Two Early Pillars of Modern Scientific Education in India: The Meaning and Relevance of the Projects of M L Sircar and Asutosh Mookerjee

Mahendra Lal Sircar (who founded the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science in 1876), and Asutosh Mookerjee (who was instrumental in setting up the University College of Science, Calcutta in 1916), left a lasting impact on the future course of higher scientific education and research in India - not only through the workings of the institutions that they set up, but also through the strong ideas. visions and struggles associated with them as they took shape in the complex interplay of the compulsions of colonialism and rising spirit of nationalism. This essay analyses the differences in the approaches of Sircar and Mookerjee. the commonalities between them. and finally, the lessons that their efforts hold, for today.