Department of ZOOLOGY Science College, Patna
Teaching of Biology upto Intermediate level in Science College was started in 1941. Before that Biology was taught in Pre-Medical course in the Prince of Wales Medical College, now Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH), which was admitted to Patna University in 1925. Teaching of Zoology at B.Sc. (Pass) and B.Sc. (Hons.) levels was started in 1945 and 1948 respectively.
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The Department of Zoology, Patna University was established in 1948 to impart M.Sc. teaching in Zoology. Between 1948 and 1952, it was a part of Science College, Patna and later on in 1952, it got the status of University Department. The department is housed in the Biology Building of Science College. |
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The Department of Zoology has several academic achievements to its credit. Many of its alumni like Dr. Akhouri Achutanand, Dr. M. M. Verma, Dr. Kailash Prasad, Dr. S. W. Hasan Arman, to name a few,a are holding high scientific and academic positions in USA and other developed countries of the world. In early days of its development most of the students of the department got trained in reputed foregn laboratoreis and one of its alumni, Dr. S. Nazar Ahsa, (ex-Vice-Chancellor, Patna University) won the Best Overseas Student Award while working in the University of British Columbia, Canada on a Commonwealth Scholarship. Prof. J. S. Datta Munshi, FNA, an alumnus of 1952 batch is the Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy. Two alumni of the same batch as Prof. Datta Munshi, Prof. Syam Bihari Singh and Prof. V. Banerjee of 1954 batch were elected as Sectional Presidents of Zoology of the Indian Science Congress Association. Other alumni of 1950's like Prof. D. Prasad, Prof. D. P. Sinha, Dr. (Miss) Nirmala Chatterjee, Prof. B. R. Singh and Prof. S. P. Sinha earned a good name in their respective fields of research. Almost all founder Heads of the Department of Zoology in the universities of Bihar were alumni of this department. Dr. M. Y. Quadri is presently the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kashmir. The Faculty members like Prof. R. K. Sharan, Dr. S. Nazar Ahsan, Dr. Satyendra Pandey, Dr. V. Banerjee, Dr. Devendra Prasad, Dr.(Mrs.) Gauri Ganguli, Dr. C. P. Singh and other faculty members conducted valuable reseraches in their respective fields of interest which continued until they superannuated from the Department. Dr.(Mrs.) A. Nath, Dr. V. K. Sinha, Dr. S. K. Srivatava, Dr. Munindra Mohan, Dr. R. K. Sinha, Dr. (Mrs.) P. Rani and Dr. V. Mishra, the other faculty members conducted reseraches in various fileds of Zoology.
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In late 1970's, Dr.(Mrs.) Nath was selected for fellowship under commonwealth Exchange Programme. She was made coordinator of a Smithsonian Institute sponsered project to Bhagalpur University under the Principal Investigation of Prof. J. S. Datta Munshi. Later on Dr. R. C. Sinha, present Chairman of Bihar State Pollution Control Board did commendable reseraches in biochemistry after his return from Iraq in early 1980s. |
Dr. Ravindra Kumar Sinha, presently University Professor of Zoology, Patna University, Patna has been a brilliant alumni of Science College, Patna. Dr. Sinha has conducted serious researches on various facets of hydrobiology of the River Ganga. It was Dr. Sinha who for the first time identified and reported freshwater polychaete species from the River Ganga. Recently he reported a new species of gastropods from the Ganga which is probably North Americal species and moved to different parts of the world by aquarium trade. His work on the Ganga attracted the attention of the Govt. of India and one of the most prestigious multidisciplinary reserach projects "Ganga Basin Reserach Project" was sponsored to the Zoology Department in 1985 under the Ganga Action Plan of the Govt. of India. A well equipped modern Environment Biology Lab. was set up in the Department from the project fund.
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