Jagadananda Roy

{{Infobox writer

| name = Jagadananda Roy

| image = Jagadananda Roy.jpg

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption = Jagadananda Roy

| native_name = জগদানন্দ রায

| native_name_lang = bn

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1869|09|18|df=y}}

| birth_place = Krishnanagar, Bengal Presidency, British India (now in Nadia district, West Bengal)

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1933|06|25|1869|09|18|df=y}}

| death_place = Shantiniketan, Bengal Presidency, British India (now in West Bengal, India)

| occupation = professor, Writer

| language = Bengali

| nationality = British Indian

| education =

| alma_mater =

| period =

| subject = Science fiction

| movement = Bengali Renaissance

| awards =

}}

Jagadananda Roy ({{langx|bn|জগদানন্দ রায}}; 1869–1933) was a scientific article writer as well as Bengali science fiction writer. His works were primarily written for teens.

Born in an aristocratic family from Krishnanagar, Nadia, he went to teach in a missionary school and wrote popular articles on science. He met Rabindranath Tagore who edited a journal called Sadhana and Roy later joined to become a teacher at Rabindranath Tagore's Visva Bharati.

He also wrote numerous books on science including such as Prakrtiki Paricay, Vijnanacarya Jagadis Basur Abiskar, Vaijnaniki, Prakrtiki, Jnanasopan, Grahanaksatra, Pokamakad (on insects), Vijnaner Galpa, Gachpala, Mach-byang-sap, sabda, Pakhi (on birds), Naksatracena (on stars).{{cite journal| author1=Bhattacharya, D| author2=Chakravarty, R| year=1989| title=A survey of Bengali writings on science and technology 1800-1950| journal=Indian Journal of History of Science| volume=24| issue=1| pages=8–66| pmid=11612558|url=http://www.new1.dli.ernet.in/data1/upload/insa/INSA_1/20005b60_8.pdf| access-date=25 August 2013| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140910145109/http://www.new1.dli.ernet.in/data1/upload/insa/INSA_1/20005b60_8.pdf| archive-date=10 September 2014| url-status=dead}}

Roy wrote one of the earliest science fiction stories in Bengali, Shukra Bhraman (Travels to Venus) in 1892, later published in his book Prakritiki (1914).[http://kalpabiswa.com/kalpa-archive/thirdissue/content/10 বাংলা সায়েন্স ফিকশনের ঐতিহ্য] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180703220233/http://kalpabiswa.com/kalpa-archive/thirdissue/content/10 |date=3 July 2018 }}, Siddhartha Ghosh, Kalpabiswa Webmag This described travel to Venus and conjured up alien creatures on Uranus. His humanoid aliens are described as resembling apes, with dense black fur, large heads and long nails. This imaginative science-fiction preceded that of H. G. Wells' somewhat similar The War of the Worlds (1898) by about a decade.{{cite journal|title=Sadhanbabu's Friends. Science Fiction in Bengal from 1882-1961|author=Sengupta, Debjani|pages=76–82|journal=Sarai Reader|year=2003|url=http://www.sarai.net/publications/readers/03-shaping-technologies/076_082_dsengupta.pdf|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070717171027/http://www.sarai.net/publications/readers/03-shaping-technologies/076_082_dsengupta.pdf|archivedate=17 July 2007}}