[1] Bidhu Bhushan Ray was born on 1 July 1894 in Khadarpara, East Bengal, British India (now in Bangladesh).

As part of his doctoral work, he gave a theory of glories, coronas and iridescent clouds,[2] which is still considered relevant.

Inspired by his stay in Europe, Ray decided to set up a laboratory for X-ray spectroscopy, which would be the first of its kind not only in Calcutta but in India.

In 1935 he was appointed to the prestigious chair of Khaira Professor of Physics, a position he held until his untimely death.

[7] Bidhu Bhushan Ray died of a heart attack on 29 July 1944, less than a month after his fiftieth birthday.

Oral history has it that a demonstration was set up in his laboratory, where some colleagues and visitors were to be shown the extra spectral lines.

Singh further notes that Ray had developed malaria and other ailments, which may have played a role in his early death.

Ray was the first Indian physicist to set up a research laboratory which yielded results that could be published in leading journals such as Nature.

While Ray received recognition in his lifetime, he was almost forgotten in the intervening decades, until a recent revival of interest.

Rajinder Singh, who has written a book on Ray,[9] calls him "an unsung hero in Indian science".