Ashutosh Mukherjee

Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee, CSI (আশুতোষ মুখোপাধ্যায়) originally spelt as Sir Asutosh Mookerjee (29 June 1864 – 25 May 1924) was a prolific Bengali educator and 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). Perhaps the most emphatic figure of Indian education, he was a man of great personality, high self-respect, courage and towering administrative ability. He became the first student to be awarded a dual degree (MA in Mathematics and Physics) from Calcutta University and received the prestigious Premchand-Roychand scholarship.Mukherjee was responsible for the foundation of the Bengal Technical Institute in 1906 and the College of Science of the Calcutta University in 1914 and also played a vital role in the founding of the University College of Law. The Calcutta Mathematical Society was also founded by Mukherjee in 1908 and he served as the president of the Society from 1908 to 1923. He was also the president of the inaugural session of the Indian Science Congress in 1914. The Ashutosh College was also founded under his stewardship in 1916, when he was Vice-chancellor of University of Calcutta.Ashutosh Mukherjee was knighted in 1911 for his contributions to education in India. He was often called Banglar Bagh meaning the Tiger of Bengal for his high self-esteem, courage, academic integrity and a general intransigent attitude towards the British Government. Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee died in 1924 at Patna, Bihar. His son Syama Prasad Mookerjee founded the Bharatiya Jana Sangh.

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