Ashutosh Mukherjee

Ashutosh Mukherjee
Ashutosh Mukherjee
22nd, 26th Vice Chancellor of Calcutta University
In office
4 April 1921 – 3 April 1923
Preceded byNilratan Sircar
Succeeded byBhupendranath Basu
In office
31 March 1906 – 30 March 1914
Preceded byAlexander Pedler
Succeeded byDevaprasad Sarvadhikary
Personal details
Born(1864-06-29)29 June 1864
Calcutta, Bengal, British India (now West Bengal, India)
Died25 May 1924(1924-05-25) (aged 59)
Patna, Bihar and Orissa, British India (now Bihar, India)
Resting placeRussa Road, Calcutta (Now 77 Ashutosh Mookerjee Road, Kolkata – 700025)
CitizenshipBritish
SpouseJogomaya Devi
Children4, including Syama Prasad Mukherjee
RelativesChittatosh Mookerjee (grandson)
EducationUniversity of Calcutta (BA, MA, MSc, LLD)
OccupationEducator and the second Indian Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calcutta Judge of the Calcutta High Court (1903–1924)
AwardsKnight Bachelor (1911)
Companion of the Order of the Star of India (CSI, 1909)
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Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee CSI FRAS FRSE MRIA[1][2] (anglicised, originally Asutosh Mukhopadhyay,[2] also anglicised to Asutosh Mookerjee) (29 June 1864 – 25 May 1924) was a prolific Bengali educator, jurist, barrister and mathematician. He was the first student to be awarded a dual degree (MA in Mathematics and MSc in physics) from Calcutta University. Perhaps the most emphatic figure of Indian education, he was a man of great personality, high self-respect, courage and towering administrative ability. The second Indian Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calcutta for four consecutive two-year terms (1906–1914) and a fifth two-year term (1921–23), Mukherjee was responsible for the foundation of the Bengal Technical Institute in 1906, which was later known as Jadavpur University and the University College of Science (Rajabazar Science College) of the Calcutta University in 1914.

Mukherjee also played a vital role in the founding of the University College of Law popularly known as Hazra Law College. The Calcutta Mathematical Society was also founded by Mukherjee in 1908 and he served as the president of the Society from 1908 to 1923.[3][4] He was also the president of the inaugural session of the Indian Science Congress in 1914 held at the Rajabazar Science College, which he founded. The Ashutosh College was also founded under his stewardship in 1916, when he was Vice-chancellor of University of Calcutta.

He is often called "Banglar Bagh" ('The Bengal Tiger') for his high self-esteem, courage and academic integrity.[5] According to historian D. R. Bhandarkar, the epithet 'Vikramaditya' is also ascribed to Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee.[6]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Mukhopadhyay_legacy was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b "The mathematician in Asutosh Mukhopadhyay" (PDF). Current Science. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  3. ^ Patrick Petitjean, Catherine Jami and Anne Marie Moulin eds. (1992) Science and Empires, Boston Study in the Philosophy of Science, Vol. 136, Kluwer Academic Publishers. ISBN 978-94-011-2594-9, doi:10.1007/978-94-011-2594-9
  4. ^ "Calcutta Mathematical Society". Calmathsoc.org. Archived from the original on 31 May 2012. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
  5. ^ "Asutosh Mukhopadhyay: An eminent educator who made Bengalis proud".
  6. ^ Dutta, Ashis (29 June 2013). "First in class". The Hindu.