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“The true laboratory is the mind, where behind illusions we uncover the laws of truth”
Professor Jagadish Chandra Bose
“Across the oceans, on the western shore,
Reigns the temple of Goddess
Of wealth and science,
There you have journeyed, my friend,
And returned richly crowned.”
--- Rabindranath Tagore
“J. C. Bose was at least 60 years ahead of his time. . . In fact, he had anticipated the existence of p-type
and n-type semiconductors.” – Sir Neville Mott, Noble Laureate.
Born on 30th November 1858 in Bikrampur near Dhaka in Bangladesh, Acharya Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose
graduated from St. Xavier’s College; Calcutta received B. Sc. Degree from the University of Calcutta in
1879. In 1880, he went to England to study medicine at University of London. However, he had to quit
because of ill health. He then moved to Christ’s College, Cambridge to study Natural Science. Bose received
the Natural Science Tripos from the University of Cambridge and a B. Sc degree from the University of
London in 1884. During this period one of his teachers was Lord Rayleigh who had a profound influence
on his later work.
It is highly encouraging to note that during his time people were attracted by Western culture. A man was
proud if he had learnt English. But Jagadish Chandra Bose’s education was really remarkable; it was due
to his father, Bhagawan Chandra Bose. Jagadish Chandra received his school education in Bengali from
Hare School at Calcutta. He was thrilled by the illustrious characters of Ramayana and Mahabharata. Karna
of Mahabharata was an ideal to him because he was not only a great hero but also very generous.
Bose returned to India and joined Presidency College as officiating Professor of Physics. During this period
Bose, following the example of Lord Rayleigh, made extensive use of scientific demonstrations in class.
Bose was a highly successful teacher, because by instinct he was a great physicist with unbelievable
experimental ingenuity. He encouraged them to observe, to question, to experiment and to innovate,
without depending solely on books or teachers. Many of his students at the Presidency College were
destined to become famous in their own right - for example S.N. Bose, later to become well known for the
Bose-Einstein statistics. He designed and developed sensitive and sophisticated equipment for his research
work. Aside this, he also developed a few highly sensitive instruments. ‘Crescograph’ was one such
instrument, which is used for measuring the growth in plants. A demonstration of the Crescograph at the
University College of London on April 23, 1920 led several leading scientists to state in The Times: “We
are satisfied that the growth of plant tissues is correctly recorded by this instrument, and at a magnification
from one million to ten million times.” He is a polymath, physicist, biologist, botanist and archaeologist.
While in Presidency College he made remarkable progress in radio science. In November 1894, he made
public demonstration of wireless signalling. In May 1897, Marconi conducted wireless signalling experiment.
IEEE named him one of the fathers of radio science. He was also considered the father of Bengali Science
fiction writer. He was first to develop a semi-conducting crystal as a detector (galena crystal) of radio
waves. For this a US patent was awarded to him in 1904. But he was reluctant to any form of patenting.
Sister Nivedita was instrumental in filing for this patent. He is not only a scientist but also a philosopher
and a divinely inspired sage “Rishi (G{f)”, and believed that patenting does not help progress of science.
This is as true as the Sun rises in the east. Think of what would have happened if the invention of ‘0’ (Zero)
was patented by the Aryabhata! If free access to this result were denied we could not have done any research
in scientific world. When in England J. C. Bose wrote to Rabindranath Tagore in 1901, “.... I wish you could
see that terrible attachment for gain in this country....that lust for money...Once caught in that trap there
would have been no way out for me.”
He received quite a few awards for his works, like Companion of the order of the Indian Empire (1903),
Companion of the order of the Star of India (1912), Knight Bachelor (1917), Fellow of Royal Society (FRS,
1920), Member of the Vienna Academy of Sciences (1928), and so on. J. C. Bose, the unsung hero of radio
communication and inventor of Marconi’s wireless receiver, was denied Noble Prize.
However, on September 14, 2012 Bose’s experimental work in millimetre-band radio was recognized as an
IEEE Milestone in Electrical and Computer Engineering, the first such recognition of a discovery in India.
It is not surprising that many great persons of the day were his friends. Prafulla Chandra Ray, another
famous scientist, was one of his close friends. Eminent men like Gopalakrishna Gokhale and Mahatma
Gandhi knew and respected him. There were two other friends of his, two giants of the literary world. They
were George Bernard Shaw, the English dramatist and Romain Rolland, the French writer. Both of them
dedicated one book each to Jagadish Chandra Bose.
Vivekananda, Sister Nivedita and Mrs. Sara Bull were also his good friends and well-wishers who helped
him to realize his dream and the need of establishing a research Institution in India. While inaugurating the
Bose Research Institute in Calcutta on November 30, 1917 he said, "This is not a laboratory but a temple."
J. C. Bose laid the foundations of experimental science in this country. Before him there was hardly any
tradition of experimental science in India. He can very justifiably be called the Galileo of modern India.
To the very end Acharya Bose was busy with research. Wealth and power never attracted Jagadish Chandra
Bose. He toiled for science like a saint, selflessly. This great teacher, scientist and a creative engineer is a
great example to all. We salute the father of radio communication and inventor of Marconi’s wireless receiver.
Acharya Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose breathed his last on 23 November 1937 at the age of 79.
As a mark of our respect,
Sir J. C. Bose School of Engineering
is our humble tribute to him!
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