Jagadish Chandra Bose, CSI,[2] CIE,[3] FRS (Bengali: Jgodish Chndro Boshu)

(30 November 1858 23 November 1937) was a Bengali polymath: a physicist, biologist,
botanist, archaeologist, as well as an early writer of science fiction.[4] He pioneered the
investigation of radio and microwave optics, made very significant contributions to plant science,
and laid the foundations of experimental science in the Indian subcontinent.[5] IEEE named him
one of the fathers of radio science.[6] He is also considered the father of Bengali science fiction.
He was the first person from the Indian subcontinent to receive a US patent, in 1904.

Born during the British Raj, Bose graduated from St. Xavier's College, Calcutta. He then went to
the University of London to study medicine, but could not pursue studies in medicine due to
health problems. Instead, he conducted his research with the Nobel Laureate Lord Rayleigh at
Cambridge and returned to India. He then joined the Presidency College of University of Calcutta
as a Professor of Physics. There, despite racial discrimination and a lack of funding and
equipment, Bose carried on his scientific research. He made remarkable progress in his research
of remote wireless signaling and was the first to use semiconductor junctions to detect radio
signals. However, instead of trying to gain commercial benefit from this invention Bose made his
inventions public in order to allow others to further develop his research.

Bose subsequently made a number of pioneering discoveries in plant physiology. He used his
own invention, the crescograph, to measure plant response to various stimuli, and thereby
scientifically proved parallelism between animal and plant tissues. Although Bose filed for a
patent for one of his inventions due to peer pressure, his reluctance to any form of patenting was
well known.

He has been recognised for his many contributions to modern science.Sir Jagdish Chandra Bose
was born in Bikrampur, Bengal, now Munshiganj District of Bangladesh) on November 30, 1858.
His father, Bhagawan Chandra Bose, was a Brahmo and leader of the Brahmo Samaj and
worked as a deputy magistrate/ assistant commissioner in Faridpur,[7] Bardhaman and other
places.[8] His family hailed from the village Rarikhal, Bikrampur, in the current day Munshiganj
District of Bangladesh.[9]

Boses education started in a vernacular school, because his father believed that one must know
one's own mother tongue before beginning English, and that one should know also one's own
people.[citation needed] Speaking at the Bikrampur Conference in 1915, Bose said:

At that time, sending children to English schools was an aristocratic status symbol. In the
vernacular school, to which I was sent, the son of the Muslim attendant of my father sat on my
right side, and the son of a fisherman sat on my left. They were my playmates. I listened
spellbound to their stories of birds, animals and aquatic creatures. Perhaps these stories created
in my mind a keen interest in investigating the workings of Nature. When I returned home from
school accompanied by my school fellows, my mother welcomed and fed all of us without
discrimination. Although she was an orthodox old fashioned lady, she never considered herself
guilty of impiety by treating these untouchables as her own children. It was because of my
childhood friendship with them that I could never feel that there were creatures who might be
labelled low-caste. I never realised that there existed a problem common to the two
communities, Hindus and Muslims.[8]

Bose joined the Hare School in 1869 and then St. Xaviers School at Kolkata. In 1875, he passed
the Entrance Examination (equivalent to school graduation) of University of Calcutta and was
admitted to St. Xavier's College, Calcutta. At St. Xavier's, Bose came in contact with Jesuit Father
Eugene Lafont, who played a significant role in developing his interest to natural science.[8][9] He
received a bachelor's degree from University of Calcutta in 1879.[7]

Bose wanted to go to England to compete for the Indian Civil Service. However, his father, a civil
servant himself, canceled the plan. He wished his son to be a scholar, who would rule nobody
but himself.[citation needed] Bose went to England to study Medicine at the University of
London. However, he had to quit because of ill health.[10] The odour in the dissection rooms is
also said to have exacerbated his illness.[7]

Through the recommendation of Anand Mohan, his brother-in-law (sister's husband) and the first
Indian wrangler, he secured admission in Christ's College, Cambridge to study Natural Science.
He received the Natural Science Tripos from the University of Cambridge and a BSc from the
University of London in 1884.[11] Among Boses teachers at Cambridge were Lord Rayleigh,
Michael Foster, James Dewar, Francis Darwin, Francis Balfour, and Sidney Vines. At the time
when Bose was a student at Cambridge, Prafulla Chandra Roy was a student at Edinburgh. They
met in London and became intimate friends.[7][8]

On the second day of a two-day seminar held on the occasion of 150th anniversary of Jagadish
Chandra Bose on 2829 July at The Asiatic Society, Kolkata Professor Shibaji Raha, Director of
the Bose Institute, Kolkata told in his valedictory address that he had personally checked the
register of the Cambridge University to confirm the fact that in addition to Tripos he received an
M.A. as well from it in 1884.
[edose returned to India in 1885, carrying a letter from Fawcett, the economist to Lord Ripon,
Viceroy of India. On Lord Ripons request Sir Alfred Croft, the Director of Public Instruction,
appointed Bose officiating professor of physics in Presidency College. The principal, C. H.
Tawney, protested against the appointment but had to accept it.[12]

Bose was not provided with facilities for research. On the contrary, he was a victim of racialism
with regard to his salary.[12] In those days, an Indian professor was paid Rs. 200 per month,
while his European counterpart received Rs. 300 per month. Since Bose was officiating, he was
offered a salary of only Rs. 100 per month.[13] With remarkable sense of self respect and
national pride he decided on a new form of protest.[12] Bose refused to accept the salary cheque.
In fact, he continued his teaching assignment for three years without accepting any salary.[14]
Finally both the Director of Public Instruction and the Principal of the Presidency College fully
realised the value of Boses skill in teaching and also his lofty character. As a result his
appointment was made permanent with retrospective effect. He was given the full salary for the
previous three years in a lump sum.[7]

Presidency College lacked a proper laboratory. Bose had to conduct his research in a small 24-
square-foot (2.2 m2) room.[7] He devised equipment for the research with the help of one
untrained tinsmith.[12] Sister Nivedita wrote, I was horrified to find the way in which a great
worker could be subjected to continuous annoyance and petty difficulties ... The college routine
was made as arduous as possible for him, so that he could not have the time he needed for
investigation. After his daily grind, which he of course performed with great conscientiousness,
he carried out his research far into the night, in a small room in his college.[12]

Moreover, the policy of the British government for its colonies was not conducive to attempts at
original research. Bose spent his hard-earned money for making experimental equipment. Within
a decade of his joining Presidency College, he emerged a pioneer in the incipient research field
of wireless waves.[12]Bose's next contribution to science was in plant physiology. He forwarded a
theory for the ascent of sap in plants in 1927, his theory contributed to the vital theory of ascent of
sap. According to his theory, electromechanical pulsations of living cells were responsible for the
ascent of sap in plants.

He was skeptical about the then, and still now, most popular theory for the ascent of sap, the
tension-cohesion theory of Dixon and Joly, first proposed in 1894. The 'CP theory', proposed by
Canny in 1995,[20] validates this skepticism. Canny experimentally demonstrated pumping in the
living cells in the junction of the endodermis.

In his research in plant stimuli, Bose showed with the help of his newly invented crescograph that
plants responded to various stimuli as if they had nervous systems like that of animals. He
therefore found a parallelism between animal and plant tissues. His experiments showed that
plants grow faster in pleasant music and their growth is retarded in noise or harsh sound. This
was experimentally verified later on.[citation needed]

His major contribution in the field of biophysics was the demonstration of the electrical nature of
the conduction of various stimuli (e.g., wounds, chemical agents) in plants, which were earlier
thought to be of a chemical nature. These claims were later proven experimentally by Wildon et
al. (Nature, 1992, 360, 6265). He was also the first to study the action of microwaves in plant
tissues and corresponding changes in the cell membrane potential. He researched the
mechanism of the seasonal effect on plants, the effect of chemical inhibitors on plant stimuli, the
effect of temperature etc. From the analysis of the variation of the cell membrane potential of
plants under different circumstances, he deduced the claim that plants can "feel pain, understand
affection etc.".Bose's next contribution to science was in plant physiology. He forwarded a theory
for the ascent of sap in plants in 1927, his theory contributed to the vital theory of ascent of sap.
According to his theory, electromechanical pulsations of living cells were responsible for the
ascent of sap in plants.

He was skeptical about the then, and still now, most popular theory for the ascent of sap, the
tension-cohesion theory of Dixon and Joly, first proposed in 1894. The 'CP theory', proposed by
Canny in 1995,[20] validates this skepticism. Canny experimentally demonstrated pumping in the
living cells in the junction of the endodermis.

In his research in plant stimuli, Bose showed with the help of his newly invented crescograph that
plants responded to various stimuli as if they had nervous systems like that of animals. He
therefore found a parallelism between animal and plant tissues. His experiments showed that
plants grow faster in pleasant music and their growth is retarded in noise or harsh sound. This
was experimentally verified later on.[citation needed]

His major contribution in the field of biophysics was the demonstration of the electrical nature of
the conduction of various stimuli (e.g., wounds, chemical agents) in plants, which were earlier
thought to be of a chemical nature. These claims were later proven experimentally by Wildon et
al. (Nature, 1992, 360, 6265). He was also the first to study the action of microwaves in plant
tissues and corresponding changes in the cell membrane potential. He researched the
mechanism of the seasonal effect on plants, the effect of chemical inhibitors on plant stimuli, the
effect of temperature etc. From the analysis of the variation of the cell membrane potential of
plants under different circumstances, he deduced the claim that plants can "feel pain, understand
affection etc.".In 1896, Bose wrote Niruddesher Kahini, the first major work in Bangla science
fiction. Later, he added the story in the Abyakta book as Palatak Tuphan. He was the first science
fiction writer in the Bengali languageCompanion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE) (1903)
Companion of the Order of the Star of India (CSI) (1912)
Knighthood, 1917
Fellow of the Royal Society (1920)
Member of the Vienna Academy of Sciences, 1928
President of the 14th session of the Indian Science Congress in 1927.
Member of Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters in 1929.
Member of the League of Nations' Committee for Intellectual Cooperation
Founding fellow of the National Institute of Sciences of India (now renamed as the Indian National
Science Academy)
The Indian Botanic Garden was renamed as the Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic
Garden on June 25, 2009 in honor of Jagadish Chandra Bose