List of Kolkata Presidencians

According to the college directory^[1] of the University Grants Commission (India) there are eleven colleges that have the word "Presidency College" in their titles. Among them, four are primarily referred to as Presidency College only. The following list only contains the names of some eminent alumni of Presidency College, Kolkata. A former or current student who was admitted into the college, but did or did not complete the course, is called a 'Presidencian'. Names of former students of Hindu College, which was the school's predecessor from 1817–55, are also included in this list. Names of former distinguished faculty members of the college are also included.

Heads of government/state

• Dr. Rajendra Prasad, First President of India (1950–62)
• Mohammad Ali Bogra, Prime Minister of Pakistan (1953–55)
• Abu Sayeed Chowdhury, President of Bangladesh (1972–73)
• Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayem, President of Bangladesh (1975–77)

Social reform

• Durga Mohan Das, leader of the Brahmo Samaj
• Mahendranath Gupta, author of Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita (The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna)
• Raja Dakshinaranjan Mukherjee, leader of the Young Bengal movement; Taluqdar of Shankarpore in the United Provinces
• Keshab Chandra Sen, Brahmo reformer; founder of the Nababidhan Samaj
• Swami Vivekananda, founder of Ramakrishna Mission and Ramakrishna Math (for one year)

Politics

• Mohammad Ali of Bogra, politician, diplomat and statesman; third Prime Minister of Pakistan
• Col. H.H. Nripendra Narayan Bhup Bahadur, Maharaja of Coochbehar^[2]
• Surendranath Banerjea, 11th President of the Indian National Congress
• Bratya Basu,Playwright and actor; Higher Education Minister, Government of West Bengal (2011–14)
• Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, Chief Minister of West Bengal (2001–11)
• Bhupendra Nath Bose, Barrister, Under Secretary in the Council for the Secretary of State for India;Vice Chancellor, University of Calcutta, and President, Indian National Congress.
• Sarat Chandra Bose, Bengal Congress President; Works, Mines and Power Member, Government of India (1946) and first central cabinet Minister (1947)
• Subhas Chandra Bose, 53rd President of the Indian National Congress; founder of the Forward Bloc;^[3]
• Somnath Chatterjee, Speaker of Lok Sabha, India (2004–2009)
• Pratap Chandra Chunder, Education and Social Welfare Minister, Government of India (1977–1980)
• Chittaranjan Das, known as "Deshbandhu", founder of Swaraj Party
• Asim Dasgupta, Finance Minister, Government of West Bengal (1987–2011)
• Ullaskar Dutta, former member of Jugantar Party; freedom fighter, long-tortured inmate of Andaman cellular jail
• Atulkrishna Ghosh, member of the Anushilan Samiti
• Nolini Kanta Gupta, participated in the Alipore Bomb case; writer,Sree Aurobindo Ashram leader
• A.K. Fazlul Huq, Prime Minister of Bengal (1939–43)
• Azizul Haque, B.L, C.I.E, K.C.S.I, D.Litt, former Education Minister, Government of Bengal
• Nawaab Syed Shamsul Huda K.C.I.E. (1884), first Indian Muslim President of the reformed legislative council of undivided Bengal in 1921
• Humayun Kabir, Education Minister, Government of India (1958–67)
• Fazlul Karim, Mayor of Cox's Bazar
• Pandit Yamuna Karjee, member of the Legislative Assembly of Bihar and Orissa (1937–42)
• Bishnu Ram Medhi, Chief Minister of Assam (1950–57)^[4][5]
• Amit Mitra, Finance Minister of West Bengal (2011–present)
• Raja Dakshinaranjan Mukherjee, leader of the Young Bengal Movement; Taluqdar of Shankarpore in the United Provinces
• Hirendranath Mukherjee, member of Lok Sabha,Leader of the Opposition, India (1952–77)
• Syama Prasad Mukherjee, founder of Bharatiya Jana Sangh; Industry and Supply Member, Government of India (1946–50)
• Debi Prasad Pal, Minister of State for Finance, Government of India (1991–96)
• Dr. Rajendra Prasad, first President of India
• Abdur Rahim, Member of the Bengal Executive Council (Administration of Justice, Jail and other Allied Subjects) (1921–25); later President of the Central Legislative Assembly
• Siddhartha Shankar Ray, Chief Minister of West Bengal (1972–77); Education Minister of India; Governor of Punjab; Ambassador to U.S.A.
• Pratap Chandra Chunder, Union Minister of Education, Government of India
• Saugata Roy, Minister of State for Urban Development, Government of India (2009–12)
• Ashoke Kumar Sen, Law and Justice Minister, Government of India (1984–89)
• Mohit Sen, founder of the United Communist Party of India; member of the Communist Party of India
• Jatindra Mohan Sengupta, former Mayor of Calcutta; President of Indian National Congress
• Chandeshwar Prasad Narayan Singh, former Governor of Uttar Pradesh
• Anugrah Narayan Sinha, first Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar (1946–57)
• Atish Chandra Sinha, Minister of State for Public Undertaking, Cottage and Small Scale Industries, Government of West Bengal (1972–77); Zamindar of Kandi, Bengal
• Lord Satyendra Prasanno Sinha, first Indian Governor of Bihar and Orissa (1920–21)
• Jyoti Basu, political leader and Chief Minister of West Bengal

Law

• Syed Ameer Ali, first Indian Law Lord of the Privy Council
• Justice Gooroodas Banerjee, former Judge of the High Court of Calcutta
• Pramada Charan Banerjee, Judge of the High Court of Allahabad.
• Monomohun Ghose, first practising Indian barrister of the Calcutta High Court
• Sir Sarat Kumar Ghosh, I.C.S, Chief Justice of Jaipur and Kashmir^[6]
• Justice Altamas Kabir, 39th Chief Justice (retd.) of the Supreme Court of India
• Sir Ashutosh Mookerjee, former Chief Justice (acting) of the Calcutta High Court; five times Vice Chancellor of the University of Calcutta
• Justice Arun Kumar Mukherjee, Judge of the Supreme Court of India
• Justice Sabyasachi Mukherjee, former Chief Justice of India
• Sudhamoy Pramanick, advocate; Indian independence activist; lifetime secretary of the Tili Samaj
• Brajkishore Prasad, lawyer; Zamindar of Shrinagar in Bihar
• Justice Ajit Nath Ray, Chief Justice (retired) of the Supreme Court of India
• Justice Subimal Chandra Roy, Judge (retired), Supreme Court of India
• Gnanendramohan Tagore, first Asian barrister

Public administration

• Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah, I.E.S. (Indian Education Service), former ADPI for Mohammedan Education, Bengal
• Anandaram Baruah, I.C.S. (first Assamese in the ICS), District Magistrate in Bengal
• Atul Chandra Chatterjee, I.C.S., former Indian High Commissioner to the UK
• Sib Chandra Deb, former Deputy Collector, Government of Bengal
• Gurusaday Dutt, ICS (retd.), Started the village education-Bratachari movement; Secretary, Local Self Government and Public Health Secretary, Government of Bengal^[7]
• Behari Lal Gupta, ICS, former Dewan of Baroda
• Sukumar Sen (Chief Election Commissioner, India), ICS, Chief Election Commissioner of India (1952–60); Chief Secretary, West Bengal (1947)
• Nitish Sengupta, I.A.S. (retd.), Revenue Secretary, Government of India; Member of Parliament, Contai, West Bengal
• Jawhar Sircar, Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Government of India (2008-2012); Chief Executive Officer, Prasar Bharti
• Himachal Som, I.F.S., former Indian Ambassador to Italy
• Satyendranath Tagore, I.C.S. (retd.), District and Sessions Judge in Gujarat

Armed forces

• Air Marshal Subroto Mukerjee, first Indian Chief of the Air Staff of the Indian Air Force

Industry

• Basant Kumar Birla, Chairman of B.K. Birla Group
• Khuda Buksh, pioneer of insurance in Bangladesh
• Ramgopal Ghosh, founder of R.G. Ghosh and Co.
• Rama Prasad Goenka, Chairman Emeritus of RPG Group
• Sir Rajendra Nath Mookerjee, founder of Indian Iron and Steel Company at Burnpur; architect of the Victoria Memorial in Kolkata
• Prafulla Chandra Roy, founder of Bengal Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals

Medicine

• Mahendralal Sarkar, founder, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Sciences, Calcutta
• Siddhartha Roy, structural biologist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate

Engineering

• Fazlur Rahman Khan, structural engineer; designed Chicago's 100-story John Hancock Center and 110-story Sears Tower

Academics

Sciences

Chemistry

• Upendranath Brahmachari, first to synthesise urea stibamine
• Amar Nath Bhaduri,Biochemist,studies on UDP-glucose 4-epimerase, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize recipient
• Mihir Chowdhury - physical chemist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate
• Bidyendu Mohan Deb - chemical physicist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate
• Biman Bagchi - theoretical physicist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate
• Sumit Bhaduri - organic chemist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate
• Tushar Kanti Chakraborty, organic chemist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate

Mathematics

• Amiya Charan Banerjee, former Vice Chancellor of Allahabad University
• Ananda Mohan Bose, mathematician; first Indian Wrangler at the University of Cambridge
• Anil Kumar Gain, mathematician and statistician from the University of Cambridge; Fellow of the Royal Society
• Azizul Haque, contributed to the mathematical formula for Henry Classification System of fingerprinting still widely used in the world
• Radhanath Sikdar, first person to calculate the height of Mount Everest

Physics

• Meghnad Saha, discovered the Saha ionization equation
• Satyendranath Bose, discovered Bose-Einstein statistics along with Albert Einstein; Bosons
• Arnab Rai Choudhuri, solar physicist
• Chandan Dasgupta, FNA, condensed matter physicist
• Anita Mehta, eminent condensed matter physicist, faculty at S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, India
• Sisir Kumar Mitra,FRS, radio-physicist, namesake of a crater on the moon
• Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri, physicist, known for Raychaudhuri's equation in general theory of relativity; former Professor and Head of Physics, Presidency College
• Amitava Raychaudhuri, FNA, particle physicist
• Somak Raychaudhury, eminent astrophysicist
• Sankar Das Sarma, faculty at University of Maryland, US^[8]
• Ashoke Sen, eminent physicist; has contributed to string theory
• Bikash Sinha, Padma Bhushan, Director (retd.), Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Calcutta

Psychology

• P. K. Roy, first Indian Principal of Presidency College, Calcutta

Geology

• Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay; Paleographist; archeologist; a household name as one of the discoverers of Mahenjodaro civilisation.

Statistics

• Sudipto Banerjee, Professor and Chair, Department of Biostatistics at University of California, Los Angeles
• Anil Kumar Gain, mathematician and statistician from the University of Cambridge; Fellow of the Royal Society
• Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, Founder-Director, Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta

Engineering sciences

Computer science

• Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay, first woman Director of Indian Statistical Institute

Social sciences

Anthropology

• Surajit Chandra Sinha, former Vice Chancellor, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan; Maharajkumar of Susanga, Bengal^[9]
• Nirmal Kumar Bose; he was also a leading sociologist, urbanist, Gandhian, and educationist. Also active in the Indian freedom struggle with Mahatma Gandhi;served as Gandhi's private secretary in 1940's.Studied also Honors in Geology.

Economics

• Isher Judge Ahluwalia, Chairperson, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations
• Amiya Bagchi, Chancellor, Tripura University, Agartala
• Abhijit Banerjee, Ford Foundation Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US
• Pranab Bardhan, professor at University of California at Berkeley
• Amitava Bose, former Director, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta
• Bibek Debroy, former Director, Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies, New Delhi
• Maitreesh Ghatak, Professor of Economics, London School of Economics
• Bimal Jalan, former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (2000-4)
• Sugata Marjit, former Director, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta (2007–2012), Vice-Chancellor, University of Calcutta; author.
• Radhakamal Mukerjee, former Vice-Chancellor of University of Lucknow
• Mihir Rakshit, professor, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata
• Debraj Ray, Julius Silver Professor of Economics, New York University
• Amartya Sen, Master, Trinity College, Cambridge (1998–2004); winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, 1998^[10]
• Anindya Sen, Professor of Economics, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta

History

• A.F. Salahuddin Ahmed, Professor (retd.) of History, Dhaka University; awarded the Ekushe Padak by the Government of Bangladesh
• Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay, discoverer of Mohenjodaro, the principal site of the Harappa Culture
• Sugata Bose, Gardiner Professor of Oceanic History and Affairs, Harvard University, US
• Dipesh Chakrabarty, Lawrence A. Kimpton Professor of South Asian History, University of Chicago (B.A. [Hons.], Physics)
• Barun De, Chairman, West Bengal Heritage Commission.^[11]
• Dwijendra Narayan Jha, Professor (retd.) of History, University of Delhi
• Romesh Chandra Majumdar, former Vice Chancellor, University of Dacca
• Rajat Kanta Ray, Vice Chancellor (retd.), Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan
• Hemchandra Raychaudhuri, Charmichael Professor (retd.) of Ancient Indian History and Culture, University of Calcutta
• Tapan Raychaudhuri, Padma Bhushan, ad hominem professor (retd.) of Indian History and Civilization, University of Oxford
• Jadunath Sarkar, Kt.,Vice Chancellor (retd.), University of Calcutta
• Sumit Sarkar, Professor (retd.) of History, University of Delhi
• Susobhan Chandra Sarkar, Professor and Head of Department of History, Presidency College, Calcutta

Political science

• Partha Chatterjee, Professor of Anthropology, Columbia University, New York, US
• Sudipta Kaviraj, Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science, Columbia University, New York

Languages

Bengali

• Muhammad Shahidullah, writer and linguist
• Madan Mohan Tarkalankar, textbook writer
• Arun Mukhopadhyay Author

English

• Subodh Chandra Sengupta, former Principal of College and English literary scholar; awarded Padma Vibhushan 2nd highest civilian honor of the Government of India
• Ahmad Ali, British Council Visiting Professor of English, the National Central University, Nanking
• Jasodhara Bagchi, former Chairperson, West Bengal Women's Commission, Calcutta
• Swapan Kumar Chakravorty, former Director-General, National Library, Kolkata
• Sukanta Chaudhuri, Emeritus Professor of English, Jadavpur University, Calcutta
• Supriya Chaudhuri, Professor of English, Jadavpur University, Calcutta
• Malabika Sarkar, former Vice-Chancellor, Presidency University
• Peary Charan Sarkar, former Headmaster, Hare School, Calcutta
• Nabaneeta Dev Sen, former Professor of Comparative Literature, Jadavpur University, Calcutta
• Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, professor, Department of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University, USA

Sanskrit

• Kshetresa Chandra Chattopadhyaya, former Professor of Sanskrit at Allahabad University
• Bhudev Mukhopadhyay, CIE, former Director of Public Instructions
• Haraprasad Shastri, former Principal of Sanskrit College, Calcutta

Journalists

• M. J. Akbar, former editor, The Asian Age
• Krishna Mohan Banerjee, publisher of Inquirer
• Pramatha Chaudhuri, former editor of Sabuj Patra
• Rasik Krishna Mallick, former editor, Jnananwesan
• Rudrangshu Mukherjee, Opinions Editor, The Telegraph
• Udayan Mukherjee, Managing Editor, CNBC India
• Pritish Nandy, former editor, Illustrated Weekly of India
• Akshay Chandra Sarkar, former editor, Sadharani

Poets, novelists and nonfiction writers

• Manik Bandopadhyay, novelist
• Rajnarayan Basu, writer and Brahmo Samaj pioneer; maternal grandfather of Sri Aurobindo.
• Rajsekhar Basu, studied chemistry; novelist, published using the nom-de-plume "Parasuram".
• Samit Basu, novelist
• Sasthi Brata, writer
• Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, poet and novelist
• Sanjib Chandra Chattopadhyay, writer, brother of Bankim Chandra
• Shakti Chattopadhyay, poet
• Jibanananda Das, poet
• Henry Louis Vivan Derozio, poet
• Michael Madhusudan Dutt, poet
• Shankha Ghosh, poet
• Shahidullah Kaiser, winner of Bangla Academy Award
• Peary Chand Mitra, novelist; author of the first true Bengali novel, Alaaler ghorer dulal
• Acharya Kuber Nath Rai, writer of Hindi literature
• Dwijendralal Ray, poet, playwright and musician
• Sukumar Ray, poet and humourist
• Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury, writer
• Bhabendra Nath Saikia, novelist
• Jyotirindranath Tagore, poet and novelist
• Alokeranjan Dasgupta Bengali poet; Goethe Award from

Artists and musicians

• Pritam Chakraborty, Bollywood music director; sound engineer
• Devajyoti Ray, artist
• Dilipkumar Roy, singer
• Atulprasad Sen, composer & singer of devotional and love songs of his own genre
• Dwijendranath Tagore, musician

Filmmakers, theatre personalities and actors

• Pramathesh Barua, actor and director
• Chhabi Biswas, actor
• Bikash Roy, Actor
• Ashok Kumar, winner of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award (1988)
• Dinabandhu Mitra, author of Nildarpan
• Srijit Mukherji, filmmaker
• Satyajit Ray, film director; winner of an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement (1992)
• Aparna Sen, actress
• Subrata Sen, filmmaker, author
• Dhritiman Chatterjee, actor

Sportspersons

• Vece Paes, member of the bronze medal-winning Indian hockey team at the Munich Olympics (1972)

Faculty members

• Syed Ameer Ali, former Judge of the High Court of Calcutta; lecturer in Islamic Law
• Katyayanidas Bhattacharya, philosopher and former professor, Department of Philosophy, Edinboro,Presidency College, Calcutta
• Jagadish Chandra Bose, physicist, professor of physics;inventor of wireless communications, crescograph; discovered life sensations in plants; Founder of the Bose Research Institute.
• Bishnu Dey, poet; winner of Sahitya Academy Award and Rashtriya Jnanpith Award
• Anil Kumar Gain, mathematician and statistician from the University of Cambridge; Fellow of the Royal Society
• Rabindra Kumar Das Gupta, former Director, National Library, Calcutta; Offtg. Professor of English
• David Lester Richardson, former Principal of Hindu College, Calcutta
• Prafulla Chandra Roy,(Acharya) noted discoverer, founder of Bengal Chemical and Pharmaceutical Works; Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Presidency, later Professor at the University of Calcutta;inspiring nationalist and social reformer.
• Bhabatarak Bhattacharyya, structural biologist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize laureate
• Charu Chandra Bhattacharya, Physics professor, taught S.N. Bose, MN Saha, etc.intimacy-based studies on Rabindranath Tagore.
• Bhabatosh Datta (renowned economist, Education Secretary, W.B.).
• Prafulla Chandra Ghosh Chemistry professor; first Chief Minister (then called "Prime Minister" of the new state of West Bengal
• Bhabatosh Datta Bengali literary critic, essayist; Director of Pathabhavan at Santiniketan, Viswabharati University

References