The Department of Physics, University College has a glorious history stretching back over a century. The magnificent building of the Department was built by the rulers of Travancore in 1906. It was formally inaugurated by Sri Moolam Thirunal Maharaja of Travancore in January 1907. B.A course in Physics was also started during the same year. The University College was at that time affiliated to the University of Madras. When Travancore University came into existence in 1937, University College became its main study centre and research courses were introduced in the Department of Physics. To begin with, study of atomic minerals in the beach sands of southern Kerala were taken up, the first of its kind in India. It was a collaborative project between Physics and Chemistry Departments of the University College. The Department had also maintained a Cosmic Ray Laboratory which was established in 1950’s by Dr. Vikram Sarabhai. M.Sc program in Physics was started in the year 1943. M. Phil course in Physics was introduced in 1994 in the University College. This had a special significance because, until then, M Phil courses were offered only in the Departments directly under the University, and not in affiliated colleges. The Department of Physics of the University College has long been an approved Research Centre of the University of Kerala.
Eminent Past Teachers: The founder professor of the Department was Dr. Chrichton Mitchell who was an eminent Scientist as well. Dr. K.R.Ramanathan who had won the prestigious World Meteorological Prize and was the first Director of Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad was a former teacher of this Department Sri. S. Venkitaramanan, IAS, the former Governor of Reserve Bank of India was a former student and also a teacher of the Department before entering into IAS cadre. Dr. C.S. Venkiteswaran, and Prof. Gopala Menon were the students of Sir C.V. Raman.
Prominent Old Students: A prominent old student about whom the Department will be ever proud of is Dr. P.K.Iyengar who was the former Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission. Some other old students who brought fame to Department of Physics are: Dr. Thanu Padmanabhan, the world renowned Astrophysicist Dr. G. Madhavan Nair, the man behind our successful and unique Chandrayan Mission and Former Chairman, ISRO Sri. Sankar, the world famous cartoonist of Sankar’s Weekly Sri. ‘Chris’ Gopalakrishnan, the CEO, of the Infosys Sri. P.J Thomas IAS, the former Chief Secretary, Kerala Sri. Jacob Punnoose IPS, the Director General of Police. Kerala.
Mahatma Gandhi visited the college and gave his inspiring speech standing at the quadrangle of the Department during the period of freedom movement Nobel laureates in Physics, Dr. C V Raman, famous for his Raman effect Dr. S. Chandrasekhar, who made invaluable contribution in Astrophysics W.L. Bragg, who earned a place among the pioneers of Nuclear Physics are some of the luminaries who visited the Department of Physics and delivered talks at the C V Raman Hall.
Present Scenario In addition to B.Sc, M.Sc and M. Phil Courses, research programmes are going on well in the department. There are 14 research scholars of which 4 candidates are full time. The teaching faculty consists of 14 members – 6 of them doctorate degree holders, 2 M. Phil degree holders and 3 are doing research. A further honour came to the Department of Physics when the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India recently sanctioned an amount of Rs.36 Lakhs as grant under the FIST scheme in recognition of the excellence in post graduate teaching and research activities.
