indian Pharmaceutical Codex'', a reference book of Indian vegetable drugs. He was the chairman of the committee which published the second edition of ''Indian Pharmacopoeia'' in 1966. Mukerjee did extensive research on drugs, especially indigenous drugs. His research work with Ram Nath Chopra brought out the first scientific paper on ''Sarpagandha'' (
Rauvolfia serpentina ''Rauvolfia serpentina'', the Indian snakeroot, devil pepper, or serpentine wood, is a species of flower in the milkweed family Apocynaceae. It is native to the Indian subcontinent and East Asia (from India to Indonesia). ''Rauvolfia'' is a pe ...
) and its medical properties. His research on the medicinal values of
Alstonia scholaris ''Alstonia scholaris'', commonly called blackboard tree, Scholar Tree, Milkwood or devil's tree in English, is an evergreen tropical tree in the Dogbane Family (Apocynaceae). It is native to southern China, tropical Asia (mainly the Indian subcon ...
, Caesalpinia bonducella and snake venom are well documented. His research on posterior
pituitary hormones In vertebrate anatomy, the pituitary gland, or hypophysis, is an endocrine gland, about the size of a chickpea and weighing, on average, in humans. It is a protrusion off the bottom of the hypothalamus at the base of the brain. The hypoph ...
and their effects on liver fat helped initiate a research program at School of Medicine, Toronto University the findings of which explained the
lipotropic Lipotropic compounds are those that help catalyse the breakdown of fat during metabolism in the body. A lipotropic nutrient promotes or encourages the export of fat from the liver. Lipotropics are necessary for maintenance of a healthy liver, and f ...
actions of choline,
betaine A betaine () in chemistry is any neutral chemical compound with a positively charged cationic functional group, such as a quaternary ammonium or phosphonium cation (generally: onium ions) that bears no hydrogen atom and with a negatively charged ...
and
methionine Methionine (symbol Met or M) () is an essential amino acid in humans. As the precursor of other amino acids such as cysteine and taurine, versatile compounds such as SAM-e, and the important antioxidant glutathione, methionine plays a critical ro ...
. He also did research on dextrorotatory hydroocupridine derivatives, anterior pituitary extracts and
cyanide poisoning Cyanide poisoning is poisoning that results from exposure to any of a number of forms of cyanide. Early symptoms include headache, dizziness, fast heart rate, shortness of breath, and vomiting. This phase may then be followed by seizures, slow h ...
. He devised methods for determining the prothrombin time, for prolongation of insulin effect and for biological standardization of liver extracts. His research findings were published by way of over 300 research papers in national and international journals. Mukerjee was the general secretary of the
Indian Science Congress Association Indian Science Congress Association(ISCA) is a premier scientific organisation of India with headquarters at Kolkata, West Bengal. The association started in the year 1914 in Kolkata and it meets annually in the first week of January. It has a ...
from 1946 to 1952 and presided the 49th Congress in 1962. He was a member of the council, foreign secretary and vice president of the Indian National Science Academy for various tenures. He served as the president of the Indian Pharmaceutical Association and Indian Pharmaceutical Congress Association and was a member of the Expert Committee on International Pharmacopoeia of the
World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...
. He was a member of the first Pharmacy Council of India when it was constituted in 1949 and served as a member of several government committees and sub committees related to public health.


Awards and honours

Mukerjee received two awards in 1938, the Griffith Memorial Prize and the Nilmony Brahmachari Gold Medal of the
University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate State university (India), state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered ...
. In 1940, he was awarded the
Asutosh Mookerjee Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee (anglicised, originally Asutosh Mukhopadhyay, also anglicised to Asutosh Mookerjee) (29 June 1864 – 25 May 1924) was a prolific Bengali educator, jurist, barrister and mathematician. He was the first student to be awar ...
Memorial Award of the
Indian Science Congress Association Indian Science Congress Association(ISCA) is a premier scientific organisation of India with headquarters at Kolkata, West Bengal. The association started in the year 1914 in Kolkata and it meets annually in the first week of January. It has a ...
and the Indian National Science Academy elected him as their fellow in 1943. The Indian Science Congress Medal reached him in 1951 followed by the Barclay Medal of the Asiatic Society in 1954. The
Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...
awarded him the civilian honour of
Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...
in 1962. He was also a recipient of the Squibb International Award from Bristol-Myers Squibb in 1962, H. K. Sen Memorial Medal from the Institution of Chemists (India) in 1963 and Acharya P. C. Ray Medal from the Indian Pharmaceutical Association in 1976. The Indian National Science Academy honoured him with Shree Dhanwantari Medal in 1976. He was a member or Fellow of several science academies and institutions such as Asiatic Society,
American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) is a scientific society founded in late 1908 by John Jacob Abel of Johns Hopkins University (also the founder of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biol ...
, American Pharmaceutical Association Society of Pharmacognosy, Physiological Society of India, Institution of Chemists (India) and Indian Pharmaceutical Association among others. The
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is South Africa's central and premier scientific research and development organisation. It was established by an act of parliament in 1945 and is situated on its own campus in the cit ...
through CDRI has instituted an annual lecture, ''Dr Bishnupada Mukerjee Memorial Lecture'', in honour of the scientist. The
Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...
awarded him Padma Bhushan, the third highest Indian civilian award, in 1971.


See also

*
All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health (AIIH&PH) is a pioneering Indian institute for research and training in public health and allied sciences in Kolkata. It was established on 30 December 1932 with assistance from the Rockefeller ...
*
Alstonia scholaris ''Alstonia scholaris'', commonly called blackboard tree, Scholar Tree, Milkwood or devil's tree in English, is an evergreen tropical tree in the Dogbane Family (Apocynaceae). It is native to southern China, tropical Asia (mainly the Indian subcon ...
*
Joshua Harold Burn Joshua Harold Burn FRS (6 March 1892 – 13 July 1981) was an English pharmacologist and professor of pharmacology at Oxford University. Burn worked on the internal control of the body by the autonomic nervous system, carrying out seminal wor ...
* Caesalpinia bonduc *
Central Drug Research Institute The Central Drug Research Institute is a multidisciplinary research laboratory in Lucknow, India, employing scientific personnel from various areas of biomedical sciences. Prof. Tapas Kumar Kundu, a molecular biologist, academician and recipien ...
* Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute * Ram Nath Chopra *
Sir Henry Dale Sir Henry Hallett Dale (9 June 1875 – 23 July 1968) was an English pharmacologist and physiologist. For his study of acetylcholine as agent in the chemical transmission of nerve pulses (neurotransmission) he shared the 1936 Nobel Prize in Ph ...
* Indian National Science Academy *
Indian Science Congress Association Indian Science Congress Association(ISCA) is a premier scientific organisation of India with headquarters at Kolkata, West Bengal. The association started in the year 1914 in Kolkata and it meets annually in the first week of January. It has a ...
* Pharmacy Council of India *
Rauvolfia serpentina ''Rauvolfia serpentina'', the Indian snakeroot, devil pepper, or serpentine wood, is a species of flower in the milkweed family Apocynaceae. It is native to the Indian subcontinent and East Asia (from India to Indonesia). ''Rauvolfia'' is a pe ...


References


Further reading

* * * *


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mukerjee, Bishnupada Recipients of the Padma Shri in civil service 1903 births 1979 deaths Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy People from North 24 Parganas district Indian pharmacologists Indian medical researchers Indian medical academics Indian medical writers Indian officials of the United Nations Indian orthopedic surgeons Medical doctors from Bihar Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in medicine Rockefeller Fellows Scientists from West Bengal World Health Organization officials Scottish Church College alumni University of Calcutta alumni University of Michigan College of Pharmacy alumni 20th-century Indian biologists 20th-century Indian medical doctors 20th-century surgeons Medical doctors from West Bengal