The college served as the cradle of Indian sciences by winning the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930 and many fellowships of the Royal Society London.

[citation needed] The first group of faculties included Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray, Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, Ganesh Prasad, Sisir Kumar Mitra and the legendary 1915 M.Sc.

Till the end of 19th century Calcutta University remained mainly an examination body fed by a number of affiliated colleges which actually did teaching and which were dispersed from Shimla and Mussorie to Indore and Jaipur, and from Jaffna and Batticaloa to Sylhet and Chittagong.

Career in India was never virtually open to talents, through the principle had been asserted time and again in the Charter Act of 1883 and the Queen's Proclamation of 1858 after the Mutiny to allay fear, suspicion and distrust.

In those days agriculture, manufacturing and commerce offered little to no incentives and was almost impossible to initiate without proper skills, capital and equality of terms with which it could compete with the European industry.

While the various recommendations of the Commission to enable the Raj to control higher education in India were not strictly relevant here, some at least relating to the creation of new courses in science became important.

[4] In these circumstances, Calcutta University was pleasantly surprised to receive the princely gifts of Sir Taraknath Palit, an eminent barrister and advocate of national education during the Anti-Partition movement(1905).

The university had to provide "from its own funds" suitable lecture rooms, libraries, museums, laboratories, workshops and other facilities for teaching and research.

As the funds provided by the university was not fully adequate, Mookerjee approached the Government of India for financial support, which was rejected by Henry Sharp who was the joint secretary in department of education.

The opposition of Sharp mainly emanated from his dislike of Calcutta University which he considered will become a non-political body with strong prejudice against the white men and the Europeans.

"[citation needed] In August 1913, Sir Rashbehari Ghosh, an eminent jurist and scholar, in a letter to Asutosh Mookerjee placed in the hands of the university "a sum of ten lakh rupees" as per the conditions of his gift, there were to be established four chairs - one each for Applied Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Botany, with special reference to Agriculture, and eight studentships to be awarded to the distinguished graduates of this university "to carry on investigation" under the guidance of a professor.

Both Palit and Ghosh wanted promotion and diffusion of scientific and technical education among their countrymen by indigenous agency and with the money now available through their endowments, Mookerjee could now launch his projected dream.

"[citation needed] The influence of the teachings of Raja Rammohan Roy on the importance of education broadly based on science and technology impressed a group of newly graduated scientists S.N.

A galaxy of Indian scientists joined the departments set up with the income of endowments donated by Palit and Ghosh and began their work in science with whatever apparatus available in India and soon made their mark in their chosen fields.

[4] The establishment of Chairs in chemistry, physics, mathematics, zoology and Botany was the start of outstanding research and teaching by dedicated Indian scientists.

Besides advancing the frontiers of knowledge, the work by the Indian scientists at the University College of Science and Technology not only helped in increasing the wealth of the country but also succeeded in drawing attention of the scientific world.

Instead classic example was provided by Prafulla Chandra Ray who when re-appointed Palit Professor for five years after reaching the age of superannuation donated his full monthly salary for the entire period for the special benefit of his department which was "proud to acknowledge him as its leader".

During this difficult time, there had been "a steady output of original work rapidly increasing in volume and improving in quality which emanated not from one or two extraordinarily isolated or exceptionally gifted workers blessed with special advantages and facilities, but from a large body of able and devoted scholars".

No doubt, the scientists at the University College of Science and Technology sowed the seeds of many a promising project which were to bear fruits in the post-independence years.

Prof. A.P.C Ray founded the Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceutical Work and he along with prof. Hemendra Kumar Sen established the department of Applied Chemistry in Sc.