| Great Scientists |
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| Biographies of Great Indians & Hindus |
Dr.J.C.BOSE |
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| The Young Scientist His Own
Smith, Too
Jagadishchandra Bose was back in India. He joined the staff of the Presidency College, Calcutta. There was a peculiar practice in that college. The Indian teachers in the college were paid one third of what the British teachers were paid! So Jagadishchandra Bose refused his salary but worked for three years. He could not even get the scientific instruments he needed for research. He was not shown the respect due to him. This did not continue for long. His deep knowledge zest for work and cultured behavior won over those in charge of the college. They saw to it that he was given the full salary of the post and not one-third. Teaching the same lessons year in and year out was very tedious to Bose. His was an alert mind, always on the look out for new ideas. He wanted to do research, to widen his knowledge and discover new things. A laboratory is necessary for research. Many scientific instruments are required. Jagadishchandra Bose had no laboratory and he did not have the instruments. But he was not disheartened. For eight or ten years he spent as little out of his salary as possible, lived a very strict life, saved money and bought a laboratory! Generally Marconi's name is associated with the invention of wireless. (This made possible the use of the radio.) Jagadish chandra Bose had also conducted independent research in the same field. Marconi was able to announce the result of his work and show how wirelesstelegraphy worked, earlier than Jagadishchandra Bose. So he is called 'the father of the radio'. In the year 1896 Bose wrote a research article on electro-magnetic waves. This impressed the Royal Society of England (which is famous all over the world). He was honoured with the Degree of Doctor of Science. He needed money to continue his work. Bengal,his homeland, came forward to bear the expenses. Those were days when the British Government would not help an Indian to go abroad for studies. Bose had the honour of getting encouragement even from the British Government. And he made excellent use of this. Bose became famous in the world of science. In India and in other countries there was a strong belief that only Westerners could achieve anything worthwhile in science. Bose proved this wrong concept. He showed that there were geniuses elsewhere too. He visited England again, this time to explain his discoveries to the scientists of the West. Bose needed scientific equipment. But the instruments he needed were not available. But this did not hamper his work. Early in his life he had learnt to make hisequipment with his own hands. The scientific instruments he took to England were those he himself had made. Electricity was then his special field of work. He had successfully worked at transmitting electro-magnetic waves from one place to another. He had determined the type of instruments required both at the transmitting end and at the receiving end; he had found out what the distance should be between these two ends. He was using the instruments he had himself made. Bose demonstrated his discoveries at the Royal Society in England. The gathering of scientists were profoundly impressed. They praised this achievement as a singular one from a citizen of India. Our country was until then famous only as the home of philosophy and religion. Bose won respect for Indians in science too. The renowned papers of London namely 'The Spectator' and 'The Times' were all praise for this Indian scientist. For, without proper facilities and with the available material, Bose had achieved wonderful results and he had done his research along with his teaching work. |
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