Professor Shonku

• Abinash Majumdar (Abinash babu) – the completely non-scientific neighbor and friend of Shonku who never understands the magnitude of Shonku's scientific breakthroughs and often finds them humiliating, amusing or insignificant.
• Nakur Chandra Biswas — a man with the supernatural power of predicting the future which he acquired from a ball lightning incident. He lives in Makarda.
• Jeremy Saunders - a British geologist residing in London (as mentioned in Swarnapurnee).
• Wilhelm Krol - a German anthropologist with interests in paranormal activities who is quite unmindful (as described in Ekshringo Abhijan).
• John Summerville - a British scientist.
• Prohlad - Shonku's trusted servant and housekeeper for about 27 years..
• Newton - Shonku's long time pet cat, his age is 24...due to shonku's medicines

He has his own laboratory there in his house in Giridih where he researches for loads of new and fantastic inventions.

His extraordinary inventions are:

• Miracurall – A drug that cures any ailment, the name is a short form of Miracle Cure for All Ailments.
• Annihillin – A pistol capable of annihilating (vanishing or vapourizing) anything that is living, invented because Shonku does not like bloodshed. It does not work on non living things (according to Shonku'r Congo Abhijan).
• Shankoplane – A small hovercraft created using anti-gravity technology, capable of vertical take-off and landing and magnificent mileage.
• Shankovite – The anti-gravity alloy by which Shankoplane was made.
• Shankoplast – Wonderful plastic.
• Shankalon – A variation of Shankoplast.
• Omniscope  – A combination of telescope, microscope and X-ray-scope which looks like and can be worn as spectacles.
• Air-conditioning pill – A capsule to be kept in shirt pocket, that keeps the body temperature normal in extremes of climate.
• Somnolin – A sleeping pill that will work in any condition.
• Evolutin – A drug that makes people evolve 10 thousand years in 5 minutes.
• Compudium – Short for Computerized Medium, a device to contact departed souls.[3]
• RememBrain – A device that makes people remember the things they forgot.
• Bidhusekhar – A mechanical man(robot) with AI built with very cheap materials, programmed to answer any question asked to it.
• Linguagraph – A device that translates any earth language to any other. The translation capability is supposed to include animal languages, and works on cats, plants, ants and even viruses too. However, it does not work to translate speech of aliens.
• Compu – A computer brain with 10 crore delicate circuit in it. Designed by Shonku along with Matsue, Dr. John Kenseli, Dr. Stephen Merivel, Dr.Stavs, Dr. Ugatti, Prof. Sttraton, Prof. Kutna, Prof. Markus Wingfield (as a replacement of S.Merivel) and the workers of Namura Institute of Japan, which later develops AI via an accident.
• Intellectron – A device to measure intelligence.
• Ornithon – A device to educate birds. Professor Shonku was able to "educate" a crow named Corvus using this device.
• Snuff Gun – A gun that causes snuffing for thirty three hours.
• Pill for Nightmare – Causes sleep and makes the taker have terrible nightmares.
• Fishpill – Space food for cats.
• Rocket – A rocket for space adventures.
• Botica Indica – A pill made from sap of Banyan tree to ward off need of food and water for 24 hours.
• Special Room Fresher – A room fresher made up of 36 different flower essence.
• Mangorange – A hybrid tree with characteristics of both mango and orange.Bengali name, 'Amla'(Aam + kamla).
• Invisibility Drug – A special drug to make living things invisible for at least 10 hours.
• Carbothin Fabric – A fabric which is non-conductor of electricity and saves from electrical shocks. Shonku made shirts and jackets out of it.
• Tiraniam Phosphate – A very strong and dangerous acid.
• Annihilin Acid – Most powerful and dangerous acid ever invented by Shonku.
• Carbo diabolic acid
• Nitro Annihilin Acid
• Foro Sotanic acid
• Polar Ripelion Theory
• Neo-Spectroscope – A device to contact departed souls. Almost similar to Compudium.
• Untitled drug to increase smelling power
• EA(A small specimen of all evolution forms of human) – Along with German Biochemist Hambolt.
• Luminimax – A small ball to give light of 200 watt power when ignited.
• Oximore powder – Powder to help intake of Oxygen at higher altitudes.
• Camerapid – Instant color photographs after snap.
• An alchemical liquid to transform living things to pure gold – Recreated along with Krol and Saunders following the process of Savedra the alchemist.
• Nervigour – A tonic to steady nervous system.
• X and anti X – Drug to change nature of both human and animals. The same drug was invented by Dr. Danieli.
• Time machine – Attempted to build.
• Tried to contact Extraterrestrial life
• Shonku – Frankenstein Formula – Along with other scientists, Shonku invented to bring back the dead to life without changing their brains.
• Electric pistol – A pistol to fire 400 volts electricity.
• Ceribrilliant – Medicine to make brain function better way.
• Marjarin – Medicine for increasing life span of cats.
• Ointment to protect from insect bite especially mosquito and barracuda fly
• Anesthesium – Tranquiler gun, jet spraying semi liquid paralytic agent.
• Mangorange fruit – A delicious and nutritious variety of hybrid of Mango and Orange, it earned him a doctorate from Swedish academy of sciences.
• Trishnasok – A thirst quencher pill.
• Tea and coffee pills
• Turbolin – A sandal-scented fuel for Shonkoplane.
• Artificial Diamond - Created along with Krol and Siddique following the process of Nefrudet.
• Microsonograph - Machine to hear subsonic sounds and speeches.

Professor Shonku had many adventures, in both real and fantastical places, some with historical leanings and some with great revelations connected to human civilisation.

Excerpts of some interesting adventures follow:

• Professor Shonku o Khoka:

A child who otherwise used to be normal, has "changed" after he fell and hurt his head. Once happy and normal, this child has become melancholy and speaks things which the parents do not follow and term as gibberish. The parents desperately seek help to get their boy back. A doctor finally suggests to see Shonku. Although initially Shonku was reluctant to see this boy as practicing medicines is not his profession — after he sees the boy it soon becomes obvious that this is indeed an extraordinary case worthy of his attention. What appeared as gibberish to his parents were actually meaningful facts which should normally be well beyond his or many other peoples reach, spoken in many different languages which the child had no way to learn. He also demonstrates psychic ability, where the flash of a camera stops working after he declares he does not want to be pictured but the reporter insists. Although the child seems to be omniscient, he appears sad and detached from the material world. The story ends when the child concocts a potion by mixing several very dangerous chemicals and acids, some of which were Shonku's own inventions, and gulps it down before Shonku had a chance to stop him. A short period of unconsciousness follows, after which the child wakes up as his normal old self. He then makes friends with Shonku, states he has no memory of things which happened in the last few days, and even asks for chocolates.

• Professor Shonku o Har:

Professor Shonku meets a fakir who has this ability to re-animate a living thing from its bones. Shonku tries to investigate,and to do so, he records the spell using his recorder, which enrages the fakir and causes him to curse Shonku. Later in his life, Shonku along with an assistant discovers the remains of a dinosaur in a cave. The curse starts to take effect and the dinosaur comes back to life.

• Professor Shonku o Golok Rahasya:

Shonku gets hold of a mysterious sphere which changes its color spontaneously and emanates various sounds. In fact, the sphere is a planet from another solar system and it has brought extraterrestrial life along.

Shonku holding Newton (on left)

• Swapnadwip:

The Professor is haunted by a repeating dream where he along, with his friends, are stranded on a beautiful exotic island without any inhabitants. His friends also experience the same dream. It is as if the mysterious island is beckoning great scientists of the world to it.The plants seep people's intelligence and attracts their attaintion using dreams..!

• Ek Shringo Abhijan:

Shonku goes to Tibet, to find out about a Unicorn which is reported to be seen there. In the adventure, Shonku discovers a place where everybody's dreams come true... a Utopia.

• Mahakasher doot:

Shonku tries to prove that human civilization has prospered thanks to the help of some alien civilisation that comes to Earth every 5000 years and teaches them something extraordinary. What are they going to reveal this time?

• Nakurbabu o El Dorado:

Nokurbabu has the ability to make others see what he is thinking. He and Shonku are caught in a chain of events that lead them to the deep jungles of South America where El Dorado has always eluded discovery.

• Professor Shonku o UFO:

Several sightings of UFOs makes headlines worldwide. However, this news is outdone by the news of the demolition of some of the greatest monuments of mankind. The Eiffel Tower and the Angkor Wat are destroyed, and the aliens are blamed. Nokurbabu joins Shonku and other scientists who discover that the UFO has its base in the Gobi desert. They find the UFO and go aboard. They are captured immediately, not by the aliens, but by a mad scientist who is the present owner of the UFO and who is in fact the destroyer of the monuments, driven because he was denied his due honour in the scientific community. His next target is the Taj Mahal.

• Swarnaparnee:

This is the story of a young Shonku and the invention of his Miracurall and the time when he visited Germany on the eve of World War II. A fascinating story about how Shonku went on to meet Hermann Göring and finally evaded the Nazis.

• Professor Shonku New Script, Calcutta 1965.
• Professor Shonkur Kandokarkhana (Professor Shonku's Deeds). Ananda Publishers, Calcutta 1970.
• Shabash Professor Shonku (Bravo Professor Shonku). Ananda Publishers, Calcutta 1974.
• Mahasankatey Shonku (Shonku in Deep Peril). Ananda Publishers, Calcutta 1977.
• Swayang Professor Shonku (None other than Professor Shonku). Ananda Publishers, Calcutta 1980.
• Shonku Ekai Aksho (Shonku, All in All). Ananda Publishers, Calcutta 1983.
• Punashcha Professor Shonku (Shonku once again). Ananda Publishers, Calcutta 1993.
• Selam Professor Shonku (Hats off, Professor Shonku). Ananda Publishers, Calcutta, 1995.
• Shonku Samagra (Complete Shonku collection) Ananda Publishers, Kolkata January 2002, ISBN 81-7756-232-0

• Satyajit Ray
• Bengali science fiction
• Professor Shonku (short story collection)
• List of Professor Shonku adventures
• Feluda
• Feluda in film
• Kakababu
• Kakababu in other media
• Byomkesh Bakshi
• Byomkesh Bakshi in other media
• Culture of Bengal
• Culture of West Bengal
• Bengali literature
• History of Bengali literature
• List of Bengali-language authors (chronological)

• Information on Professor Shonku at SatyajitRay.org
• Professor Shonku by Satyajit Ray at FreeBookHouse.