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{{short description|Indian mathematician and statistician (1919-1978)}}
{{Use Indian English|date=October 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Anil Kumar Gain
| honorific_suffix = [[FRSS]], [[Fellow of the Cambridge Philosophical Society|FCPS]]
| image = Anil Kumar Gain.jpg
| image_size =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1919|2|1|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Purba Medinipur|Lakkhi]], [[Bengal Presidency]], [[British India]] (now in [[Purba Medinipur]], [[West Bengal]], India)<ref>{{cite web|last1=Guha |first1=Abhijit |title=Forgotten Founder of a University |url=http://www.frontierweekly.com/articles/vol-45/45-9/45-9-A%20Forgotten%20Founder%20of%20a%20University.html |website=Frontier Weekly |access-date=15 September 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121001170647/http://www.frontierweekly.com/articles/vol-45/45-9/45-9-A%20Forgotten%20Founder%20of%20a%20University.html |archive-date=1 October 2012 }}</ref>
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1978|2|7|1919|2|1|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Kolkata]], India
| module = {{Infobox scientist
|embed = yes
|field = Mathematics and Statistics
|work_institution = [[University of Cambridge]] [[University of Calcutta]] [[Presidency College, Calcutta]]/[[Rajabazar Science College]] [[Indian Statistical Institute]] [[Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur]]
|alma_mater = {{plainlist|
* [[Rajabazar Science College]] ([[University of Calcutta]])
* [[University of Cambridge]]
}}
|doctoral_advisor = [[Henry Ellis Daniels]]
|doctoral_students =
|known_for = [[Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient]] [[Vidyasagar University]]
|prizes = [[Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society|FRSS]] [[Cambridge Philosophical Society|FCPS]]
|footnotes =
}}
}}

'''Anil Kumar Gain''' [[Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society|FRSS]] [[Cambridge Philosophical Society|FCPS]] (1 February 1919 – 7 February 1978) (also spelt '''Anil Kumar Gayen''') was an [[Indian people|Indian]] mathematician and statistician who is best known for his works on the [[Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient]] in the field of [[applied statistics]], with his colleague [[Ronald Fisher]]. He received his Ph.D. from the [[University of Cambridge]] under the supervision of [[Henry Ellis Daniels]], who was the then President of the [[Royal Statistical Society]]. He was honoured as a [[Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society]] and the [[Cambridge Philosophical Society]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Founder of the University|url=http://vidyasagar.ac.in/About/AKGayen.aspx|website=Vidyasagar University}}</ref>

Gain was the president of the statistics section of the [[Indian Science Congress Association]], as well as the head of the Department of Mathematics at the [[Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur]]. He later went on to found [[Vidyasagar University]], naming it after the famous social reformer of the [[Bengali Renaissance]], [[Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Deceased Fellow |url=http://insaindia.org/deceaseddetail.php?id=N660257 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518090521/http://insaindia.org/deceaseddetail.php?id=N660257 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2015-05-18 |website=Indian National Science Academy }}</ref>

== Early life ==
Anil Kumar Gain was born in a poor [[Bengali people|Bengali]] [[Mahishya]] family of a village named Lakkhi in [[Purba Medinipur district|Purba Medinipur]], [[West Bengal]], to Jibankrishna Gain and Panchami Devi.<ref name=":0" /> His father having died in his childhood, he and his siblings were brought up by his widowed mother under economic hardship. He started his education in an informal local school and was admitted to a formal school when he was eight. In his schooldays, he showed particular interest in [[English language|English]] and [[mathematics]], subjects he was primarily taught by his mother. Upon finishing school, he travelled to [[Kolkata]] to study mathematics from [[Surendranath College]], followed by a master's degree in [[applied mathematics]] from the [[Rajabazar Science College]], [[University of Calcutta]]. He was declared the University Gold Medalist for the year 1943.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Guha |first1=Abhijit |title=Forgotten Founder of a University |url=http://www.frontierweekly.com/articles/vol-45/45-9/45-9-A%20Forgotten%20Founder%20of%20a%20University.html |website=Frontier Weekly |access-date=15 September 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121001170647/http://www.frontierweekly.com/articles/vol-45/45-9/45-9-A%20Forgotten%20Founder%20of%20a%20University.html |archive-date=1 October 2012 }}</ref>

== Career ==
After briefly teaching at [[Presidency College, Calcutta|Presidency College]] and [[IIEST Shibpur|Bengal Engineering College]], Gain married Krishna Chongdar, the daughter of a famous and wealthy Bengali businessman. He travelled to [[England]] in 1947, to pursue his Ph.D. from the [[University of Cambridge]] in [[mathematical statistics]] – only to complete it in the year 1950. It was there that he met the famous [[Henry Ellis Daniels]], under whose supervision he wrote most of his papers. He also befriended [[Sir Ronald Fisher]] there, and spent much of his time working with him in the field of applied statistics.

After returning to India, he started teaching at the [[Indian Statistical Institute]] as well as the [[University of Calcutta]], and finally joined the [[Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur]], where he spent most of his remaining career. During his years at Kharagpur, he began to work on educational projects such as the [[NCERT|National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT)]] to reform the education sector in Bengal. This interest in revolutionizing education eventually led to the inception of Vidyasagar University,<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/6896647|title = Vidyasagar University: Its Objectives and Character by B.C.Mukherjee|journal = Short Communication|date = August 1987|last1 = Guha|first1 = Abhijit}}</ref> which he founded with the vision of having a non-traditional teaching and learning environment at the University level.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=https://www.academia.edu/7375855|title = Vidyasagar viswavidyalayer bismrita prothistata|date = April 2013|last1 = Guha|first1 = Abhijit}}</ref> The university was finally established by the [[University Grants Commission (India)]] under the Vidyasagar University Act of 1981.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Guha |first1=Abhijit |title=Forgotten Founder of a University |url=http://www.frontierweekly.com/articles/vol-45/45-9/45-9-A%20Forgotten%20Founder%20of%20a%20University.html |website=Frontier Weekly |access-date=15 September 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121001170647/http://www.frontierweekly.com/articles/vol-45/45-9/45-9-A%20Forgotten%20Founder%20of%20a%20University.html |archive-date=1 October 2012 }}</ref>

== Legacy and death ==

Due to his efforts to revolutionise education in Bengal, he became a key figure in the latter half of the [[Bengali Renaissance]], as well as a renowned scholar and academic. In 2012, Vidyasagar University announced the establishment of the ''Anil Kumar Gain Memorial Lecture'', in honour of his contributions to the university, and to Bengal as a whole.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Guha|first1=Abhijit|title=Foundation of Vidyasagar University|journal=Academia.edu|date=April 2013|url=https://www.academia.edu/7375855}}</ref> On 1 February 2019, Dr.Abhijit Guha, Former Professor of Anthropology, Vidyasagar University delivered the Anil Gayen Birth Centenary Memorial Lecture.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/38426101|title = News_ items_Statesman_A_K_Gayen_Birth_Centenary_Lecture(PDF).PDF|journal = Vu Celebrates Birth Centenary of Its Founder|last1 = Guha|first1 = Abhijit|date = January 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/38253453|title=Invitation_card_A.K._Gayen_Memorial_Lecture.PDF|journal=Invitation Card|last1=Guha|first1=Abhijit|date=January 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/38426077|title = ANIL KUMAR GAYEN BIRTH CENTENARY MEMORIAL LECTURE .PDF|journal = Abstract|last1 = Guha|first1 = Abhijit|date = January 2019}}</ref> An elaborate version of the lecture was published in South Asian Anthropologist.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354103974 |title=A Relook into the Mission of the Man Behind Vidyasagar University: An Autoethnography |date=August 2021 |first=Abhijit |last=Guha |via=[[ResearchGate]]}}</ref>

He died a week after his birthday, on 7 February 1978, of natural causes at his residence in Kolkata, India. His descendants still live in Kolkata, as well as abroad.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.veethi.com/india-people/anil_kumar_gain-profile-9296-28.htm|title=Anil Kumar Gain|website=veethi.com|access-date=2019-01-08}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gain, Anil Kumar}}
[[Category:1919 births]]
[[Category:1978 deaths]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Statistical Society]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge]]
[[Category:Surendranath College alumni]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Calcutta]]
[[Category:Indian fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian economists]]
[[Category:Medical doctors from Kolkata]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian educational theorists]]
[[Category:Founders of Indian schools and colleges]]
[[Category:Academics of the University of Cambridge]]
[[Category:Bengali mathematicians]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Vidyasagar University]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian statisticians]]

Anil Kumar Gain - Revision history

3muhammed4 at 07:11, 23 April 2026