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.

Social reformers

• 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)

Heads of government/state

• Dr. Rajendra Prasad, 1st President of India (1950–62)
• Mohammad Ali Bogra, 3rd Prime Minister of Pakistan (1953–55)
• Abu Sayeed Chowdhury, 2nd President of Bangladesh (1972–73)
• Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayem, 6th President of Bangladesh (1975–77)

Politics

• Colonel 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)
• Jyoti Basu, 6th Chief Minister of West Bengal
• Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, 7th Chief Minister of West Bengal (2001–11)
• Bhupendra Nath Bose, Bar-at-Law, 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]
• Pratap Chandra Chunder, Union Minister of Education, Government of India
• 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
• B.K. Handique, Union Minister of Mines & Development of North Eastern Region, GOI.
• 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 Bihar and Orissa Legislative Assembly (1937–42)
• Maharajadhiraja Sir Uday Chand Mahtab, Member of the Bengal Legislative Assembly (1937-52), Member, Indian Constituent Assembly, 1946-47 & Maharajadhiraja Bahadur of Burdwan.^[4]
• Bishnu Ram Medhi, Chief Minister of Assam (1950–57)^[5][6]
• Amit Mitra, Finance Minister of West Bengal (2011–present)
• Raja Dakshinaranjan Mukherjee, 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, 5th Chief Minister of West Bengal (1972–77); Education Minister of India; Governor of Punjab; Ambassador to U.S.A.
• Captain Maharaja Jagadish Nath Roy Bahadur, Member of the Bengal Legislative Council (1930), Member of the Council of States (1933) & Maharaja of Dinajpur, Bengal.^[7]
• 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, 1st 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)

Law

• Syed Ameer Ali, first Indian Law Lord of the Privy Council.
• Amin Ahmed, Chief Justice of the High Court of Dacca.
• 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.^[8]
• Sadhan Chandra Gupta, former Advocate General of West Bengal.
• 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
• Justice Radhabinod Pal Judge of the High Court of Calcutta; Vice-Chancellor, University of Calcutta
• 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^[9]
• 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)
• Ranadhir Chandra Sarma Sarkar,11th Chairman of the Union Public Servie Commission,(1971 to1973),served as Law Secretary to the Government of India
• 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

champak Chatterjee, I.A.S. Amitava Tripathi I.F.S. Debabrata Dhar I.P. Dipak Rudra I.A.S.

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; Padma Vibhushan
• Indrani Bose, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Bose Institute, Kolkata
• 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
• Biswa Ranjan Nag, physicist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate
• 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
• Probir Roy, particle physicist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate
• Sankar Das Sarma, eminent theoretical condensed matter physicist and Richard E Prange Chaired Professor at University of Maryland, US^[10]
• Ashoke Sen, eminent physicist; has contributed to string theory, winner of the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics
• Bikash Sinha, Padma Bhushan, Director (retd.), Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Calcutta
• Abhijit Mookerjee, Emeritus Professor, S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Kolkata; PhD (Cambridge), ARCS, FNASc, eminent condensed matter theoretician
• Palash Baran Pal, Particle Physicist, well known for his contributions to Bengali literature, receiver of Rabindra Smriti Puroshkar

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.
• Kshitindramohan Naha, geologist and Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate
• Subir Kumar Ghosh, geologist and Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate

Statistics

• 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
• Sudipto Banerjee, Professor and Chair, Department of Biostatistics at University of California, Los Angeles

Botany

• Gourab das

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^[11]
• 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

• Abhijit Banerjee, Ford Foundation Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US
• Amartya Sen, Master, Trinity College, Cambridge (1998–2004); winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, 1998^[12]
• Amitava Bose, former Director, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta
• Amiya Bagchi, Chancellor, Tripura University, Agartala
• Anindya Sen, Professor of Economics, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta
• Bibek Debroy, former Director, Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies, New Delhi
• Bimal Jalan, former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (2000-4)
• Debraj Ray, Julius Silver Professor of Economics, New York University
• Isher Judge Ahluwalia, Chairperson, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations
• Maitreesh Ghatak, Professor of Economics, London School of Economics
• Mihir Rakshit, professor, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata
• Pranab Bardhan, professor at University of California at Berkeley
• Radhakamal Mukerjee, former Vice-Chancellor of University of Lucknow
• Ratan Lal Basu, Fiction writer in English & Bengali, Indologist and author of books on ancient Indian Economics
• Sugata Marjit, former Director, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta (2007–2012), Vice-Chancellor, University of Calcutta; author.
• Sukhamoy Chakravarty, Professor of Economics, Delhi School of Economics, Delhi; was a key architect of the Five-Year plans of India; Chakravarty Committee on Monetary Policy (1985)

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, former Chairman, West Bengal Heritage Commission.^[13]
• 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 Bhushan 2nd highest civilian honor of the Government of India
• Tarak Nath Sen, Professor of English and Shakespeare scholar
• 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
• Palash Baran Pal, studied Physics; writer, poet and linguist. Winner of Rabindra Smriti Puroshkar

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
• Bhabatarak Bhattacharyya, structural biologist
• Charu Chandra Bhattacharya, physicist
• Katyayanidas Bhattacharya, philosopher and former professor, Department of Philosophy, Presidency College, Calcutta
• Jagadish Chandra Bose, scientist
• Prafulla Chandra Ghosh chemist and politician
• Rabindra Kumar Das Gupta, former Director, National Library, Calcutta
• Bhabatosh Datta, economist
• Bishnu Dey, poet
• Anil Kumar Gain, mathematician and statistician
• David Lester Richardson, former Principal of Hindu College, Calcutta
• Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy, chemist

References