Jagadananda Roy (1869-1933)

Jagadananda Roy was born in a landed aristocratic family of Krishnanagar, Nadia. He taught in a local missionary school for some time. His flair for writing on scientific matters in a simple and lucid style brought him into contact with Rabindranath who was then the editor of Sadhana. Rabindranath found these writings very attractive and when he found that Jagadananda was in dire straits, he offered him a job on his estate.

Knowing that this work was not appropriate for someone like Jagadananda, he also asked him to teach his children. When the Brahmacharyasrama was founded, he brought Jagadananda over to Santiniketan as a teacher. He was the first Sarvadhyaksha of the school. A dedicated teacher, he taught continuously till his retirement in 1932, after which he continued to take Mathematics classes voluntarily.

He wrote a number of books on popular science, his mission being to propagate scientific truth in simple Bengali in the manner of Ramendrasundar Trivedi. Graha-nakshatra, Prakritiki, Vaijnaniki, Jagadishchandrer Avishkar, Banglar Pakhi were some of his books.