Most cancers to comics — Bengal researcher makes artwork out of science

From most cancers to comics, from scientist to artist, from MIT to IIT — it has been an uncommon journey for Bengal boy Argha Manna, who spent a piece of his youth peering into the microscope however who later realized it was extra enjoyable spreading science by means of graphic artwork.

On Saturday (November 15, 2025), this educated biologist will probably be conducting a workshop within the metropolis, Historical past in Comedian Artwork, instructing fanatics in regards to the strategies of researching, reimagining and crafting a visible story. “Artwork and science encourage one another and are very a lot linked. It was solely within the nineteenth century that we separated them as disciplines. From the time of Leonardo da Vinci to William Turner, there was no boundary. Da Vinci himself was a superb scientist and engineer,” Mr. Manna, 38, informed The Hindu,

“William Turner was good friend of Michael Faraday, and plenty of of his atmospheric watercolors had been impressed by science (Turner and the Scientists by James Hamilton is one among my favourite reads). There are lots of examples within the historical past of mankind the place the wedding between artwork and science has created new information, which has pushed humanity to the following degree,” he mentioned.

This boy from Liluah close to Howrah resident, joined the Bose Institute in Kolkata in 2009 as a analysis scholar on most cancers biology, however dropped out of this system in 2015 with out accepting a level. The rationale? That 12 months was the one centesimal anniversary of Albert Einstein’s Basic Idea of Relativity, and the Science The journal had marked the event by means of comedian artwork. “It was sort of an ‘Aha!’ second for me. I assumed if a critical scientific journal like Science may publish comedian artwork, why could not I do it? I had discovered my proper calling,” the scientist-artist mentioned.

“However this didn’t occur instantly. As I dropped out of the Bose Institute, I needed to take a job to pay my payments. I took up a job in Ananda Bazar Patrika as a journalist. I did not have good abilities in drawing, however there I discovered from the principal illustrator, Suman Chaudhury, who grew to become my faculty. I did a double shift within the workplace for 4 years simply to be taught artwork. Within the morning, I used to be a journalist; within the night I discovered cartooning, illustration and methods of fantastic artwork,” he mentioned.

It was whereas working on the newspaper that he began creating comedian artwork on the historical past of science. Recalling his fascination with microscopy, he tried to critically enquire, within the paintings, how microscopy, as a device, began a revolution in science.

In 2020, through the COVID-19 pandemic, one among his comedian artworks, Be Conscious of Droplets and Bubblesrevealed within the Annals of Inner Drugsgenerated curiosity within the scientific group and shortly after that, he earned a fellowship from the Massachusetts Institute of Know-how. “That is when my inventive profession started to take form. I received a name from MIT and I began working with Prof. Lydia Bourouiba on the historical past of illness transmission, specializing in air-borne illness. I left the standard manner of publishing science and my mission was asking crucial questions and documenting paradigm shifts in illness transmission analysis by means of comics — graphic non-fiction,” Mr. Manna mentioned.

By the tip of 2022, a job provide from IIT Gandhinagar introduced him again to India, however he has retained his affiliation with MIT as properly, returning there each summer season to work on a ebook mission. So, he holds twin designation for the time being: Artist-in-Residence (IIT Gandhinagar) and Analysis Affiliate (MIT).

“Throughout my PhD days, I preferred to see what was occurring on the microscopic degree. I by no means thought that my love for photos would pull me in direction of artwork. I felt deeply that science these days is turning into deeply technical and that the philosophical half is being ignored. I wished to specific scientific information, the event of science, and the historical past of science past tutorial settings,” Mr. Manna summed up his work. “I don’t imagine in unidirectional information dissemination or monologue lectures. I’m envisioning the workshop as a collaborative area by which we may have dialogues, ask crucial questions, and draw tales collectively.”