Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose (30 November 1858 – 23 November 1937) was a Bengali polymath, physicist, biologist, biophysicist, botanist and archaeologist, and an early writer of science fiction. He pioneered the investigation of radio and microwave optics, made extremely significant contributions to plant science, and laid the foundations of experimental science in the Indian subcontinent.
Bose is widely considered a pioneer of wireless communication:
- He was the first to use semiconductor junctions to detect radio signals.
- He pioneered the study of millimeter-wave radio frequencies, generating waves down to 5 mm in wavelength.
- The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) named him one of the fathers of radio science.
In 1917, he established the Bose Institute in Calcutta, the first modern scientific research institute in India, serving as its director until his death.
Early Life and Education
Bose was born in Mymensingh (now in Bangladesh) to Bhagawan Chandra Bose, a leader of the Brahmo Samaj and a deputy magistrate. Bhagawan Chandra wanted his son to learn his native tongue and culture before foreign languages, so Jagadish studied in a traditional vernacular school (Pathsala) before joining St. Xavier’s School and College in Calcutta.
Bose went to England in 1880 to study medicine at London University but had to withdraw due to ill health (chronic fever). He then secured a scholarship to study Natural Science at Christ’s College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a Natural Sciences Tripos, and completed a BSc from the University of London in 1884.
Scientific Contributions
Upon returning to India, Bose joined Presidency College, Calcutta, as a professor of physics. He faced severe racial discrimination, being offered only one-third of the salary of British professors. Bose protested by refusing to accept any salary for three years, while continuing his teaching duties flawlessly, until the college administration relented and paid him full retro-active salary.
1. Pioneer of Radio and Microwave Optics
Between 1894 and 1896, Bose conducted pioneering research in electromagnetic waves.
- In a public demonstration at the Town Hall of Calcutta in November 1895, Bose transmitted electromagnetic waves through walls and activated a receiver that fired a pistol and rang a bell over a distance of 75 feet.
- He invented the Iron-Mercury-Iron Coherer, a semiconductor receiver that detected radio waves.
- Although Guglielmo Marconi received the Nobel Prize and patents for commercializing wireless telegraphy, historical files confirm that Bose had pioneered these microwave transmissions prior to Marconi’s public successes. Bose, however, deeply opposed commercializing science and refused to patent his inventions, making them free for the global scientific community.
2. Plant Physiology and Response to Stimuli
Bose shifted his research from physics to biophysics, studying how plants respond to external stimuli (electrical currents, light, temperature, and chemicals).
He invented the Crescograph, an incredibly sensitive instrument capable of magnifying plant movements and growth by up to 10,000 times. Using the crescograph, Bose proved that plants possess a sensitive nervous system and respond to stimuli in a manner very similar to animal tissues, feeling pain, fatigue, and exhibiting spasm-like responses at death.
Literary Contributions
Bose is considered the father of Bengali science fiction. In 1896, he wrote the short story “Niruddesher Kahini” (The Story of the Missing One), which depicts how a bottle of hair oil was used to calm a massive cyclone in the ocean using surface tension principles. The story was later expanded and published in his essay collection Abyakta (1921).