Saiyid Nurul Hasan FRHistS,FRAS (26 December 1921 – 12 July 1993) was an Indian historian and an elder statesman in the Government of India.

A member of the Rajya Sabha, he was the Union Minister of State (with Independent Charges) of Education, Social Welfare and Culture Government of India (1971–1977) and the Governor of West Bengal and Odisha (1986–1993).

His maternal grandfather was Sir Syed Wazir Hasan, chief justice of the Court of Oudh and a well known president of the Muslim League, who had called for Hindu-Muslim unity in 1936.

[6] At a young age, Hasan was married to Nawabzadi Khurshid Laqa Begum Sahiba, eldest daughter of Nawab Raza Ali Khan of Rampur, in a match arranged by their families in the usual Indian way.

At that time, Khurshid Laqa's father was the ruler of Rampur, a major, 15 Gun Salute Princely state located not far from Delhi, and surrounded by the United Provinces.

From 1971 to 1977, he was the Union Minister of State (with independent charge) for Education, Social Welfare & Culture in the Government of India.

[8] When he was a minister, under an act of the parliament, the funding and management of the Rampur Raza Library was given to the Government of India.

[9] He was instrumental in improving the career advancement scheme of many leftist college and university teachers in India, impacting the political neutrality of education.

As the Governor of West Bengal, he founded the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, Calcutta (1993).