Meghnad Saha was born 125 years ago in an obscure village in East Bengal, now Bangladesh, in a family where his father was an indigent shopkeeper. The country was under British rule, and society was sharply divided by a rigid caste structure, destructive poverty and extreme superstition. Young Meghnad had to fight against inconceivable odds …
Continue reading "Astronomy to Astrophysics"
October 10, 2018They were radically different. Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose was a staunch Brahmo and Swami Vivekananda a devout Hindu. Their coming together was in itself a paradox, indeed a transition from belligerence to harmony. Their contribution to their respective philosophies was original. Vivekananda’s image worship and Guru worship were repugnant to Bose, and the latter was …
Continue reading "Belligerence to Harmony"
August 7, 2018Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray (1861-1944), whose birth anniversary falls on 2 August, was the founding father of modern science teaching and research in India alongside Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose. Two volumes of the biographical memoir of Acharya Ray – Life and Experiences of a Bengali Chemist (1932-35) – describe the colonial injustice to people of …
Continue reading "Recalling a great visionary"
August 3, 2018