New Delhi: Indian polymath Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose had an interest in several things like physics, biology, botany and writing science fiction. In the investigation of radio microwave optics, Bose was a pioneer. He made major contributions to botany and played one of the crucial roles in experimental science’s expansion in the Indian subcontinent.
Apart from being a scientist, Bose also dabbled in writing and is hailed as the father of Bengali science fiction. A crater on the Moon was named in his honour and he was the founder of the Bose Institute, one of the premier research institutes in India. It was founded in 1917 and the institute was Asia’s first interdisciplinary research centre. Today is the death anniversary of Bose, one of the greatest names in the field of science in India.
Bose, Presidency and Radio
Born on November 30, 1858, in Mymensingh which was then in Bengal Presidency, Jagadish Chandra Bose wanted to be a civil servant like his father. But it was his father who forbade it. After completing his education, Bose became an officiating professor of physics at Presidency College. At that time, the salaries of Indian professors were much lower than that of European professors. Bose, out of protest, worked without remuneration for the first three years at Presidency College. His teaching style and demonstration of experiments were popular among the students.
Bose developed an interest in radio after the publication of British physicist Oliver Lodge’s demonstrations on how to transmit and detect radio waves in 1894. Over the subsequent years, his works regarding radio waves garnered attention from many eminent inventors and scientists. Bose’s work in radio microwave optics included its study and he never tried to develop radio as a mode of communication. Bose was the first person who used a semiconductor junction to detect radio waves and invented several microwave components which are now commonplace.
Plants have feelings
Bose was a pioneer in plant physiology and he used the crescograph, his invention to measure plant response to various stimuli. He established parallelism between animal and plant tissues. He built automatic recorders which could register extremely slight movements and they produced some striking results, such as quivering of injured plants. Bose interpreted it as plants having feelings. He passed away on November 23, 1937, at the age of 78.
Apart from being a scientist, Bose also dabbled in writing and is hailed as the father of Bengali science fiction. A crater on the Moon was named in his honour. knowledge Knowledge News, Photos and Videos on General Knowledge
