2018-01-01 Mon

Professor Satyendra Nath Bose, born on 1st January 1894, had a brilliant academic career beginning with his schooling in Hindu School, Calcutta and later in the Presidency College.

Bose’s contribution to science spanned a wide field touching upon areas of Physics, Chemistry and Life sciences. It was in the realm of theoretical Physics, however, that he had most eminent achievement when he derived Planck's radiation law considering only the corpuscular nature of light. This approach was greatly appreciated by Albert Einstein and even led to their joint effort that eventually gave birth to Bose-Einstein Statistics, a landmark in physics.

The true significance of this work found recognition when defining the fundamental nature of two types of particles existing in nature, one was named after Bose as Boson, the other being Fermion, named after the famous Physicist Enrico Fermi.

Several Noble Prizes were awarded for research related to the concepts of the boson and the Bose-Einstein Condensate. Bose was never awarded a Noble Prize, despite his work on particle statistics, which clarified the behaviour of photons and opened the door to new ideas on statistics of Microsystems that obey the rules of quantum theory.

But Bose himself responded simply when asked how he felt about the Noble Prize snub: “I have got all the recognition I deserve.”
<
The Indian government honoured Bose in 1954 with the title Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award in India.

On 1st January, India Post has issued 100 Paisa (1 Rupee) commemorative postage stamp to pay homage to this great Indian scientist.