Who is the Father of Pharmacy?

Globally, the American scientist William Procter Jr. (1817–1874) is recognized as the Father of Modern Pharmacy.

• In the 1800s, there were no standard medicines. People mixed random herbs together in local shops.
• William Procter changed this completely. He spent his life writing the first standard textbooks on how to properly extract and formulate chemical medicines safely.
• He played a massive role in founding the American Pharmaceutical Association and elevating 'Pharmacy' from a simple shopkeeper's job into a highly respected, heavily regulated scientific profession.

In India, the absolute undisputed 'Father of Indian Pharmacy' is Professor Mahadeva Lal Schroff (1902–1971).

• His Revolutionary Contribution: Before the 1930s, there was no proper college degree for pharmacy in India. Medicines were mixed by untrained compounders.
• In 1932, at Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Prof. Schroff created the very first university-level Bachelor's Degree course in Pharmacy in India.
• He founded the Indian Pharmaceutical Association and drafted the Pharmacy Act, which made it a legal requirement for chemists to be properly educated before selling medicines to the public.

If you go back to ancient times, the Greek physician Hippocrates (400 BC) is called the Father of Medicine. He was the first to argue that diseases were caused by natural biology and poor diet, not by angry gods or demons.