Pathani Samanta: The Great Astronomer of Odisha

Rinky27 Aug, 2022Business

Samanta was born to Syamabandhu Singha and Bishnumali Devi in the royal family of the princely state of Khandapada in Nayagarh district of Odisha. Although he was born in a royal family, ironically the economic conditions of his parents were very poor. Samanta was a curious boy since his childhood. He often looked at the stars and wondered something about them. But no one knew at that time that this curiosity will bring him high recognition and great accolades too.During that period, Samanta had no access to modern instruments, hence he used a bamboo pipe to measure the distance of the stars from the earth. The pipe was his self-made telescope. Really he was a born genius. This observation and calculation of the distance of stars from the earth made him earn the title ?Mahamahopadhyaya? award in the year 1893.