Jagadish Chandra Bose

Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose was an Indian <a href="/facts/Polymath/eqIfjQRu">polymath</a> with interests in <a href="/facts/Biology/1M1ee3pB">biology</a>, <a href="/facts/Physics/a7aH2y08">physics</a> and writing science fiction. He was a pioneer in the investigation of radio <a href="/facts/Microwave/HmVSN31Y">microwave</a> <a href="/facts/Optics/p0vq4S1T">optics</a>, made significant contributions to botany, and was a major force behind the expansion of experimental science on the <a href="/facts/Indian_subcontinent/0XUWGXpx">Indian subcontinent</a>. Bose is considered the father of <a href="/facts/Bengali_science_fiction/2fjsaCTL">Bengali science fiction</a>. <a href="/facts/Bose_(crater)/pEVe6TCH">A crater on the Moon</a> was named in his honour. He founded the <a href="/facts/Bose_Institute/JWR9jmEU">Bose Institute</a>, 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. He served as the Director of Bose Institute from its inception until his death.
Born in <a href="/facts/Mymensingh/BuDIjfKg">Mymensingh</a>, <a href="/facts/Bengal_Presidency/YXqP1CF0">Bengal Presidency</a> (present-day <a href="/facts/Bangladesh/NXk4f78Y">Bangladesh</a>), during <a href="/facts/British_Raj/hBe6wvPS">British governance of India</a>, Bose graduated from <a href="/facts/St._Xavier%2527s_College%2c_Calcutta/3H29Ak5h">St. Xavier's College, Calcutta</a> (now <a href="/facts/Kolkata%2c_West_Bengal/k0HVgEYm">Kolkata, West Bengal</a>, India). Prior to his enrollment at St. Xavier's College, Calcutta, Bose attended <a href="/facts/Pabna_Zilla_School/qHKG2xhd">Pabna Zilla School</a> and <a href="/facts/Dhaka_Collegiate_School/rACx7DRW">Dhaka Collegiate School</a>, where he began his educational journey. He attended the <a href="/facts/University_of_London/spIRAx9B">University of London</a> to study medicine, but had to give it up due to health problems. Instead, he conducted research with <a href="/facts/Nobel_Laureate/3vGWzdwa">Nobel Laureate</a>, <a href="/facts/Lord_Rayleigh/HcJyYdk5">Lord Rayleigh</a> at the <a href="/facts/University_of_Cambridge/0la7aX9o">University of Cambridge</a>. Bose returned to India to join the <a href="/facts/Presidency_College%2c_Kolkata/scBI67K7">Presidency College</a> of the <a href="/facts/University_of_Calcutta/CjjFrJnT">University of Calcutta</a> as a professor of physics. There, despite <a href="/facts/Racial_discrimination/JtyIAgmR">racial discrimination</a> 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 <a href="/facts/Semiconductor/zFf3mGTE">semiconductor</a> junctions to detect radio waves.
Bose made pioneering discoveries in plant physiology. He used his own invention, the <a href="/facts/Crescograph/ahFKEwdy">crescograph</a>, to measure plant response to various <a href="/facts/Stimulus_(physiology)/aBcpBfYQ">stimuli</a> 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 <a href="/facts/Criticism_of_patents/n3paIY6Y">critical of the patent system</a>. 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 <a href="/facts/Plant_perception_(physiology)/xl6D3ouD">power of feeling in plants</a>. His books include Response in the Living and Non-Living (1902) and The Nervous Mechanism of Plants (1926). In a 2004 <a href="/facts/BBC/qFateIz8">BBC</a> poll to name the <a href="/facts/Greatest_Bengali_of_All_Time/UJxHTWEq">Greatest Bengali of All Time</a>, Bose placed seventh.

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Jagadish Chandra Bose