Happy New Year to all readers!
This post takes the new year opportunity to celebrate the birth anniversary of the physicist S. N. Bose.
Preliminary remarks
i) Fundamental particles in physics are basically of two types. If their intrinsic spin (a quantum label) is an integer (as for photons), they are called bosons, after Bose. If their spin is half-integer (as for electrons or protons), they are called fermions, after Fermi.
Note: This holds for naturally occurring particles in a three-dimensional world. In engineered, two-dimensional materials, particles which are neither bosons or fermions, can exist. They are called anyons, and they are relevant to the quantum Hall effect (an effect in fundamental physics) and quantum computers (an application - Microsoft is especially interested!).
ii) There is a printed English biography of Bose, which I have not read, but plan to buy [1] (Addendum: I bought and read it - compact but very good). There seems to be a Kindle-only book as well; again, I have not read it. There are several biographies/monographs on him in Bengali, some of which I have read. Bose's selected works with commentary have also been published, of course there is a Wikipedia entry on him; there are several independent websites and blogs which talk about him as well.
Non-academic biography
Bose was born on January 1, 1894 in Kolkata, the first of 7 children. He married Ushabati Ghosh, the daughter of a physician, in 1914. They had 9 children, 7 of whom survived infancy. Bose passed away on 4 February, 1974.
Academic biography
i) Bose first attended the New Indian School, then the Hindu School (1907), then Presidency College (1909; where he received a bachelor of science in 'mixed' i.e. applied math), all in Kolkata. Subsequently, he obtained a Master's degree from Science College. He then joined this college as a lecturer.
ii) 1921: Bose moved to the University of Dhaka, in Bangladesh as a reader in physics. It was during this time that he wrote the seminal paper on what later came to be called Bose-Einstein statistics. The paper was originally rejected by a British journal. Bose then sent it to Einstein who got it published in Germany. Einstein then wrote follow-up papers extending Bose's treatment of photons to material particles.
This was Bose's major contribution to physics; its details (and Bose's travels in Europe, see below) are described well in Jagdish Mehra's article, available online. Bose had also translated Einstein's work on relativity from German to English.
iii) 1924-1926: Bose toured Europe, meeting Einstein, Marie Curie, Langevin and others. When he returned, he was made the Head of the Department at Dhaka University - although he did not have a PhD - on the basis of a recommendation letter from Einstein. Apparently he had received a visa from the German consulate without having to pay the fee, also by showing Einstein's letter. (Don't try these at home).
iv) 1945-1956: Around the time of partition Bose returned to Kolkata University, taught until his retirement and was then made emeritus professor, and subsequently vice-chancellor of Visva-Bharati University in Santiniketan. This position he left in 1959. In 1958 he had been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.
The polymath and polyglot
Bose did not really pursue physics like a career physicist; his contributions to the subject are therefore not numerous or sustained (though perhaps any of us would give their right arm to have credit for Bose's work). One reason behind this was that he had many interests outside of physics.
He studied chemistry, archaeology, and the fine arts. He was interested in literature, which he read in Bengali, English, Sanskrit, French, German and Italian. He was interested in music and played the esraj. He was interested in science popularization and wrote extensively in popular magazines. He was interested in animals and had many cats.
Conclusion
Bose's work on particle statistics has been deemed Nobel-worthy by many scientists. He himself was apparently satisfied by the recognition he had received for his contribution. The standard model of particle physics admits 17 distinct fundamental particles: 5 of them are bosons. Having a third (5/17~0.29 ) of the world named after you is no mean feat, I would say.
Comments