Pulin Bihari Sarkar obtained State Doctorate degree of Dr.es.Sc. in 1920 while working at University of Sobornne, Paris specializing in Chemistry. He served as Lecturer, Reader and Professor (during 1920-60), Head (1952-60) and CSIR Emeritus Scientist (1962-67) all at Department of Chemistry, University College of Science and Technology, University of Calcutta, Kolkata.

Academic and Research Achievements: Professor Sarkar did pioneering studies on the chemistry of europium, gadolinium and scandium. He did extensive work on chemical homology and isomerism. He also did some work in analytical chemistry. While at Sorbonne, Professor Sarkar took great pains to learn sophisticated glass blowing under one of the best experts there. Later on, he used this skill to made a few apparatuses for microtests, e.g. wash bottles, filtration gadget, reagent tubes, etc., all of which he could carry to the class in his plam.

Other Contributions: Professor Sarkar had a wide-ranging interest in chemistry and chemical reactions. His main work in the field of minerals and analytical chemistry can be broadly divided into three main categories: investigations on the radioactive minerals in India and determination of the geological age; search of trace elements in minerals and their fuantitation; establishment of compositions of complex mineral. Professor Sarkar and his research associates carried out a large number of experiments to establish the relationship between chemical homology and the constitutional characteristics of ions and arrived at the following basic principles: Isoelectronic isosters with identical ionic volumes should exhibit close relationship in physical and chemical properties; The exact constitution of ions is of minor importance in deciding their chemical homology.

Awards and Honours:President, Chemistry Section, Indian Science Congress (1938); Fellow, Indian Chemical Society.