Sage of the Range of Sciences

Though Guglielmo Marconi patented his name for the invention of wireless communication, it was India’s Jagdish Chandra Bose who first detected and noted the possibility of wireless communication.

Pioneer of experimental radio, J C Bose was a man of great wisdom in physics, biology and botany; Image Source: Indiatimes

Internet and wireless communication system have been the only set-up that didn’t witness a shutdown when the covid pandemic unleashed its wrath on humanity. But did you ever wonder, who was the man behind such a vital medium of communication? Google it, and you will find Guglielmo Marconi’s name against the patent of wireless communication. But the man behind it was somewhere in India, who discovered it way before Marconi! Why is it that the man of such brilliance and great inventions is not credited with the contributions he made to the sciences?

The reason was Acharya Bose’s belief, that science had a greater responsibility towards humanity and shouldn’t be linked with capitalist ambitions. Sadly, Jagdish Chandra Bose isn’t as recognised as other scientists for the extensive research he conducted in the areas of biology, physics and botany combined.

One of the most astounding researches conducted by him for the detection of electronic medium of communication of plants, rather than it being chemical has an infamous tale of his determination and scientific mettle attached to it. When Bose discovered that plants also had a sensory system like any other living being and was also responsive to physical and chemical changes, he planned to showcase his discovery to the community of scientists and invited the renowned men of sciences to his place.

He began by setting up an apparatus to show that after injecting a toxic element into the plant, they scream and behave just as any other living being. By attaching a device to his apparatus to measure the growth of plants, he went on to inject the plant with lethal chemical compounds. To his surprise, there was no difference recorded in the electrical pulse measuring device. Disappointed, he announced he shall inject the same compound to himself and verify it was no prank. Soon, a man from the crowd emerged and confessed that he replaced the compound with water. The experiment was conducted again and everyone acknowledged Bose’s theory of stimulus of plants.

The device crescograph, which was used and invented by Bose was patented by him and he became one of the first Indians to patent an invention in America.

Bose was not just a renowned scientist who promoted public research by founding institutes like Bose Institute in Calcutta but was also the father of Bengali science fiction. His stories like Niruddesher Kahini (The Story of The Missing One) got expanded and even translated to English. The stories by him aimed at making sciences and its adventures accessible to young kids of Bengal who were fluent in Bengali as even Bose was schooled in the vernacular medium in his childhood.

Bose’s contributions in pioneering radio and microwave optics, experimenting in crystal radio, and crystal detector, led to the establishment of a strong ground for physical research and experiment in India, which shall not be forgotten. A scientist who represented India on several occasions and opposed the racial discrimination of pay parity faced by Indians at the hands of British Chancellors of institutes in India, he was a revolutionary figure who guided various Indian talents like Satyendra Nath Bose, Meghnad Saha, P. C. Mahalanobis, Sisir Kumar Mitra and D. M. Bose. He was one of the early men from India to be the Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in London after completing his higher studies at Cambridge.

This eminent polymath also has a moon crater named after him, keeping his name alive up in the sky; reminding every Indian of the contributions of Indians in the development of sciences of the human race!

Bose crater on the far side of the moon; Image Source: Public domain