Baker Building


Rejuvenation of the Baker Laboratories

Named after Edward Norman Baker, the Lieutenant Governor of the Bengal Presidency, the Baker lab was inaugurated on 20 January 1913. On the event of the centenary of the historical laboratory, a rejuvenation programme was planned in 2012-13, as reported in the annual report of the University (2013):

“Plans for renovating the Baker laboratory, which is the home of the Physics department, are taking shape … As we prepare to celebrate the centenary of this building, which also houses the Departments of Biological Sciences and Geology, we have extensive plans to rejuvenate the building in various phases.”

The Annual Report for the following year (which also happened to be the year of the 197th celebration of Founders’ day of the institution) reports:

“This year we celebrated the centenary of the establishment of the Baker Laboratories, the home of the Physics department. …We have extensive plans to rejuvenate the building in various phases. Mr P.R. Das, the renowned heritage architect, has been entrusted with the design of the renovation. … The construction of the Physics department premises in the Baker was inaugurated by Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, former President of India, on 18 March 2013. Significant progress is yet to be made of the construction work.”

This plaque is located at the entrance of the Baker Laboratory, in the Baker Building (Entrance 1 - towards the Main Building). The inscription on it reads:

Rejuvenation Program of Baker Laboratories,Presidency University, KolkataInaugurated in its Centenary Year by Dr APJ Abdul KalamSpace Scientist and former President of India18th March 2013

Professor P.C. Mahalanobis

A celebrated scientist and statistician, Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis is best known for the ‘Mahalanobis distance’ (a statistical measure), and as the founder of the Indian Statistical Institute. Born on 29th June, 1893, he received his education from Presidency College (where he was taught by professors like Jagadish Chandra Bose and Prafulla Chandra Ray), from where he received a Bachelor of Science degree with Honours, and King’s College, Cambridge, where he completed a Tripos in Physics (and during his time there, interacted with the mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan). He then joined the Indian Educational Service and was appointed as a lecturer in Physics at Presidency University. His grandfather Gurucharan Mahalanobis had been superintendent at the first Boarding House of the College in Bowbazar. P.C. Mahalanobis was long employed in the institution as a professor and then as Principal, and after his retirement became the third Professor Emeritus. His teaching was well loved by his students, though his far-sightedness in the field of statistics struck them as a personal quirk. Amal Kumar Raychudhuri reminisces:

“At that time, the head of the Physics Department was Professor P. C. Mahalanobis, who can rightly be called the father of Statistics in India. But at that time we had no idea about the importance of Statistics. We, therefore, wondered why our professor was more interested in statistics than in Physics and considered it to be a little unfortunate for us. Professor Mahalanobis exuded an originality in everything — in his manners, his appearance and teaching. Indeed, while formally teaching thermodynamics, very often he strayed to topics with little relation to thermodynamics. … Proceeding in this way for sometime, he relegated the charge of teaching thermodynamics to one of his research assistants. Initially, he would sit in a chair with the usual smile on his lips while his assistant lectured. It was a very embarrassing situation for the young man and we enjoyed it.” (From the 175th Anniversary Souvenir Volume)

The Department of Statistics at Presidency College owes its genesis to Mahalanobis. Once occupying ‘a couple of rooms of the Physics Department’ – then called the Statistical Laboratory, the Statistics Department was eventually born after Mahalanobis mooted a decision to initiate a post-graduate course on the subject in the University of Calcutta, which was set up in 1941. Three years later, Presidency College got its own Department of Statistics.

Mahalanobis, in association with P.N Banerji, N.R Sen and Sir R.N Mukherji, established the Indian Statistical Institute in Baranagar (it was initially housed in the Physics Department of Presidency College). The ISI was closely associated in the growth and development of the Statistics Department of Presidency College. Mahalanobis was named Fellow of the Royal Society (F.R.S.) for his work in Statistics. He passed away on 28 June, 1972.

Presidency University hosts two monuments in the remembrance of Professor Mahalanobis. The first is a plaque, is located at the entrance of the M.Sc. Laboratory of the Physics department (popularly known as the Baker lab), close to the entrance to Baker building near the Main Building, commemorating his work in Statistics from this part of the Physics Department, erected on the Golden Jubilee of the Statistics department. The inscription on it reads as follows:

Professor P.C. MahalanoblisDid his pioneering work in Statistics from thispart of the Physics Department (called theStatistics Laboratory) of the College from1915-1953. Here was born the IndianStatistical Institute in 1931; Santhya, theIndian Journal of Statistics started to bepublished from here in 1933.Installed on the occasion of the Golden Jubileecelebration of the Statistics department,Presidency College, Calcutta on Saturday,25th December 1994.

A second monument in remembrance of Professor Mahalanobis is a bust inserted into the wall, just outside the P.C Mahalanobis Auditorium, named after him, located on the first floor of the Baker Building.


John Arthur Cunningham

Heralded as “an Irish scientist of wide sympathies”, John Arthur Cunningham is remembered fondly by Presidency University, not least because of his wholehearted efforts towards the improvement of the Department of Chemistry and Presidency College as a whole. Born on 30th August, 1878 to Nora and John Cunningham in Donegal, Ireland, Cunningham completed his Bachelor of Arts degree from the Royal University of Ireland in 1902, and received his Master’s degree from St. John’s College, Cambridge, in 1908. He was employed in the Indian Education Services from 1903 to 1911, and taught in the capacity of Professor of Chemistry for six years from 1903 to 1909. In his period of employment, the young professor was associated with the celebrated Professor P.C. Ray, and with their presence as well as that of Biman Behari De, Chandra Bhusan, Jyoti Bhusan Bhaduri, Panchanan Niyogi and others, the Department of Chemistry rose to new heights during the first two decades of the 20th century. Cunningham was celebrated for his notable research work on the electrical behaviour of gases, and a joint paper written by him and S.C Mukhopadhyay on the “Electric condition of gases in nascent state” was published in J.C.S in 1909. Cunningham was named Fellow of Calcutta University in 1905, and acted as Syndic of Calcutta from 1906 till his death in 1911.

Professor P.C. Ray himself spoke in glowing terms about Cunningham and his diligence while in charge of the Chemical Department:

“The requirements on the practical side of the new University Regulations after 1906 became so heavy and pressing that by 1905 the laboratory blocks of 1894, though spacious, proved to be quite inadequate to accommodate all the classes. It was a fortunate circumstance that the late lamented Mr. J. A, Cunningham was in charge of the Chemical Department from 1906—1909. His zeal and enthusiasm for the spread of scientific education in Bengal was unbounded. Not only at the Presidency College but often in his capacity as a University Inspector under the New Regulations he was indefatigable in his efforts to improve the quality of science teaching in the colleges of Bengal, Government and private. … At the insistence of Mr. Cunningham, Mr. (now Sir) Archdale Earle, the then Director of Public Instruction, made a special grant of Rs. 23,000 for the purchase of indispensable apparatus and chemicals and sanctioned the erection of a temporary structure with corrugated iron roofing in the quadrangle of the college buildings, and this was fitted up for the purpose.”

Cunningham’s earnest work towards the cause of the college was well-remembered by his contemporaries. Dr. Devaprasad Sarvadhikary, in mentioning Cunningham’s prompt response to an appeal made by the former towards the development of an Assembly Room in the college, recalled Cunningham as someone “who evinced as much active interest in our laboratories and everything appertaining to the good of the country, as any present to-day, who was almost an exile away from us, at the time of his sudden and almost tragic end”.

He was regarded as a “sincere and indefatigable worker”, and someone who “often almost killed himself by overwork”. In 1909, he was he was transferred from the College, it is sometimes regarded, for his “pro-Indian proclivities”, to Chhota Nagpore as Inspector of Schools. IN his position as Inspector, he was “just as keen about methods of teaching and school syllabuses and all the little points of school management, as he was here about equipment and apparatus and research in Chemistry”. Many at the College eagerly awaited his return from Chhota Nagpore, hoping for his re-association with the College. However, his health suffered crucially during his work at Chhota Nagpore. He passed away of tuberculosis of the lungs and heart failure on July 4th, 1911, in Ranchi. His death was deeply mourned by the faculty and students of the college, a touching record of which may be found in the article “The Late Prof. J.A. Cunningham” in the Presidency College Magazine 1914.

This tablet was inserted in the wall at the top of the first flight of steps in the Baker Building in his memory; it was unveiled by Dr. Deva Prasad Sarvadhikary on the 24th of November, 1914. Sir Gurudas Banerjee, Dr. Suresh Prasad Sarbadhikari, Mr. Bhupendra Nath Bose, Dr. Nil Ratan Sarkar and other dignitaries, and about a hundred students, including the various class representatives, were present for the event. The proceedings “were marked by a good deal of emotion”. The students felt that “the tablet has been a fit tribute of the affectionate remembrance in which the deceased is held by his numerous friends in India. By honouring a man of such gifts and character as John Arthur Cunningham we honour ourselves.”

The inscription on the plaque reads:


ToJohn Arthur Cunningham, M.A. Camb. and B.A.R.U. IrelandFor six years Professor of Chemistry in thisCollege and afterwards Inspector of Schools inChota Nagpore.Member ofThe Indian educational services 1903-1911.Fellow of Calcutta University 1905-1911.Syndic of Calcutta University 1906-1909.No officer in the education department everloved India better, no one worked moreeagerly or with clearer insight for the advanceof true education. The improvement ofScience teaching under Calcutta Universityowed much to his influence. He lived and dieda lover of truth and justice.His friends, Indian and English,raised this tablet in affectionate remembrance.Born August the 30th, 1878,Died July the 3rd, 1911.P. Swaries & Co


Jogesh Chandra Nag

Jogesh Chandra Nag was the first Professor and Head of the Department of Botany. After the construction of the historic Baker Laboratories (1910-1912). a separate Department of Botany was created in 1914. It was in this newly formed department that Professor Nag was appointed in his position. Under him, Suresh Chandra Chakravorty was the first student to obtain B.Sc. degree with Honours in Botany standing first in first class (Jubilee scholar), in 1917, under the new regulations of Calcutta University.

Nag completed his B.Sc. in California, and taught at Presidency College for nine years. The erection of this plaque, located between the ground and first floors in the present Baker building (near P.C. Mahalanobis Auditorium), as well as the establishment of a memorial prize in his name, is mentioned in the 175th Anniversary Volume of the Presidency College Magazine:

“In recognition of the services of Prof Nag in this College his students and admirers erected a memorial tablet at the 'Baker Laboratories' of the College. A medal (J.C. Nag memorial medal) was also created for award to the students securing highest marks In Botany Honours from this College at the final B.A/ B.Sc. examinations of Calcutta University."

The inscription on this tablet reads:

This tablet is erected by his colleagues andpupils in affectionate memory ofJogendra Chandra Nag, B.S.for nine years Professor of Botany in thisCollege and Head of the Department since its creation.Born 10th June 1883,Died 18th March 1922.