Jagadish Chandra Bose

Microwave Apparatus - Jagadish Chandra Bose Museum - Bose Institute - Kolkata 2011-07-26 4051

Jagadish Chandra Bose microwave apparatus

M N Saha, J C Bose, J C Ghosh, Snehamoy Dutt, S N Bose, D M Bose, N R Sen, J N Mukherjee, N C Nag

Jagadish Chandra Bose 1926

Acharya Bhavan - Kolkata 2009-11-07 2938

Jagadish Chandra Bose (30 November 1858 – 23 November 1937) was a pioneering Bengali physicist, biologist, botanist, and archaeologist. He is best known for his work in the field of radio and plant physiology. Bose made significant contributions to the study of radio waves, and he is considered one of the fathers of radio science. His research in plant physiology led to the invention of the crescograph, an instrument that measures the growth of plants. Bose's work transcended the boundaries of physics, biology, and botany, making him a polymath and a pioneer in interdisciplinary science.

Early Life and Education

Jagadish Chandra Bose was born in Mymensingh (now in Bangladesh) in 1858. He received his early education in a vernacular school in Bengal and later attended St. Xavier's College, Kolkata, where he was exposed to the works of Michael Faraday and James Clerk Maxwell. Inspired by their work, Bose decided to pursue science. He went to London to study medicine at the University of London, but due to health problems, he switched to physics and received a B.Sc. degree from the University of London.

Career and Contributions

After returning to India, Bose joined the Presidency College in Kolkata as a professor of physics. There, he conducted his pioneering research on radio waves, simultaneously with, but independently of, Guglielmo Marconi in Europe. Bose was the first to use semiconductor junctions to detect radio waves, and he demonstrated the use of galena detectors for receiving signals. This work laid the foundation for the invention of the radio.

In addition to his work in radio science, Bose made significant contributions to the field of plant physiology. He was fascinated by the responses of plants to external stimuli and invented several instruments, including the crescograph, to measure plant response to various stimuli. His experiments demonstrated that plants are sensitive to light, chemicals, and various other factors, which was a revolutionary idea at the time.

Bose also made contributions to the field of archaeology and Bengali literature, and he was a proponent of the use of native languages for scientific instruction.

Legacy

Jagadish Chandra Bose's interdisciplinary work has had a lasting impact on several fields of science. He is remembered as a pioneer in the study of radio and plant physiology. The Jagadish Chandra Bose National Science Talent Search (JBNSTS) scholarship program and the Jagadish Chandra Bose Institute in Kolkata are named in his honor, continuing his legacy of promoting science education in India.

Bose was also a visionary in the field of scientific research, advocating for open communication of ideas and against patenting scientific discoveries. His belief in the unity of life and the study of nature as a whole has inspired generations of scientists.

Selected Works

• Response in the Living and Non-Living (1902)
• Plant Response as a Means of Physiological Investigation (1906)
• Researches on Irritability of Plants (1913)
• The Nervous Mechanism of Plants (1926)

Awards and Honors

Jagadish Chandra Bose was knighted in 1917 for his contributions to science. Although he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physics, he never received the award. His legacy is celebrated in India and around the world, with numerous awards, scholarships, and institutions named in his honor.