How do you summarize a life in a few sentences? Some lives are covered using significant dates. Others, via family or work experience. For Amar Bhattacharya, his journey is best shared by chronicling the names he amassed over his lifetime.
Amar Nath Bhattacharya started out as "Bhondul" (meaning 'one who makes everything messy') on October 1, 1934 in what was then called Calcutta, India. Judging by his propensity to leave a mess in his wake, that childhood moniker appeared justified. He switched from "Bhondul" to "Cow Doctor" when he graduated from Bengal Veterinary College in the 1950's and worked as a government veterinarian (one can only assume with cows, based on the nickname) in a small Indian village. Delivering calves and regularly sticking his arms elbow-deep into large animals made "Cow Doctor" yearn for more, thus he leapt at the opportunity to pursue a Ph.D. in pharmacology at the Ohio State University in 1960. If he was ever called any nicknames as a grad student grunt, he never shared it with family.
