Satyendra Nath Bose was an Indian physicist, specializing in mathematical physics. He is best known for his work on quantum mechanics in the early 1920s, providing the foundation for Bose-Einstein statistics and the theory of the Bose-Einstein condensate.
Explore the life and accomplishments of the Indian theoretical physicist and mathematician, Satyendra Nath Bose, with our comprehensive biography of Satyendra Nath Bose.
Satyendra Nath Bose passed away on February 4th, 1974 at the age of 80.
The early life of Satyendra Nath
Birth Place of Satyendra Nath Bose
▪ Satyendra Nath Bose was born on January 1, 1894, in Calcutta, India (now known as Kolkata).
▪ The ancestral home of Satyendra Nath Bose was located in the Bara Jagulia village, Nadia district, in West Bengal.
Family details
▪ Satyendra Nath Bose was the eldest of seven children in a Bengali Kayastha family, with six sisters following him as the only son.
▪ His father’s name was Surendranath Bose, worked as an employee in the Engineering Department of the East Indian Railway Company.
▪ In 1914, at the age of 20, Satyendra Nath Bose married Ushabati Ghosh, who was 11 years old, at the time of their marriage.
▪ Satyendra Nath Bose and Ushabati Ghosh had nine children together, unfortunately, two of them died in early childhood.
▪ After his death in 1974, his wife and five daughters, and two sons were left behind.
Einstein praised him. The British ignored him. Celebrating the life and work of the great patriot and scientist Satyendra Nath Bose. #ThisDayThatYear pic.twitter.com/Gp1jHro6TN
— MyGovIndia (@mygovindia) June 4, 2022
Primary Education
▪ Satyendra Nath Bose’s schooling began at the age of five near his home. When his family moved to Goabagan, he was enrolled in the New Indian School.
▪ In the final year of his schooling, he was transferred to the Hindu School.
▪ In 1909, Satyendra Nath Bose passed his matriculation examination, ranking fifth in the merit list.
▪ After matriculation, he continued his education at the Presidency College, Calcutta, where he joined the intermediate science course. His teachers there included Jagadish Chandra Bose, Sarada Prasanna Das, and Prafulla Chandra Ray.
Higher Education
▪ In 1913, Bose graduated with a Bachelor of Science in mixed mathematics from Presidency College, and he stood first in his class.
▪ After that, he joined the newly formed Science College of Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee, where he continued his study in mixed mathematics, and stood first in the MSc mixed mathematics exam in 1915.
▪ After completing his MSc, Bose was appointed as a research scholar in 1916 at the Science College, Calcutta University. He began his studies on the theory of relativity there.
A Polymath
▪ Bose was a polyglot, proficient in several languages, including Bengali, English, French, German, and Sanskrit.
▪In addition to languages, Bose was also well-versed in the poetry of Lord Tennyson, Rabindranath Tagore, and Kalidasa.
▪ Bose was proficient in playing the esraj, an Indian musical instrument similar to a violin.
▪ Bose was actively engaged in running night schools, that were known as the Working Men’s Institute.
▪Bose had a diverse range of interests in various fields, including physics, mathematics, chemistry, biology, mineralogy, philosophy, arts, literature, and music.
Satyendra Nath Bose Awards & Honors
| Year | Awards & Honor |
|---|---|
| 1937 | Rabindranath Tagore dedicated his only book on science, Visva–Parichay, to Satyendra Nath Bose. |
| 1954 | Bose was honored with the title of Padma Vibhushan by the Indian government. |
| 1959 | He was appointed as the National Professor, a prestigious teaching award given by the Government of Bangladesh, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the field of education. |
| 1986 | The S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences was established by the Government of India through an act of parliament in Salt Lake, Calcutta. |
| 1958 | He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society, and nominated as a member of Rajya Sabha. |
| 2022 | Google honored Bose by featuring him in a Google Doodle on the 98th anniversary of the day Bose sent his quantum formulations to the German scientist Albert Einstein. |
Google Doodle honours Indian physicist and mathematician Satyendra Nath Bose
— INDIA NARRATIVE (@india_narrative) June 4, 2022
In 1924, Satyendra Nath Bose sent his quantum formulation to Albert Einstein who immediately recognized it as a significant discovery in quantum mechanics#IndiaNarrative pic.twitter.com/08RwbsLm51
Contribution of Satyendra Nath Bose in physics
▪ Satyendra Nath Bose and Meghnad Saha jointly presented several papers in theoretical physics and pure mathematics.
▪ In 1924, while working as a Reader in the Physics Department at the University of Dhaka, Bose authored a paper in which he derived Planck’s quantum radiation law using a novel method of counting states with identical particles, without any reference to classical physics.
▪ Bose’s paper, which created the important field of quantum statistics, was seminal. Even though it was not accepted for publication immediately, Bose sent it directly to Albert Einstein in Germany.
▪ Recognizing the importance of the paper, Einstein translated it into German and submitted it to the prestigious journal Zeitschrift für Physik on Bose’s behalf.
▪ Due to this recognition, Bose was able to spend two years working in European X-ray and crystallography laboratories, during which time he collaborated with prominent figures such as Louis de Broglie, Marie Curie, and Einstein.
Boson’s naming after the ‘God particle’ Boson
— IndiAfriGenous-492 (@IndiAfriGenous) July 4, 2022
Satyendra Nath Bose, Indian Scientist 🙏
Credit should be given where it is Rightfully due…@TheSun @CERN
@LadyJustice6910 https://t.co/u05SfMhIOX pic.twitter.com/aYTO5CV4GV
Achievements of Satyendra Nath Bose
▪ Satyendra Nath Bose was appointed as an advisor by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.
▪ Satyendra Nath Bose was selected to head several organizations, including the Indian Physical Society, the Indian Statistical Institute, and the National Institute of Science.
▪ He was also appointed as general president of the Indian Science Congress.
▪ Satyendra Nath Bose was nominated to the Rajya Sabha and was honored with the title of Fellow of the Royal Society in 1958.
▪ In 1954, Bose received the Padma Vibhushan award.
▪ Despite being nominated for the Nobel Prize, Satyendra Nath Bose did not receive the award.
▪ Satyendra Nath Bose is considered a renowned figure in theoretical physics, and his discovery is still recognized as a major achievement of the 20th century.
Satyendra Nath Bose Legacy
▪ To commemorate his contributions to science, the class of elementary subatomic particles known as bosons in particle physics was named after Satyendra Nath Bose by Dirac.
▪ Even though research related to S N Bose’s concepts of the boson, Bose–Einstein statistics, and Bose–Einstein condensate resulted in the award of seven Nobel Prizes, Bose himself did not receive a Nobel Prize.
▪ On 4 June 2022, Google honored Bose by featuring him on a Google Doodle marking the 98th anniversary of Satyendra Nath Bose.
Quotes of Satyendra Nath Bose
▪ “Culture makes the whole world our dwelling place; our palace in which we take our ease and find ourselves at one with all things”.
▪ “I knew unless I got stopped I was going to go all the way. I don’t know if I can run any faster. I just ran as fast as I could”.
▪ “I almost vomited in the boot! I was just about to vomit in the boot! Can you imagine how upset I would have been?”
▪ “I really enjoyed playing that Blind stuff because it’s a little more mathy and metal and as far as drumming goes, it’s a bit more fun”.
▪ “A Man’s Daughter is his Heart. Just with feet, walking out in the world”.
▪ “You never know until it happens, what you will owe the dead”.
▪ “Idealism, however impractical, gives a meaning to our existence”.
▪ “Bosons, by the way, are named for the Indian scientist Satyendra Nath Bose”.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q1. What is the theory of Satyendra Nath Bose?
Ans. Satyendra Nath Bose was a renowned Indian theoretical physicist known for his contributions to the field of quantum mechanics. He is particularly recognized for his research in the theory of relativity, specifically for deriving Planck’s quantum radiation law in 1924. He accomplished this by using a new approach that did not rely on classical physics.
Q2. What is Satyendra Nath Bose famous for?
Ans. In the field of particle physics, bosons are subatomic particles that possess an integer value for their spin quantum number. These particles are one of the two fundamental categories of subatomic particles, the other being fermions, which have a spin quantum number that is an odd half-integer. All subatomic particles that have been observed are either bosons or fermions.
Q3. Why is a boson called a God particle?
Ans. The Higgs boson is commonly referred to as “the God particle” because it is believed to be responsible for the phenomenon that led to the creation of our universe through the “Big Bang” event that occurred many years ago.
Q4. Who is the father of God particle?
Ans. Leon Lederman, a renowned physicist, and champion of science education coined the phrase “the God particle” to describe the Higgs boson, a particle that helps explain why certain subatomic particles have mass.
Q5. Who discovered quantum statistics?
Answer. Satyendra Nath Bose
▪ In 1924, he introduced a new method for understanding the behavior of particles, which is now known as Bose-Einstein statistics.
▪ He discovered this method while trying to derive Planck’s radiation law, a fundamental principle in the field of quantum mechanics.
▪ Bose’s approach was rooted in the idea that photons of the same color and energy are indistinguishable from each other, which required a new way of counting particles.
▪ This led to the development of Bose-Einstein statistics, a new statistical framework for understanding the behavior of subatomic particles.
Q6. Is Boson named after Satyendra Nath Bose?
Answer. The term “boson” was not named after Satyendra Nath Bose for discovering bosons, but rather as a tribute to his significant contributions to the field of statistics.
▪ The word was coined by Paul Dirac, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, to honor Bose’s work on Bose-Einstein statistics, which he developed in collaboration with Albert Einstein.
