Ratan Lal Brahmachary

He was born in Dhaka, Bengal, British India (now in Bangladesh ) in 1932.

Professor Brahmachary's early education was in Calcutta, Dacca and Hamburg.

He was an astrophysicist.

He was a student of the eminent Indian theoretical physicist Satyendra Nath Bose.

Following a decade of work on relativistic field theory Astrophysist, Professor Ratan Lal Brahmachary joined Indian Statistical Institute in 1957 and there he was professor of Biology Department and a veteran on tiger research.

He did his extensive research in Marine Biological Labs in Italy, France and other institutes in Europe.

However, since 1960 he moved into biology, making significant original contributions to molecular embryology, and later, since late 1970s became an ecologist, studying mammalian pheromones, at the Indian Statistical Institute under its founder Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis.

Which was published in 1960 in Progress of Theoretical Physics.

He was one of the founder patron of Zoo Check.

Professor Brahmachary's early work was on molecular embryology of invertebrates, and in the 1970s, during a series of visits to Africa, studied food habits of mountain Gorilla.

For more than 30 years since 1979, his major research emphasis was on pheromones of tigers and other big cats.

He was interested in Animal Behaviour long before the subject was introduced in this part of the world.

To observe wildlife, he visited Africa 14 times.

He also worked in the Amazon area and Borneo and in the Mediterranean and Andaman Islands.

He was among the first scientists to observe the scent-marking behaviour of tigers, where the animals spray urine on tree branches to mark their territories and communicate via biochemical messengers.

Brahmachary, along with Jyotirmoy Dutta of Bose Institute, Kolkata made the first comprehensive approach towards understanding the nature of big cat pheromones.

After Years long researched on Synthesising the chemical nature of tiger urine (marking fluid), he found out that the molecule 2 acetyl-1-pyrroline (2AP) was present in tiger urine (marking fluid) and was the very same molecule that imparts the beautiful aroma to fragrant varieties of rice like basmati.

Professor Brahmachary gave his opinion on human pheromone.

In an interview he expressed

Human pheromones constitute a terribly controversial subject.

Tristram D. Wyatt of Oxford has discussed this subject in detail in ‘The Neurobiology of Chemical Communication.’ I feel that in the distant ancestry of the human species, pheromones played a role but by now only a vestige remains.

Mung bean is a widely consumed legume of India as well as of Asia.

In India, two varieties of this bean, scented and non-scented, are available.

The scented variety produces a beautiful aroma when fried, boiled or cooked.

Professor Brahmachari researched on this phenomenon with Moumita Pal and Mahua Ghosh.

This study was carried out for comparison of the physicochemical and biochemical characteristics of these two varieties.

Professor Brahmachari did a research on "Solution of the Combined Gravitational and Mesic Field Equations in General Relativity".

Now it is the Born Free Foundation since 1984.

Ratan Lal Brahmachary (1932 - 13 February 2018) was a distinguished biochemist and a pioneer of tiger pheromone studies in India.

He was widely known for his research in pheromones, although his academic background based on Physics, specifically on astrophysics under guidance of S.N. Bose.

Brahmachary made significant contributions in tiger behavioral studies researching the animal for over 50 years.

He studied many species of wildlife, notably big cats and undertook research trips to his favourite continent Africa fourteen times.

Brahmachary studied ethology in the Amazon basin in South America and Borneo, Indonesia with an ardent admirer of entomologist Gopal Chandra Bhattacharya.

He once said in an interview

Biology is as fascinating as probing the mysteries of the physical universe.

The inner universe of an organism or of an ecosystem is as challenging as the outer Universe of the expanding cosmos

He died in pneumonia on 13 February 2018 in a city Nursing home in Kolkata, India.

Brahmachary had pledged his body to medical research.

After paying respect his body was handed over to Radha Govinda Kar Hospital authorities.

Ratan Lal Brahmachary belongs to Bengali Hindu family.