India’s oldest college to house its own museum

The museum will display 200 years of Presidency University academic heritage, including Newton’s Principia Mathematica

By: News Desk |
January 18, 2018 12:40 pm

Kolkata has a rich historic past and anyone who has been to the Gateway of Eastern India can certainly get the sense of its past while roaming the city. So, in order to display West Bengal’s academic heritage, Presidency University — India’s oldest college — is set to launch its own museum on Friday, January 19.

Presidency University — established in 1817 as Hindu College — will showcase the institution’s 200 years of history on the College Street campus. The museum will exhibit a rare copy of Newton’s Principia Mathematica and physicist JC Bose’s attendance record along with other historic institutional belongings.

The 200-year-old college will exhibit the following historical belongings:

An edition of the college magazine in which Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen published an article on ‘Bigyaponer Arthonity’ (Economics of Advertisement)
A copy of the magazine issue which one of Rabindranath Tagore’s speeches
The attendance records in 1869 of alumni scientist Jagadish Chandra Bose, physicist Satyendra Nath Bose and astrophysicist Meghnad Saha
The third edition of Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica from March 1726
The history of Jyotindranath Roy (popularly known as Kanu Roy) — a pass out from Presidency College and a member of the famous football team Mohan Bagan AC
Books published in 1621 and the contribution of the Presidency College in the freedom struggle

While talking to The Hindu, Vice-Chancellor Anuradha Lohia said,

Presidency has a history of 200 years that, until now, has not been properly displayed for the public. We thought people across age groups should be aware of this rich history.

West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi will inaugurate the museum.