SherleneGirardi at 19:20, 27 January 2026

2026-01-27T19:20:58Z

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{{Short description|Indian chemist (born 1888)}}
[[File:Inanendra_Das_Gupta_1917.jpg|thumb|In 1917]]
'''Jnanendra Chandra Das Gupta''' (German form: '''Inanendra''') (1888 – ?) was an Indian-born chemist who developed a thermosetting plastic called Indolack while working in the Swedish company Perstorp. This led to the development of the first plastic called "isolit" used in Sweden.

Das Gupta was born in India. He studied pharmaceutical chemistry under [[Fritz Ullmann]] (1875-1939)<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Meyer|first=Kurt H.|date=1940|title=Fritz Ullmann 1875-1939|journal=Helvetica Chimica Acta|language=de|volume=23|issue=1|pages=93–100|doi=10.1002/hlca.19400230110|issn=0018-019X|doi-access=free}}</ref> at the [[Technical University of Berlin|Technische Universität Berlin]] and received a doctorate for his thesis titled "''Studien über 2-Chloranthrachinon-3-carbonsäure''".<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1002/cber.19140470191|title=Über 2-Chlor-anthrachinon-3-carbonsäure|year=1914|last1=Ullmann|first1=Fritz|last2=Dasgupta|first2=Inanendra Chandra|journal=Berichte der Deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft|volume=47|pages=553–568|url=https://zenodo.org/record/2328296}}</ref> His study in Germany was sponsored in 1911 by the National Council of Education Bengal and the Indian Association (through donations from [[Taraknath Palit]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=History – Institute of Business Management |url=http://ibmnce.in/web/history/ |access-date=2022-07-26 |language=en-US}}</ref>) for the Cultivation of Science.<ref>{{cite book| page = 51| title= Age of Entanglement| author=Manjapra, Kris| publisher= Harvard University Press |year= 2014 }}</ref> He worked for a while as a chemist at [[Hoffmann-La Roche|Hoffmann La Roche]] in Basel and in 1914, he was among the earliest members of the German Friends of India or [[Berlin Committee]], a revolutionary group begun by [[Virendranath Chattopadhyaya|Virendranath "Chatto" Chattopadhyaya]]<ref>{{cite book|author=Mukherjee, Uma|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.149269/page/n82/mode/1up|title=Two great Indian revolutionaries. Rash Behari Bose & Jyotindra Nath Mukherjee|publisher=Firma K.L. Mukhopadhyay|place=Calcutta|page=77}}</ref> and supported by the German Foreign Office where Das Gupta had a friend in the Sinologist Herbert Mueller (1885-1966) (who allegedly later worked for [[Communist International|ComIntern]]).<ref>{{cite book|author=Bose, Arun Coomer|url=https://archive.org/details/dli.bengal.10689.12671/page/n112/mode/1up|title=Indian Revolutionaries Abroad, 1905-1922: In the Background of International Developments|publisher=Bharati Bhawan|year=1971|place=Patna|page=92}}</ref> Gupta later worked for the [[Indian National Army]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Gupta, Manmathnath|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.98689/page/n83/mode/1up|title=History of the Indian Revolutionary Movement|publisher=Somaiya Publications|place=Bombay|page=69|year=1972}}</ref> Sometime later he moved from Switzerland and began to work in Sweden at Skånska Ättikfabriken AB (which later became Perstorp AB) founded by Wilhelm Wendt in Skåne 1881. In 1918 he developed Indolack based on the formula for bakelite, which he knew about, using formalin and cresol which led to the development of the first thermosetting plastic "Isolit" in Sweden. Indolack was a substitute for shellac and Isolit for solid thermoset plastic products. Das Gupta left Sweden in 1919, having been denied citizenship in the country.<ref>{{cite journal| url=http://digitalamodeller.se/daedalus/kapitel/Perstorp%20Plattan.%20Sveriges%20aldsta%20och%20mest%20salda%20plastprodukt.%20En%20personlig%20och%20historisk%20aterblick.pdf| title=Perstorp Plattan. Sveriges äldsta och mest sålda plastprodukt. En personlig och historisk återblick| author=Nordberg, Sten| pages=87–102| lang=sv| journal=Daedalus| volume=66| year=1998| access-date=2020-07-15| archive-date=2020-07-17| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200717043841/http://digitalamodeller.se/daedalus/kapitel/Perstorp%20Plattan.%20Sveriges%20aldsta%20och%20mest%20salda%20plastprodukt.%20En%20personlig%20och%20historisk%20aterblick.pdf| url-status=dead}}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://www.plastenshus.se/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=36&Itemid=280 History of plastics in Sweden]

{{Indian Revolutionary Movement}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Das Gupta, Jnanendra}}
[[Category:20th-century Indian chemists]]
[[Category:Bengali Hindus]]
[[Category:1888 births]]
[[Category:Revolutionaries of Bengal during British Rule]]
[[Category:Date of death unknown]]
[[Category:Expatriates from British India in Germany]]

Jnanendra Das Gupta - Revision history

SherleneGirardi at 19:20, 27 January 2026