Satyendra Nath Bose, an Indian mathematician
Satyendra Nath Bose (1 January 1894- 4 February 1974) was an Indian mathematician and physicist. He was honoured with Padma Vibhushan, in 1954.
His interests included physics, mathematics, chemistry, biology, mineralogy, philosophy, art, literature, and music. He joined many research and development committees in India.
Early Life
Satyendra Nath Bose was born on 1 January 1894, Kolkata, India. He completed his schooling at New Indian School, and in 1909, he completed his Matriculation. In 1913, he received his B.Sc. degree in mixed mathematics from Presidency College. Later, he received his M.Sc. degree from mixed mathematics Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee’s Science College, in 1915.
When Albert Einstein published two papers that changed physics in 1905 and being inspired of it, he joined as a researcher at Calcutta University’s Science College and studied relativity, in 1916. Physicists in Europe began exploring quantum theory a few years before Bose began researching.
After 5 years, in 1921, He joined the department of physics at Dhaka University, and helped improve the department’s infrastructure and curriculum.
He wrote a four-page paper titled “Planck’s Law and the Light Quantum Hypothesis” in 1924, which helped create quantum statistics. Einstein won the Nobel Prize in physics three years earlier, and Bose sent him a note in which he claimed to have developed “Planck’s law independently of classical electrodynamics.” In the letter, Bose said, “Though a stranger to you, I have no qualms about sending you this paper’’. “It’s like we’re all your students, but we benefit only from your writings.”
Einstein translated Bose’s papers “Planck’s Law” and “The Hypothesis of Light Quanta” into German and had them published in Zeitschrift für Physik under Bose’s name in 1924.
In 1925, Bose went to Europe. He spent a year in Paris. He worked in Madame Curie’s laboratory. He was also part of a campaign in France to end British rule in India by a group of Indian students. In Berlin he met Einstein, Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, and Erwin Schrödinger, some of the greatest physicists of the time.
After he returned to India, Bose became the head of the physics department at the University of Dhaka. The rest of his career was spent teaching and doing research in fields like X-ray spectroscopy, optical spectroscopy, and unified field theories. He returned to Calcutta before Partition and returned to the University of Calcutta, where he taught until 1956. He was later made vice-chancellor at Visva Bharati University. Besides physics, Bose liked to teach Bengali science.
Award
In 1954, he was honoured with the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second highest civilian award
Death
He died on 4 February 1974 Kolkata, India.
Read More; 31 December of Indian and World History
