Subhash Mukhopadhyay

Subhash Mukhopadhyay (16 January 1931 ? 19 June 1981) was a physician from Kolkata, India, who created the world's second and India's first child using in-vitro fertilisation, Durga who was born 67 days after the first IVF baby in United Kingdom. Unfortunately, he was harassed by the state government, and not allowed to share his achievements with the international scientific community. Dejected, he committed suicide on 19 June 1981. His life and death has been the subject of countless newspaper reviews and inspired the Hindi movie Ek Doctor Ki Maut (Death of a doctor), directed by Tapan Sinha.He was born on 16 January 1931 in Hazaribagh, Bihar (now in Jharkhand), India. He studied and graduated (in 1955) with an honours degree in physiology from the Calcutta National Medical College, which was then affiliated with the prestigious University of Calcutta. He later earned a doctorate from the University of Calcutta in 1958 reproductive physiology under the stewardship of Prof. Sachchidananda Banerjee. Later he earned a second doctorate from the University of Edinburgh in 1967 in reproductive endocrinology,He created history when he became the first physician in India (and second in the world after British physicians Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards) to perform the In vitro fertilisation resulting in a test tube baby Durga (alias Kanupriya Agarwal) on 3 October 1978. Facing social ostracisation, bureaucratic negligence, reprimand and insult instead of recognition from the West Bengal government, and refusal of the Government of India to allow him to attend international conferences, he committed suicide in his Calcutta residence on 19 June 1981.