Jagadish Chandra Bose
Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose[1] CSI CIE FRS[2][3][4] (/boʊs/;[5] IPA: [dʒɔɡodiʃ tʃɔndro boʃu]; 30 November 1858 – 23 November 1937)[6] was a polymath with interests in biology, physics, botany and writing science fiction.[7] He was a pioneer in the investigation of radio microwave optics, made significant contributions to botany, and was a major force behind the expansion of experimental science on the Indian subcontinent.[8] Bose is considered the father of Bengali science fiction. A crater on the Moon was named in his honour.[9] He founded the Bose Institute, a premier research institute in India and also one of its oldest. Established in 1917, the institute was the first interdisciplinary research centre in Asia.[10] He served as the Director of Bose Institute from its inception until his death.
Jagadish Chandra Bose
30 November 1858
23 November 1937 (aged 78)
Microwave radio research
Crystal detector
Crescograph
Contributions to botany
Companion of The Order of the Indian Empire (CIE) (1903)
Companion of the Order of the Star of India (CSI) (1911)
Knight Bachelor (1917)
Born in Mymensingh, Bengal Presidency (present-day Bangladesh), during British governance of India,[6] Bose graduated from St. Xavier's College, Calcutta (now Kolkata, West Bengal, India). Prior to his enrollment at St. Xavier's College, Calcutta, Bose attended Dhaka Collegiate School, where he began his educational journey. He attended the University of London to study medicine, but had to give it up due to health problems. Instead, he conducted research with Nobel Laureate, Lord Rayleigh at the University of Cambridge. Bose returned to India to join the Presidency College of the University of Calcutta as a professor of physics. There, despite racial discrimination and a lack of funding and equipment, Bose carried on his scientific research. He made progress in his research into radio waves in the microwave spectrum and was the first to use semiconductor junctions to detect radio waves.
Bose made pioneering discoveries in plant physiology. He used his own invention, the crescograph, to measure plant response to various stimuli and proved parallelism between animal and plant tissues. Bose filed for a patent for one of his inventions because of peer pressure, but he was generally critical of the patent system. To facilitate his research, he constructed automatic recorders capable of registering extremely slight movements; these instruments produced some striking results, such as quivering of injured plants, which Bose interpreted as a power of feeling in plants. His books include Response in the Living and Non-Living (1902) and The Nervous Mechanism of Plants (1926). He spent the last years of his life in Giridih. Here he lived in the house located near Jhanda Maidan. This building was named Jagdish Chandra Bose Smriti Vigyan Bhavan. It was inaugurated on 28 February 1997 by then Governor of Bihar AR Kidwai. In a 2004 BBC poll to name the Greatest Bengali of all time, Bose placed seventh.[11]
Science fiction[edit]
In 1896, Bose wrote Niruddesher Kahini (The Story of the Missing One), a short story that was later expanded and added to Abyakta (অব্যক্ত) collection in 1921 with the new title Palatak Tuphan (Runaway Sea-Storm). It was one of the first works of Bengali science fiction.[40][41]
Personal views[edit]
Philosophical views[edit]
Jatras, which were popular ancient plays, sparked his interest in the stories of the Mahabharata and Ramayana. In the latter, he was particularly impressed by the character of Rama and even more so by the soldierly devotion of his brother Lakshmana.[44] However, he found that most of the characters in these stories seemed too good and perfect. It was the elderly warriors of the Mahabharata, with their flaws and qualities that were both human and superhuman, who appealed more to his imagination as a boy.
Impressed by Karna, Bose said:
Journals
Books
Other