One of the greatest minds to have worked with Einstein
One of the early writers of science fiction, Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose was primarily a biologist, physicist, and botanist. Bose is the pioneer in the investigation of radio and microwave optics and has made a significant contribution to plant science. Adding to his contribution to the field of science, he invented the crescograph device for measuring the growth of plants. Here are some interesting facts about Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose.
Bose had a B.A. degree from the University of Cambridge, a BSc degree from the University of London, and a DSc from the University College London.
In 1896 he wrote the short story NiruddesherKahini - The Story of the Missing One - which is one of the first works of Bengali science fiction. The story is translated into English by Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay.
Bose is also considered to be the first person to study the action of microwaves in plant tissue. He constructed automatic recorders that can register even minute movements in plants, for instance, they will quiver if injured. Bose termed them as a power of feeling.
The physicist is also the first person to detect radio waves using a semiconductor junction and the first person to invent various microwave components.
He has also made one of the biggest contributions by exhibiting the electrical nature of the conduction of various stimuli in plants. This electric nature was otherwise earlier thought to be of chemical nature.
There is a crater on the moon that is named after the biologist. Bose is a lunar impact crater that is located in the southern sphere hemisphere of the moon.
Many of the original equipment used by Sir Bose is still in existence at the Bose Institute in Kolkata. There exists a 1.3 mm multi-beam receiver that is currently used on the NRAO 12 Metre Telescope, Arizona that incorporates concepts from Bose’s original 1897 papers.
Interesting fact, Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose had anticipated the existence of P-type and N-type semiconductors.
In his further understanding of the behaviour of plants, Bose studied the plant's heliotropic movements, the movement of a plant towards a light source. To that end, he invented a torsional recorder and Bose’s discovery led to finding that light applied to one side of the sunflower caused turgor to increase on the opposite side.
Sir Bose established the Bose Institute in 1917 in Kolkata and served as its Director for the first 20 years until his death. Today the Bose Institute is one of the oldest public research institutes in India.
