SOCIETY FOR CHEMICAL EDUCATION

Golden Jubilee of Chemistry Dept. 2005

The department of chemistry, Gauhati University was established in 1955 on the ground floor of Botany department. Dr.Narendra Nath Siddhanta joined the department as a lecturer in  6th July. 1955. Dr.Siddhanta started the department from scratch with a bearer late Sandhya Kalita staying in the University adminisrative building . Laboratory furntinure, installation of the laboratory, purchase of chemicals, recording, keeping in store- all duties were carried out by him. Dr. Sanjib Rao of Bangalore was the founder head of the department. The department was started on the ground floor of Botany department. 12 students were admitted in the first batch, Besides Dr. Sanjiba Rao Dr. Mrs.  Arunmani Chaudhuri, Dr. Narendra Nath Sidhanta and Dr.M.G/R/Nayer and K.G.Kaimol joined the department. Subsequently seats were increased to 16, In 1960 Prof. Rohini Kanta Barua  joined as head of the department after superannuation of Dr. Sanjib Rao. He is the leader under whom the department came to international prominence. Dr. R.K.Barua did his Ph.D. work under Professor Morton at Cambridge University on Vitamin A.

Prof.R.K.Barua emphasised on teaching and research. He was a capable head and could convince the UGC to allot grants for purchase of one UV-Visible and one I.R.Spectrophotometer. Research scholars were taken under him. .M.G.R.Nayer, PG.Nayer, Arun Bhusan Baruaand Mr.M.V.K.Rao started works on several aspects of Vitaminn A and caroenoids under him All got doctorate degrees in due course. Papers on their research were published in international journals. Dr.Barua had contact with Dr.Kama of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He upgraded the syllabus of post graduate course in chemistry. He persuaded other teachers of the department to supervise research. Dr.Mrs.Arunmani Chaudhuri took Pabitra Kumar Sarma to do reasearch under her. Dr.R.K.Barua appointed Purna Sarma, Deepak Kumar Chakrabarty and Pabitra Kumar Sarma as lecturers. Deepak Chakrabarty left after six months. Nalini Kumar Baishya was apponited in that post.

Prof R.K,Barua  sent Purna Sarma and Nalini Kumar Baishya to England on State Govt. scholarships. They worked in Imperial College of London and Manchester University respectively. Nalini Kumar Baishya also completed and obtained D.Phil under Dr.R.K.Barua. Pabitra Kumar Sarma was sent  under exchange programme to Soviet Union to do post doctoral research in Mendeleef Institute of Chemical Technology, Moscow for two years in 1968.  Unfortunately Dr.R.K.Barua collapsed due to severe heart attack at Kolkata airport in 8th July 1968. It was a great loss for the department and the University and Assam as a whole. He was leading then the science faculty as dean.

Dr.R.K.Barua's sudden demise gave Dr.N.N.Sidhanta a chance to revive the department. Dr.Arun Bhusan Barua appointed as a lecturer in 1965 after award of D.PhIl degree had to supervise the work of Kamaleswar Goswami and Kamala Kanta Das who began research under Dr.R.K.Barua.Both of them completed their works under Dr. Arun Bhusan Barua. Dr.Kamaleswar Bhuyan and Dr.Jyoti Rajkowa also worked on inorganic chemistry under Dr.R.K.Barua. Dr.Siddhanta's tenure continued for 11 years. After him who became professor in between, Dr.Mrs.Arunmani Chaudhuri became head on three years rotation basis. During her headship the department applied for Special Assistance Programme of UGC. It was approved initially as departmental research support. After Dr.Mrs Chaudhuri Dr.K.G.Kaimol became head and then Prof.P.K.Sarma was head for three years. During his tenure the department appointed six lecturers , revised the P.G. and degree syllabi, renovated the department by utilising all available space for extension of research activity and mobilized the teachers with full support He organized the first national seminar on Hetero Cyclic Chemistry in Nature and Industry . conducted teachers refresher,s course from UGC.s support and introduced special papers in ten branches on final semester, emphasized internal assessment, seminars and home assignment for students. The research atmosphere is enhanced. Budget of the university for the department in chemicals and laboratory equipmentswas raised four times. A departmental library was established from donation of books from the teachers. He has shown to his colleagues that fund raising is not difficult if the teachers cooperate and initiates projects. Dr.N.K.Baishya followed his steps sincerely fully utilizing the funds available from UGC on DRS. Number of research publications doubled in 5 years as infrasrtucture was built up.

Society for Chemical Education, Assam

Prof.Pabitra Kumar Sarma took another initiative to organize Chemistry Education on what to teach and how to teach. Chemistry is everywhere and needs special methodology to teach as most of the students find it difficult to cope with lots of information on physical and chemical properies of elements and compounds. Several activities were gradually introduced to make the teachers involved and the students acquire knowledge of chemical science. The Society for Chemical Education was formally established in 1990 with a constitution and management council. Sarma was made founder president. Science day became an annual feature. A bilingual journal Chemistry Education is published.Several seminars were organized on Medicinal plants, Environmental awareness, renewable energy, microscale chemistry and computer applivvations. Chemistry Education is now on 15th year of publication. Dr.R.K.Barua Memrial Lecture was initiated from 1998. It has completed eight lectures now.S everal books to make the people aware of aspects relevant to them.

Another milestone of the Society is conducting  onemistry Olympiad from 2002. Junior and senior categories of refional olympiad, selection of candidates for national chemistry olympiad are orgazed by Society For Chemical Education Assam. All the three year degree colleges of Assam conduct regional examination for students from class Iq    1X to XII in the *-entres of the colleges. This has become very popular and students are appearing more and more in successive years, The purpose of the students to take career in chemistry is expected from participation in                                                                                                        the olympiad.