Scottish Church College Physics Alumni Association

The Department of Physics of Scottish Church College is the epitome of an organization dedicated to teaching of science over a period of more than a century. The tradition is still continuing, catering for generations of students, scholars and research workers. As one of the earliest centres of science education in India this department of Scottish Church College set forth in 1908 on its voyage towards future. However, before 1908 the Institution was used to run under the names: a) General Assembly’s Institution (1846 to 1907), b) Free Church Institution and Duff College (1843 to 1909). They united to form Scottish Churches College (1909 –1928) which thereafter was renamed as Scottish Church College. Physics was taught in this institution even in 1883 as far as we can trace back in search of history, though the exact date of the very inception of this department is sadly unavailable. The then members of the teaching staff were: Nandolal Dey (1883 – 85), Jnanendrachandra Mukherjee (1887 – 06), Rev. John Watt (1888 – 1907) Jnanchandra Ghosh (1893 – 1907), Monomohan Banerjee (1899 – 1900), Sailendra Basu Mallick (1906 – 07). 

 

In the year 1908 the Physics department was formed under the stewardship of Prof. Jnanchandra Ghosh MA; he retired in 1916 but remained connected to the department as Professor Emeritus till 1948. During this period a number of great & charismatic teachers and eminent scholars had been associated with the department in various capacities. A few of such luminaries are Prof. Emeritus 1940 - 42), Prof. Kulesh Chandra Kar M.Sc., D.Sc. (1923 – 25), Prof. Jyotirmoy Chatterjee M.Sc.(!929 – 70, HOD 1960 – 70, Prof. Emeritus 1970 - ), Prof. Debi Prasad Roy Chowdhury M.Sc., D.Sc.(1938 – 52, HOD 1940 – 52), Prof. Samarendranath Sen M.Sc. (1943 – 48), Prof. Anil Kumar Sen M.Sc. (1942 – 78, HOD 1970 – 77, Principal SCC, Prof. Emeritus 1978 - ), Prof. Jatindra Mohan Das Sharma M.Sc. (1947 – 81, HOD 1977 – 81).

After 1950 a new generation of teachers arrived, who in the association of the greats of the previous era raised the standard of teaching to dizzy heights; 1950 to 1969 may be termed as a golden period when the students and the teachers matched each other in academic excellence. Some of the distinguished teachers of this era are: Prof. Bholanath Roy M.Sc. (1954 – 81), Prof. Jugal Kishore Mukherjee (1956 – 94), Prof. H. J. Taylor M.Sc., Ph.D (1954 – 60, Principal SCC, Vice Chancellor Guahati University)), Prof. Tapas Ranjan Bose M.Sc., Ph.D. (1968 – 2003), Prof. Ashoke Kumar Das (1972 –2006 ), Prof. Somnath Chakraborty (1974 - 2009) etc. 

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