A lifeKolkata · Tocklai, Assam
Dr Scion Sarma
Three lives in chemistry — the molecule, the industry, and the leaf — and, in retirement, the memoir.
Dr Scion Sarma, now an octogenarian, obtained his doctorate in chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, in 1968, and went on to pursue three distinct and distinguished careers.
He began at the bench, as a research scientist at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Kolkata — specialising in the stereospecific synthesis of terpenoids, and supervising two doctoral scholars.
He then spent eleven years with the Indian Chamber of Commerce, promoting the development of India's chemical industry: the chemist now making the case for chemistry itself.
Thereafter he devoted twenty-two years to the Tea Research Association, where he served as Secretary — overseeing the management of the Tocklai Experimental Station — and, for one year, as Director of the Institute.
Following his retirement in 2024, he has been writing the memoirs collected here: reflections on the remarkable people he encountered, and the experiences that shaped his professional life and his travels.