The Multi-faceted Indian Scientist :Sir Jagdish Chandra Bose

The Multi-faceted Indian Scientist :Sir Jagdish Chandra Bose

Humans are considered as the best and the wisest creation of God. The earth was created with various other flora, fauna and microorganisms living on it. When God created human, he gifted them with ability to think, intellect and a sense of understanding. He wanted the earth to be a harmonious place and so humans were made as the smartest creatures to take care of the world. The humans didn’t fail in this. They try their best to make Earth a better place by understanding the world and things around, be it living or nonliving, mobile or immobile!

Jagdish Chandra Bose was one such eminent personality who not only helped the world by contributing his achievements in the field of science but he also studied the life of plants and animals! Bose brought to the world, the fact that just like humans the plants also have emotions and feelings. The plants breathe and even they die. He said that both plants and animals have various features which are similar to the human beings.

Born on 30th November 1858, in Mymensingh situated in Bengal Province (present day Bangladesh), Bose belonged to a family of Brahmo Samaj. His father Bhagaban Chandra Bose, a Deputy Magistrate wanted him not to pursue Western education but to learn in their mother tongue. This was the reason for him joining a vernacular school where they taught in Bengali language. In 1879, he finished his graduation from an English medium college in Calcutta.

Jagdish Chandra Bose was a brilliant student. To learn further, he went to England. In 1882, he joined Christ’s college in Cambridge to study natural science. After acquiring degrees in fields of natural science, Bose returned back to India and started his career. He joined Presidency College, Calcutta as the professor of Physics. But he was not a person to teach the same thing year after year and so in 1894, Jagdish realised that his interest is more towards research and finding new things.

Bose started his journey in the field of research with the discovery of electromagnetic waves. For this achievement, he was awarded with the Degree of Doctor in Science by the Royal Society of England. He also found the working of wireless telegraphy, but since he was late in announcing his discovery, Marconi was given the honour ‘Father of Radio’. He devised an instrument called ‘Coherer’ to detect and measure the radio waves.

One of the greatest discoveries of J. C. Bose was about plants. He revealed a big fact about plants. Just like humans, the plants also feel the pain. There are various systems within a plant just like the human body has with the help of which they live and function. The plants are immobile but there are a lot of movements happening within it.

For proving his point, on 10th May, 1901, Bose did an experiment. He took a plant whose stem were carefully taken out. The stem was soaked in hydrobromic acid solution. Crescograph was the instrument designed by him to record the pulse of the plant and showed it with the help of a spot.

Electrical signals were passed through the plant cell and the movement of the spot was noticed. Bromine is a poisonous element and when signals were passed through the cell, the spot started moving. The movement was first like a pendulum but after some minutes, the spot started vibrating more vigorously and then it stopped moving. The static position of the spot indicated the death of the plant cell due to poisonous bromide.

The successful proving of Bose’s discovery showed that even plants have life and they also feel like humans do. Later, using his crescograph, Bose researched on effect of fertilizers, pesticides and light rays on plants. His tremendous contribution in the field of natural science has given a new direction to it.

Bose wrote various books on account of his research. Some of them include ‘Response in the Living and Nonliving’ (1902), ‘The Nervous Mechanism of Plants’ (1926), etc. Jagdish Chandra Bose was a legend and an inspiration to millions of youth and students who will bring science to a new level in the future!

Major Contributions and Achievements of Sir. J.C. Bose

• Sir. Jagadish Chandra Bose has been the unsung hero of Radio Communication. He was the first to invent Mercury Coherer which was used in Marconi’s Radio receiver. And Marconi got all the credits for Radio communication.
• He became a pioneer in multimedia communication by conducting the first communication experiments in 1895.
• In 1985 he presented his first paper which was on ‘The polarisation of Electric Rays by Double Reflecting Crystals’ before the Asiatic society of Bengal.
• In 1896 his paper was published by Royal Society of London.
• His interest in Biophysics made him work on plants and its behaviour. And J.C.Bose was the first person to suggest that plants too can feel the pain and understand affection.
• Bose did extensive work on Plants, cell membrane, their tissues and their behaviour to the electrical stimulus. He invented Crescograph for recording plants growth.
• In 1896, Bose wrote a science fiction named “Niruddesher Kahini” (The story of Missing One). And this book was the first Bengali Science fiction.
• Bose was least interested in patenting his inventions, this is the main reason for not getting credits for his work on wireless Communication.
• In 1917. Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose established Bose Institute, which became famous centre for learning and research in the field of Physics, Chemistry, Plant Biology, Microbiology, Biochemistry, Bioinformatics, Biophysics and environmental science.
• In 1903, J.C.Bose was made Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire and in 1912, Companion of the Star of India for his immense contribution in the field of Science.
• He became Knight Bachelor in 1917. And President of 14^th session of Indian Science Congress.
• He became the founding fellow of the National Institute of Science of India.
• In 1958, Indian government issued postal stamp with his portrait on it.
• J.B. Bose’s work on millimetre band radio was recognised as an IEEE milestone in Electrical and Computer Engineering on 14 September 2012.
• On 25 June 2009, Indian Botanical garden was renamed as Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic garden.

Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic garden
Archeologist
Asiatic society of Bengal
Biologist
Biophysicist
Bose Institute
Botanist
Christ College Cambridge
Companion of the Star of India
Crescograph
Electromagnetic waves
Gyanpro
GyanPro Blogs
IEEE milestone
Indian Science Congress
Indianscientist
J.C.Bose
Knight Bachelor
Marconi
Mercury Coherer
National Institute of Science of India
Niruddesher Kahini
Order of the Indian Empire
Physicist
Polymath
Response in the Living and Nonliving
Royal Society of England
Royal Society of London
ScienceArticle
The Nervous Mechanism of Plants
The polarization of Electric Rays by Double Reflecting Crystals
Wireless Telegraphy
Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic garden
Archeologist
Asiatic society of Bengal
Biologist
Biophysicist
Bose Institute
Botanist
Christ College Cambridge
Companion of the Star of India
Crescograph
Electromagnetic waves
Gyanpro
GyanPro Blogs
IEEE milestone
Indian Science Congress
Indianscientist
J.C.Bose
Knight Bachelor
Marconi
Mercury Coherer
National Institute of Science of India
Niruddesher Kahini
Order of the Indian Empire
Physicist
Polymath
Response in the Living and Nonliving
Royal Society of England
Royal Society of London
ScienceArticle
The Nervous Mechanism of Plants
The polarization of Electric Rays by Double Reflecting Crystals
Wireless Telegraphy