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Google on Saturday honoured Indian physicist and mathematician Satyendra Nath Bose and his contribution to the Bose-Einstein Condensate with a Google Doodle.
Bose, on June 4, 1924, sent his quantum formulations to Albert Einstein, who immediately recognised it as a significant discovery in quantum mechanics.
Bose was born in Kolkata in 1894. The Padma Vibhushan awardee was known as the ‘father of the God particle’.
In a blog post, Google shared the story of his rise to fame: “Each day, his father who was an accountant would write an arithmetic problem for him to solve before leaving for work, feuling Bose’s interest in mathematics.”
At 15, he began pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree at Calcutta’s Presidency College and earned a master’s in applied mathematics at the University of Calcutta soon after.
“Graduating top of his class for both degrees, he solidified his esteemed position in academia,” the post said.
By the end of 1917, Bose began giving lectures on physics.
“While teaching postgraduate students Planck’s radiation formula, he questioned the way particles were counted and began experimenting with his own theories,” the post added.
Documenting his findings in a report titled ‘Planck’s Law and the Hypothesis of Light Quanta’, Bose sent it to a prominent science journal called The Philosophical Magazine. However, to his surprise, the research was rejected.
He then made a bold decision to mail his paper to Albert Einstein, who recognised the significance of the discovery. Einstein soon applied Bose’s formula to a wide range of phenomena.
“Bose’s theoretical paper became one of the most important findings in quantum theory,” the post recounts.
The Boson particle was named after Bose to commemorate his contributions.
Any particle that conforms with his statistics today is known as a Boson.
His tremendous contributions to physics were also recognised by the Indian government, which conferred on him the Padma Vibhushan.
He was appointed as National Professor, the highest honour in India for scholars.
A true polymath, Bose went on to serve as president of several scientific institutions including the Indian Physical Society, National Institute of Science, Indian Science Congress, and the Indian Statistical Institute.
He was an adviser to the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, and later became a Fellow of the Royal Society.
“Many scientific breakthroughs have come from his work, including the discovery of the particle accelerator and the God particle,” the blog post pointed out.
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