The Department is the oldest centre of Mathematics in the north-western Subcontinent. It was founded by eminent Mathematician, Prof. W. H. Crank in 1864, after he took over as Officiating Principal of Government College Lahore. The Department maintained high standards ever since its inception. Celebrated Number Expert of the Subcontinent, Dr. S. Chawla was a Pre-partition old Ravain who later became Chairperson of the Department and served from 1935 to 1947. He conducted research in collaboration with leading Mathematicians of his time including C. Bose and Prof. Artin and his contributions were acknowledged by the American Mathematical Society.
The year 1966 marked the advent of a new era for the Department where Master Programme was launched independently at Government College Lahore, on the initiative of a competent teacher and administrator, Prof. L. M. Chawala, who had earlier launched the publication of the journal of "Natural Sciences and Mathematics" in 1961. An esteemed Ravian (session 1944-1946), a great mathematician of the 20th century, and later Chairperson, Department of Mathematics (1951- 1952), Prof. Salam earned international distinction by receiving over 20 prestigious awards, finally winning the Nobel Prize for Theoretical Physics in 1979.
During the last 82 years, the Department has had the following Professors as Chairpersons:
The torch of GCU continues to burn with the flame of the "Courage to Know" here at the Department of Mathematics. One of our recent graduates, Mr. Muhammad Ali Khan, has been awarded the lzaz-e-Sabqat, 2002 and the Rhodes Scholarship, 2003 for DPhil at the University of Oxford.
