History of Chemical Technology

The inception of the department of Applied Chemistry was in 1920 – thanks to the foresightedness of Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy, Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee and Prof. Hemendra Kumar Sen. Calcutta university is the first among the Indian universities to pioneer studies in Applied Sciences at the post graduate level.

Under the leadership of Prof. H. K. Sen, both teaching and research in Applied Chemistry were initiated in the department soon after its inception. The curriculae of studies in Applied Chemistry were thoroughly revised in 1951 and a three year course leading to M.Sc. (Tech) degree was introduced since then. In 1959 this was replaced by 2 year B.Tech. Followed by 1 year M.Tech. Course and the degree in Applied Chemistry was revised to the degree in Chemical Technology and Chemical Engineering. Subsequently, the university introduced 3-year B.Tech. and 2-year M.Tech. degree course with effect from 1969 and 1972 respectively in all the departments of the faculty of technology.

Different branches of Applied Chemistry were introduced and within a couple of decades, specializations in Chemical Engineering, Fats and Oils, Silicate Technology, Pharmaceutics, Plastics and Rubbers were offered. Later, Petroleum Technology was also introduced.