The impressive tradition of the Department of Mathematics derives its roots from the east which predates the formation of the post graduate department. Encompassed within the tradition are names such as P. L. Bhatnagar, J. N. Kapur, A. N. Mitra, and B. R. Seth, all of whom distinguished themselves by their teaching and research and who later carved out major roles for themselves on the Indian mathematical scenario even though they were not directly associated with the post-graduate department.

The post-graduate department was set up in 1947. It was fortunate to have Professor Ram Behari as its first head. Prof. Ram Behari was an eminent mathematician who specialised in the important field of Differential Geometry.

He can be credited with having started the tradition of research in Differential Geometry, one of the first disciplines in pure mathematics to have been pursued in the department. He guided a number of research scholars and established the high traditions of teaching in the department. During his tenure, in 1957, the department also initiated an M.A./M.Sc. program in Mathematical Statistics and the department was designated as the Department of Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics.

In 1962, the department was given a formidable push when a distinguished mathematician, Prof. R. S. Verma, assumed the responsibilities of the head. It was entirely due to his dynamism and academic breadth that research activities in the department blossomed in several directions such as Operational Research, Information Theory, Coding Theory, Space Dynamics and in Complex Analysis. The first master’s program in Operational Research in the country was started in this department under his leadership. This was even before any university in the U.K. and in several other advanced countries had done so. Since the activities and the courses in the department were now so wide and varied the department was enlarged into the Faculty of Mathematics at the initiative of Professor R. S. Verma.

In 1970, another distinguished mathematician, Prof. U. N. Singh, was appointed the Head of the Department and the Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics. He provided the department with the requisite strength and depth in the core areas of mathematics. He created strong research in Functional Analysis, Harmonic Analysis, and in Operator Theory. During his stewardship of the department, several distinguished mathematicians from all over the globe began to visit the department regularly and the department can be said to have attained full maturity. He foresaw the need to have separate departments within the overall set-up of the Faculty of Mathematics and thus were created, in 1973, the Department of Mathematics, the Department of Statistics, the Department of Operational Research and the Department of Computer Science. The Faculty of Mathematics was re-designated as the Faculty of Mathematical Sciences.