Ground Floor
175th Anniversary of Presidency College
Presidency College, established as Hindu College in 1817 (and subsequently named Presidency College in 1885), completed its 175th Anniversary in 1992. The 175th Anniversary Commemoration Volume of the Presidency College Magazine records the planning of a year-long celebratory programme “that began on 20th January, 1992 as a part of our Founders' Day celebrations with felicitations offered to fourteen of our past teachers and employees, and was proposed to culminate in a week-long programme to be inaugurated by Dr. Shanker Dayal Sharma, the Hon'ble President of India on 14th December, 1992.” However, the programme was declared postponed on 14th December, keeping in view the demolition of Babri Masjid and the violence that took place in Ayodhya on 6th December 1992. The week-long celebrations were, however, held from 14th March to 20th March, 1993, and this plaque was established to mark the inauguration of the programme by the President, at 11 a.m. on Sunday, 14th March, 1993.
This white marble tablet is inserted into the right column of the main staircase, on the ground floor of the Main Building. The inscription on it reads:
Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose
Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose’s reputation precedes him, and any brief overview would perhaps be insufficient to bring to light all his achievements. He was a legendary physicist, biologist, botanist and an early writer of science fiction. He is known for his work in radio and microwave optics, and his investigation in plant science. Born on 30th November, 1859, Bose began his education in Faridpur, in a vernacular school. He then joined Hare School in 1869, and thereafter was educated in St. Xavier’s School and College (admitted to the latter in 1875), graduating in 1879. He traveled to England to study Medicine at the University of London, but had to give up on it after a severe case of malaria deteriorated his health. He secured a BA (Natural Science Tripos) from Christ’s College, Cambridge, a BSc from the University College, London in 1884, and DSc from the University of London in 1896. He met Prafulla Chandra Ray, his-to-be colleague and fellow scientist at Presidency College, in London, while the latter was a student at Edinburgh, and the two became fast friends.
Returning to India, he took up a position as Professor of Physics at Presidency College in 1885. It was in the “dark rooms of the department of Physics” that Bose tirelessly carried out his research for over a decade, and in 1895, he published his research on the polarization of electric rays by double-refracting crystals, which created a stir among physicists in the West. The first wireless radio transmission in the world was carried out by Bose in the laboratories of Presidency College in 1895 through the use of microwaves. However, Marconi’s publication preceded him and therefore attached this reputation to the former. His second paper was conducted to the Royal Society of London in 1895, and was published in the London journal Electrician. Two years later, in 1897, Bose went on deputation to Europe and exhibited the apparatus he had made in the Physical Laboratory of the Presidency College.
After his successful research on wave transmission, Bose initiated a detailed study of coherer during the period of 1899-1902, leading to his discovery of the common nature of the electrical response to all forms of stimulation, in animal and plant tissues as well as in some inorganic models. In 1900, his paper titled "On the Similarity of Responses in Inorganic and Living Matter" at the International Congress of Physics, Paris garnered great appreciation. He made an astounding number of publications that show the gravity of his dedicated research during his association with Presidency University.
Bose also made groundbreaking discoveries in the field of biophysics. His major contribution was the demonstration of the electrical nature of the conduction of various stimuli in plants, which were earlier thought to be of a chemical nature. In order to understand the heliotropic movements of plants, Bose invented a torsional recorder. He was also the first to study the action of microwaves in plant tissues and corresponding changes in the cell membrane potential. He researched the mechanism of the seasonal effect on plants, the effect of chemical inhibitors on plant stimuli and the effect of temperature.
As Bose’s tenure drew to a close in 1913 (he was aged 55), there was an appeal on the part of some of the authorities to allow him an extension in his position. Bose himself wished for the same, suggesting that a separate post may be created for him to allow him to continue his research and work in association with the institution. Bose’s tenure was eventually extended to 1915 (in part to accommodate his deputation to Europe till 1915), and a decision was made to bestow upon him the honorific of Emeritus Professor. Bose’s travels in Europe aroused great excitement among his students, as is recorded in the Magazine of 1914:
"We have noticed with great pleasure the recognition which Dr, Bose is receiving wherever he goes in Europe. Dr. Bose left Calcutta at the beginning of April and reached England before the end of that month. On May the 20th he lectured at Oxford before a distinguished audience on the "Irritability of Plants " and delivered another lecture at the University of Cambridge on June the 2nd.A third address illustrated by experiments was given by him before a meeting of savants at Vienna. His reception on each occasion was cordial and even enthusiastic. We learn further that on the reopening of the autumn session Dr, Bose has been invited to address the Psychological Society of London. He has also been nominated to give a discourse before the Scientific Academy of Washington and invitations have been sent to him to deliver courses of lectures before the Columbia University, the Academy of Science of New York and the Universities of Chicago, Wisconsin. Illinois and Michigan. All this is very gratifying to us, and the most gratifying of all is the congratulatory letter which has been written to Dr. Bose by the Viceroy. … But seeing how intimately Dr. Bose belongs to us and how closely he is associated with this College we take a natural and proper pride in all this new harvest of distinctions for one whose great work was begun and perfected in our midst and in the very laboratories in which our work is carried on."
After Bose’s return in 1915, the students wrote:
“We were expecting Dr. J. C. Bose's return to India and he has now come back after lecturing with great success in Europe, America and Japan. Last summer, it will be remembered, he was in Europe and narrowly escaped being caught in Germany by the war. He subsequently crossed the Atlantic; and thence to Japan. We have most of us been following with interest and pleasure the accounts of his triumphant progress which have from time to time appeared. … Dr. Bose is assured of an enthusiastic welcome here, He belongs to us in an intimate sense.”
On 16th December, 1915, the College bid farewell to Professor Bose. He became the first Emeritus Professor of the institution in 1915. He held the position till his death on 10th April 1937.
Sudhindranath Bose, who spent some time with him during J.C. Bose's stay in America, commented:
"He does not orate: he talks. He has discovered some wonderful things, and he is very much in earnest when he tells his audience about these discoveries in his gentle, quiet tone of voice. ... Jagadis Chandra Bose finds a poem, a drama, and an epic in his scientific researches. He is intoxicated with the fascination of his work. He speaks, therefore, out of the fullness of his heart. He has no time for the gaudy arts of the professional spell-binders. He talks to his hearers-just talks. At times they laugh a little, but for the most part they just listen, forgetting even to applaud. Mr. Rose may safely be pronounced a success on the platform. And his success is to be attributed largely to the earnestness and the magnetic presence of the man."
Sudhindranath writes of how "Dr. Bose talks quietly. He does not saw the air with his hands, or beat the desk by way of emphasis. In some mysterious way he succeeds in conveying an impression of sincerity." He further reminisces how Bose used to say, "Have one definite idea. .. one definite dream of your life. Work till you realize your vision. Make your dream come hue. Nothing is impossible, if you have power to will. Nothing great is ever done without suffering; and you may have to suffer a great deal. But then it is your privilege to suffer, to win, to achieve. Every man is potentially great. Genius? Yes, yes; it is nothing but strong, hard, well-planned work. You can have genius if you will."
Presidency College was much enriched by Dr. Bose's presence; with him, it is said, an epoch of scientific education ended for the institution, and for Bengal.
The first plaque is located near the Presidency Museum, towards the main entrance to Presidency University, on the ground floor of the Main Building; the site marks the rooms where he began his research work. The stone block in Bose's likeness was created by Laurence Langeron. The inscription reads:
A second memorial to Bose is a stone bust which is located near the AJC Bose auditorium (named after him), on the ground floor of the Main Building. The inscription below the bust reads as follows:
Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray
Often called the father of Indian Chemistry, Prafulla Chandra Ray was a renowned chemist, educationist, historian, industrialist and philanthropist. Born in the Khulna district of present day Bangladesh, Ray began his education in the village school run by his father Harish Chandra Raychowdhury, and studied there until he was nine. When Ray was about ten, his family migrated to Calcutta, where he was admitted to Hare School the following year. Due to a sudden and severe illness, however, Ray had to be withdrawn from school in the fourth standard, and returned to his ancestral home. During his period of convalescence, though, he read widely - biographies, articles on science, Lethbridge's 'Selections from Modern English Literature' and Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield, among others. He also studied history, geography, Bengali literature, Greek, Latin, French and Sanskrit. He finished the rest of his schooling in Albert School, and completed his F.A at the Metropolitan Institution. Although more attached until this point to history and literature, Ray had to study Chemistry as a compulsory subject, for which he attended the science classes at Presidency College, as an external student. He was captivated by Alexander Pedler’s lectures and experiments, which led him to take up Chemistry for his Bachelor’s Degree at Calcutta University. After winning the Gilchrist scholarship, Ray enrolled as a B.Sc. student at the University of Edinburgh. He received his B.Sc. degree, and then his PhD in 1887. In a day when organic chemistry was all the rage, he chose to pursue inorganic chemistry, becoming an expert in mineral salts such as sulfates and nitrites. He returned to India in 1888 and the next year received a position at Presidency College in Calcutta.
With Ray’s arrival at Presidency College, a new wave of Chemistry began in Bengal; he more than capably took up the mantle that Pedler had left behind. It was in the newly completed Chemical Laboratory that P. C. Ray, in the years 1897-1900, carried out his celebrated work on the nitrites and hyponitrites of mercury.
Prafulla Chandra retired from the Presidency College in 1916 after a glorious and devoted service of 33 years. A meeting of the students of Presidency College was held on the 23rd February, under the presidency of Principal Wordsworth at the University Institute Hall, to bid farewell to Ray on the occasion of his retirement from the college. Among those present were Sir Gurudas Banerjee, Heramba Chandra Maitra, Dr. Hiralal Haider, the Hon'ble Mr. Surendra Nath Ray, Prof. M. Ghose and Dr. B. L. Choudhury.
After his retirement from Presidency College, Ray joined the Calcutta University College of Science (also known as Rajabazar Science College) as its first "Palit Professor of Chemistry", a chair named after Taraknath Palit. Here he found a dedicated team and started working on compounds of gold, platinum, iridium etc. with mercaptyl radicals and organic sulphides. A number of papers were published on this work in the Journal of the Indian Chemical Society.
He started the Indian School of Chemistry in 1924. Ray was president of the 1920 session of the Indian Science Congress.
In 1936, at the age of 75, he retired from active service and became Professor Emeritus. Long before that, on the completion of his 60th year in 1921, he made a free gift of his entire salary to Calcutta University from that date onward, to be spent for the furtherance of chemical research, and the development of the Department of Chemistry in the University College of Science.
He had written 107 papers in all branches of Chemistry by 1920. He was the founder of Bengal Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals, India's first pharmaceutical company.
This plaque is located near the main gate of the university, on the ground floor of the main building. The inscription on it reads:
Ram Eqbal Singh
Ram Eqbal Singh was among the security guards or darwaans at Presidency College, and was killed on duty during the communal riots of April 1926.
The 1920s were fraught with communal tension between the Hindus and Muslims. The period of 1926-27 was essentially one continuous stretch of communal riots, with particularly vicious riots taking place in Calcutta in the month of April – spread over April 2 to May 9 (with a brief period of peace between April 13 and April 21). The riots that spread from April 2 to April 5 claimed 44 lives. A likely date for the riot that claimed Singh’s life, however, is April 25: the April 27 issue of The Argus (Melbourne) records the instigation of violence in the erstwhile Mirzapur Street (now Surya Sen Street) as a Hindu was "stabbed by a Mahommedan, and Hindus living in the vicinity gathered in large numbers, attacking all Mahommedan passers-by". In the conflict between the outsiders and the security guards of Presidency College, Singh defended the institution and sacrificed his life. His post has subsequently been occupied by his son Ram Deo Singh (Johnny) and then by his grandson Santosh (Pappu) Singh (who was active in his post till 2013).
This plaque is inserted into the wall of the security post near the main gate of the University. The inscription on it reads as follows: