The Calcutta Chromosome
First edition | |
| Author | Amitav Ghosh |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Shamshad Husain |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Thriller, speculative fiction |
| Publisher | Ravi Dayal |
Publication date | 1996 |
| Publication place | India |
| Media type | Print (Hardback, later Paperback) |
| Pages | 256 |
| ISBN | 81-7530-005-1 |
| OCLC | 35759000 |
The Calcutta Chromosome is a 1996 English-language novel by Indian author Amitav Ghosh. The book, set in Calcutta and New York City at some unspecified time in the future, is a medical thriller that dramatizes the adventures of people who are brought together by a mysterious turn of events. The book is loosely based on the life and times of Sir Ronald Ross, the Nobel Prize–winning scientist who achieved a breakthrough in malaria research in 1898. The novel was the recipient of the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1997.
Ghosh employs a factual background for the invented events in the novel, drawing upon Ross's Memoirs which were published in 1923.