St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata has taken a welcome initiative to hold Annual Father Lafont Memorial Lecture in the memory and honour of the founding Head of the Physics department who went on to become one of founding fathers of the Modern Science in Bengal by inculcating scientific temperament not only among his notable students like Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose, Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray but also among the community at large through his experimental demonstrative public lectures. Fr. Lafont was also instrumental in setting up the first basic science research institute in India - Indian Institute of Cultivation of Science founded by the philanthropist Dr. Mahendralal Sircar in 1876 and the first Solar Observatory at St. Xavier’s college in 1875.  

Ms. Madhuri Katti, Physics and Global Perspectives Faculty of Modern High school for Girls and Modern High School International who is also a freelance science history writer, was invited to speak about the extraordinary life and legacy of Fr. Eugene Lafont. The title of her brief talk was - “Father Eugene Lafont: A Priest, An Experimentalist and a Pioneering Mentor”, it traced life and the trajectory of contribution of Fr. Lafont from 1965 when he came to erstwhile Calcutta from Belgium as a Jesuit Priest and teacher till he passed away in 1910 in Darjeeling.  Her talk was followed by the first Father Eugene Lafont Memorial Lecture which was delivered by Prof. Puragra Guha Thakurta of University of California on “The Universe of Galaxies, James Webb Telescope, and STEM Research Opportunities for Young People”. 

Posted On : 18/08/2022