Indians have contributed immensely in the field of science and technology. This article takes us down the memory lane of some of the brilliant minds in India.
Looking around you will find Indians reaching heights in every area. With the ease of accessibility of information, improvement in technology and the growth of quality institutions, Indians are able to use their capability and mind to its best. But even during British India, Indians were responsible for contributing and developing in the field of science and getting honors and awards for the same. Amongst the many here is a list of 10 Indian scientists who succeeded in changing the world.
Jagadish Chandra Bose:
(30th November 1858 to 23rd November 1937)
About:
- Bose was born on November 30th, 1858 in Bikrampur, Bengal Presidency, British India (Now Munshiganj District Of Bangladesh).
He started his education from a vernacular school moving to St Xavier’s, Kolkata. attended the University of Cambridge to study natural science. - He was a professor of physical science until 1917 when he established the Bose Institute at Calcutta, initially for the study of plants.
Research:
He was the first Indian scientist who proved that animal and plant they both are very common and share the same feelings. Along with the research of life and feelings in plants, he also researched there response to fertilizers, light waves, and wireless waves. He also wrote two illustrious books; ‘Response in the Living and Non-living’ (1902) and ‘The Nervous Mechanism of Plants’ (1926) and research on the behavior of radio waves.
Prafulla Chandra Ray (Father of Indian pharmaceuticals):
(2nd August 1861 to 16th June 1944 )
About:
- Prafulla Chandra Ray was born on 2nd August 1861 in Khulna.
- He completed his schooling from “ Albert School”, higher education from ‘Vidyasagar College’.
- He completed his graduation from ‘Edinburgh University’ in Scotland and then worked on his Ph.D.
Research:
He was known as the “Father of Indian pharmaceuticals”.
He was recognized for his work of mercury. He discovered compound of mercurous nitrate.
He also established a manufacturing company known as ‘Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Works Ltd.’
He also established awards like Nagarjuna Prize’ for chemistry and ‘Ashutosh Mukherjee Award’ for biology.
Srinivasa Ramanujan:
(22nd December 1887 to 26th April 1920 )
About:
- Srinivasa Ramanujan, a brilliant mathematician, was born on 22nd December 1887 in Erode, Madras.
- He did not complete his degree because he was interested and dedicated to only one subject, mathematics.
Research:
His work included the study of the partition function (Pn) along with Hardy to give a non-convergent asymptotic series that permits exact computation of the number of partitions of an integer.
He was the first Indian to be honored by being elected a Fellow of Trinity College.
He was honored by Google o his 125th birth anniversary and India declared that day as “National Mathematics Day”
C.V.Raman:
( 7th November 1888 to 20th November 1970)
About:
- Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman was a Brahmin born on November 7, 1888, in the city of Trichinopoly now known as Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, in a very low-income family.
- He completed his under graduation and masters from Presidency College, Madras.
Research:
Raman has conducted a lot of research and experiment and the most known discovery was his “Raman effect”.
He was awarded Noble Prize in 1930 for “work on the scattering of light”.
Raman showed that the energy of photons scattered inelastically serves as a ‘fingerprint’ for the substance the light is scattered from.
Apart from Noble prize he also received the prestigious Bharat Ratna Award for the Raman Effect.
He became the director of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India’s first National Professor and founded the Raman Research Institute, Bangalore.
Satyendra Nath Bose:
(1st January 1894 to 4 February 1974 )
About:
- Satyendra Nath Bose was born on 1st January 1894, in Kolkata India.
- He got the opportunity to be taught by Jagadish Chandra Bose and work with Albert Einstein.
- He completed his B.Sc in mathematics from Kolkata and then served as a lecturer in the physics department.
Research:
He was known for his work in quantum mechanics and one of the two classes of particles in quantum mechanics was named “Bosons” after him.
He also worked on the Planck’s blackbody radiation law.
Later he also worked with Albert Einstein and they formed some ideas which were known as Bose-Einstein Statistics.
He was given the title of Padma Vibhushan in 1954.
Further Rabindranath Tagore dedicated his only book on science, ‘Visva–Parichay’, to Bose.
Homi Jehangir Bhabha:
(30th October 1909 to 24th January 1966)
About:
- Homi Jehangir Bhabha the “Father of Indian nuclear programme’’ was born on 30th October 1909 in Mumbai, India
- He set up the foundation for nuclear research in India.
Research:
His major worked involved helping India with the nuclear programme
He helped in conducting nuclear research and experimenting extracting power from thorium instead of uranium reserves
The government of India honored him with Padma Bhushan for contribution to science.
He built a research center now known as Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC)
Dr. Subramanyan Chandrasekhar:
(October 19th, 1910 to 21st August 1995)
About:
- Dr. Subramanyan Chandrasekhar was born on October 19th, 1910 in Lahore, British India (Now a part of Pakistan).
- He completed his high school from Hindu High School, Madras and went to the University of Cambridge along to pursue Ph.D.
Research:
He has identified a lot of theories that includes the theory of white dwarfs, theory of Brownian motion, the theory of radioactive transfer, the theory of relativity and relativistic astrophysics, the mathematical theory of black holes etc.
He is known for “ Chandrasekhar Limit” which was a theory of maximum mass supported against gravity.
He was given the title of Padma Vibhushan in 1968 for his services towards science and research by the government of India.
He was also awarded Noble Prize along with Willian A. Flower in 1983 for his work on star structure and evolution.
Vikram Sarabhai:
(12th August 1919 to 30th December 1971)
About:
- Vikram Sarabhai, Father of the Indian Space program, was born on 12th August 1919 in Ahmedabad, India
- He studied in Gujarat and went to England for higher studies.
Research:
Vikram Sarabhai is the founder of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs)
The government of India honored him with Padma Bhushan and the Padma Vibhushan for his contribution.
He was behind the launch of “Aryabhatta” India’s first satellite.
Dr. Har Gobind Khorana:
(9th January 1922 to 9th November 2011)
About:
- Dr. Har Gobind Khorana born on 9th January 1922 in Punjab, India.
- He completed his High school from D.A.V High School in Multan, studied chemistry from Punjab University, Lahore and completed his Ph.D. degree from the University of Liverpool.
Research:
Dr. Har Gobind Khorana’s work involved research in the field of genetics and DNA. He was the first person to demonstrate the role of nucleotides in protein synthesis.
He was awarded Noble Prize along with, Robert W. Holley, and Marshall W. Nirenberg “for their interpretation of the genetic code and its function in protein synthesis”.
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam:
(15th October 1931 to 27th July 2015)
About:
- A.P.J. Abdul Kalam also known as the “Missile Man Of India” was born on 15th October 1931 in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu. He served as the 11th President of India.
- His contribution to India is immense in the field of science.
- He completed his high school from Schwartz Higher Secondary School, graduation from Saint Joseph’s College, Tiruchirappalli and studied aerospace engineering in Madras Institute of Technology.
Research:
The government of India honored him with Padma Bhushan, Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan for his contribution.
The government of India honored him with the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration.
His 79th Birthday was given the title of World Students’ Day by United Nations.
He has developed the Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV 3) at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre.
Dr. Kalam has received many more honor and awards for his contribution in the field of science. He has also authored many books.
He was loved and followed by a lot of youths in India.
With Government investing more in the development of institutes, dedicated for research and discoveries, many Indian scientists are returning to carry on their research. Attractive avenues are being provided to researchers mainly conducting their research abroad. A lot of improvement in technology has taken place. Information is easily available for researchers. India is full of brilliant minds, now with the support of Government funding the future of science in India is very bright.
