Gopal Chandra Bhattacharya

Gopal Chandra Bhattacharya (1 August 1895 – 8 April 1981) was an Indian entomologist and naturalist who spent most of his career at Bose Institute, Kolkata. He had no formal college degree. In 1981, the University of Calcutta awarded him an honorary Doctor of Science degree months before he died. He was awarded the Ananda Puraskar for Bengali literature in 1968, and the highest award for Bengali literature, the Rabindra Puraskar, in 1975.

He published his first research papers in 1932, on life events in the body of plants. Subsequently, he also published work on bioluminescence and other botany topics, but gradually his interests shifted to entomology. He became an expert photographer, and photographed many varieties of ants, spiders, small bats and tadpoles.

The Gopal Chandra Bhattacharya Award In 2005, the government of West Bengal instituted an award for science popularization in his name, the Gopal Chandra Bhattacharyya Smriti Puraskar. In 2005, the entomologist Debashis Biswas was awarded this prize for writing several books that describe the biology of mosquitoes and malaria prevention through stories.