1. Dr Purnima Sinha was an Indian physicist and was one of the first Bengali women to earn a doctorate in physics.
24 Facts About Purnima Sinha
1. 2.
Purnima Sinha did work in the field of x-ray crystallography of clay minerals.
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Purnima Sinha was raised by a progressive family in a traditional era.
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Purnima Sinha was able to further her education, pursue her passion of physics, and engage in artistic activities such as singing, painting, and writing.
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Purnima Sinha was the daughter of Dr Nares Chandra Sen-Gupta, a constitutional lawyer and progressive writer.
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Purnima Sinha married the anthropologist Surajit Chandra Sinha, former vice-chancellor of Visva-Bharati University, who made significant contributions to understanding the process of acculturation of tribal peoples in India.
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Purnima Sinha then attended Asutosh College, followed by the Scottish Church College, and finally the prestigious Rajabazar Science College, University of Calcutta.
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Purnima Sinha became the first woman to earn a PhD in Physics from Calcutta University in 1956.
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Purnima Sinha was mentored by Professor Satyendra Nath Bose, a theoretical physicist known for his work in quantum mechanics.
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Purnima Sinha earned her doctorate in x-ray crystallography of clay minerals.
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Purnima Sinha was the first Bengali woman to receive a doctorate in physics.
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Purnima Sinha was looking for spare parts to build the X-ray equipment she needed for her doctoral research.
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Purnima Sinha's research was funded by Assam Oil Company at a time when research-industry collaboration was rare.
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Later, Purnima Sinha joined the Biophysics Department at Stanford University's 'Origin of Life' project, which had an interface with her work.
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Purnima Sinha compared the X-ray structure of clay with DNA patterns, geometrically, and was fascinated to find a connection.
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Purnima Sinha wrote extensively on many subjects in both English and Bengali.
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Purnima Sinha was a regular contributor to Jnan O Bijnan, a Bengali-language scientific journal published by Bangiya Bijnan Parishad, founded by Satyendra Nath Bose.
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Purnima Sinha translated Erwin Schrodinger's Mind and Matter into Bengali in 1990.
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Purnima Sinha wrote the book An Approach to the Study of Indian Music in 1970, and articles about folk music based on folk music recordings done in the field by her husband and her during anthropological field studies in the tribal regions of Purulia in West Bengal.
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Purnima Sinha wrote the analytical article "Jarawa Songs and Vedic Chant: A Comparison of Melodic Pattern" for the Journal of Asiatic Society in 2005, based on their field trip to the Andaman Islands in 1988.
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Purnima Sinha had a large, rare collection of books and journals at home.
22.
When she joined the Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute, Purnima Sinha continued her work on clay minerals and ceramic colours.
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Purnima Sinha moulded the material that she studied in artistic ways and learned clay modelling.
24.
Purnima Sinha took tabla lessons from Pandit Jnan Prakash Ghosh.