Professor Syamal Chakrabarti did his M.Sc. from the Department of Chemistry, University of Calcutta. He joined research in the Bose Institute where he obtained his doctoral degree. He started his teaching career in the St. Xaviers College, Kolkata. Later he went to the United States for post doctoral research. Presently he is Professor of Chemistry, University of Calcutta.
Professor Chakrabarti is a distinguished science writer and has published around one hundred and fifty books till date. His main interest lies in the field of philosophy and history of science but he has also written books on Paul Robson, Abbasuddin Ahmed , Sachin Devbarman, Pratima Barua, Debabrata Biswas and Dhirendrakrishna Debbarman. He has received a number of honours and recognitions some of which are listed below:
1. Satyendranath Basu Award presented by the Govt. of West Bengal in 1999
2. Gopalchandra Bhattacharya Award presented by the magazine ‘Kishor Jnan Vijnan’ in 2000
3. Gopalchandra Bhattacharya Award presented by the ‘Science Association of Bengal’ in 2001
4. Selected as Best Writer of the Year 2001 by ‘Bharitya Yuktibadi Samiti’
5. Jnan Bichitra Award, 2005
6. Sachin Deb Burman Centenary Award, 2006
7. Rabindra Puraskar, 2009
8. Muzaffar Ahmed Smriti Puraskar,2012
9. National Award for outstanding effort in science and technology communication through print media(Books and Magazines),2012 by Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India
10. Prestigious ‘Narsinghadas Award’2014 from Delhi University for his book ‘Ganeet Prativa Srinibas Ramanujan’.
He was the founder editor of widely circulated ‘Ejuger Kishore Vigyani’, a juvenile science magazine in Bengali published by Paschimbanga Vigyan Mancha . Presntly he is the editor of ‘Janavigyaner Istahar’, a journal on science, technology society and culture published by Paschimbanga Vigyan Mancha. Prof. Chakrabarti is a member of the editorial board of ‘Science and Culture’ published by the ‘Indian Science News Association’ founded by Acharya Prafullachandra Ray and Prof. Meghnad Saha. He is also a member of the editorial board of ‘Jnan o Bijnan’ the oldest science journal in Bengali published by the ‘Bangiya Bijnan Parisad’ founded by Prof. Satyendranath Bose. Prof. Chakrabarti is a regular contributor in Akashvani , Doordarshan and other electronic media.
