S N Bose Project is a grandson's biographical research on the life and times of Professor Satyendra Nath Bose (1894-1974) — Indian mathematical-physicist, humanist, and multi-faceted genius ... a polymath in diverse fields of science, education, literature, music, politics, social reform, and philanthropy.

11 December 2007

Satyen Bose in Berlin

Satyendra Nath Bose was not known to talk or write very much about himself. That is why there is very little first hand account of his activities and experiences. It is evident that he was uncomfortable discussing himself, and always, whether in conversation or writing, deflected the topic away. As such, few know extensive details about Bose's life from Bose himself. Many who knew Bose have written their recollections in memoir form, but beyond their narrow experience, few can convey the expanse of his life.

One person who has a deeper understanding of Bose is one of his leading biographers, Dr. Purnima Sinha . Dr.
Sinha was a student of Bose at Calcutta University College of Science in the early 1950s. She received her doctorate in physics under Bose in 1956-7, and has the distinction of being the first Bengali woman to receive a Ph.D. in physics. She is a pioneer in her field, and has also as written extensively on music, biography, and popularizing science in the vernacular. She has also written books and articles on Bose. [Pictured at right is Dr. Sinha as a physics student in 1954. She is flanked by Bose (r) and PAM Dirac (l). This picture was taken by Mrs. Dirac in front of the Great Banyan Tree at the Botanical Gardens in Kolkata, India during their visit. Photo courtesy of Dr. SupurnaSinha.)


Dr.
Sinha is the maiden offering in our new Guest Contributor series! We have republished an article she wrote on Satyen Bose in Berlin on the S N Bose Project. We are honored to have Dr. Sinha as our first contributor.


Little is known about Bose's time in Europe during his first visit in the years 1924 - 1926. After writing his celebrated 1924 paper on
Planck's Law and the Light Quantum Hypothesis, the seminal moment in Bose-Einstein Statistics (which eventually becomes the basis of the Bose-Einstein Condensate), Bose received a post card from Einstein. In it, Einstein states that he would translate Bose's paper into German and publish it in the leading scientific journal of the day, Zeitschrift für Physik. Einstein exclaimed Bose's work to be a "beautiful step forward."

Bose showed the postcard to the German consulate, and immediately received a visa to travel to Germany. Based on his paper and Einstein's favorable response, the
Dacca University awarded Bose two year study leave to go to Europe to meet the master.

Bose set sail to Europe from Bombay, and reached Paris on 18 October 1924. There he met leading scientific and intellectual figures of the day, including Madame Curie, Paul
Langevin, Maurice de Broglie, Sylvan Levi, and many others. After spending a year in Paris, he set off to Berlin to meet Einstein in 1925.I will write more about Bose's stay in Paris elsewhere, but in Berlin, Bose met Einstein (although he had to wait a few weeks since Einstein was traveling outside of the country, apparently in South America, when he arrived). While there, Bose had access to the leading laboratories of Berlin, as well as the fantastic libraries of the University. He met the leading scientific figures of what could be considered the capital of the quantum revolution. He gave lectures at seminars attended by some of the giants of quantum theory, Einstein, of course, but also Max Planck, Walther Nernst, Max von Laue, Fritz Haber, Otto Hahn, Lise Meitner, and many others. He had long discussions with Einstein, and formulated close friendships with many others.

Dr. Sinha publishes an interview with Professor Herman Mark, an internationally recognized chemist who became friends with Bose during this time. Professor Mark formed a warm friendship with Bose that lasted over 50 years, in fact for the rest of their lives. The interview was taken in 1974, and conducted by Dr. Jagdish Sharma, a student of Bose who worked at the Naval Laboratories in Washington D.C., USA. Professor Mark taught at the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, where he founded a strong polymer program.

Some interesting moments from the interview include:

Mark: Well, maybe, when he was in Vienna you know, that was in 1926 and he gave a seminar and I mentioned that there was Schrödinger, and many very good physicists in Vienna. And that was already when Schrödinger was thinking on wave mechanics you know, because his paper came out in 1926, there was a very interesting conversation. Louis de Broglie's thesis was published ... then of course, everybody realised that it was Bose that was the forerunner...it was the statistical expression of the wave nature of an electron and then the question was, "Okay, what are we going to do now?
Along with Professor Mark, Dr. Sinha met and corresponded with Bose's close friend Madame Jacqueline Eisenmann, whom he met in Paris. Madame Eisenmann gives a fond recollection of Bose's genius for science, passion for music and his love for the Bengali language. Madame Eisenmann spoke of Bose's meetings with Madame Curie, Paul Langevin, and the famous French Indologist Sylvan Lévi. She gives special insight into other aspects of Bose's personality, as when she says:
Sylvain Lévi, the great Indianist and Sanskritist, was a freind of my father (Dr. Leon Zadoc-Kahn who was in 1943 assasinated by the Germans with my mother). Learning from my father that I intended to work in Physics, Lévi said he would make me know 'un jeune physician genial." I was very impatient to meet this genius. When he came to my lab, accompanied by another Indian named Tendulkar, he [Lévi] did not tell me so as to tease me, who was the physicist. Bose was so unassuming that I didn't find out immediately who was who! From that day I saw him very often. He always went to [Paul] Langevin's lectures. Langevin gave many lectures. Louis de Broglie came later, Langevin told Madame Curie about him. Bose worked in Madame Curie's lab and in Maurice de Broglie's lab for sometime. He went very much to the museum, loved nature, particularly the alps, went to see and live in the countryside....

He talked much about Bengali ... writing science in Bengali -- to teach the students in Bengali. He impressed me very much by his great love for his country. He never went to England until India was free. In 1953 he went to England and lived with [Paul] Dirac.
It was a great joy to know Bose at all. He was so wonderful, so gifted, knew so much about Hebrew literature and religion. He had an extraordinary heart! He had nearly feminine reaction! He had no ambition for himself, too modest and humble a young man.
Finally, Dr. Sinha ends this remarkable article by quoting the famous mathematician André Weil of the Institute of Advanced Study at Princeton. Weil, who spent time in Dacca University in the 1930s, when asked about Bose's contributions, he replied
I do not agree with those who suggest that his career and reputation was based on a piece of luck viz, the fact that Einstein took up his early contribution to theoretical physics. The quality of his intelligence was such that he deserved whatever position and honours came to him. One can only deplore that, for lack of a suitable environment, he was unable to realize his potentiality fully.There is no doubt in my mind that, given more favourable circumstances, he was well fitted to play a most important role in laying the foundations for scientific research in India.

We are very excited and honored to have Dr. Purnima Sinha's recollections and interviews as our first Guest Contributor article.

Look for future publications by S N Bose Project of prominent personalities and their recollections of
Satyendra Nath Bose.


Read the full article on the S N Bose Project site! If you have any thoughts, comments or feedback, please do email us at the Project, or submit a blog comment below!





=

57 comments:

Anonymous said...

After reading you site, Your site is very useful for me .I bookmarked your site!

Anonymous said...

i surely adore your own posting choice, very attractive,
don't quit and keep creating as it simply just good worth to follow it,
looking forward to see a whole lot more of your own content pieces, have a pleasant day ;)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing this link, but unfortunately it seems to be offline... Does anybody have a mirror or another source? Please answer to my post if you do!

I would appreciate if a staff member here at blog.snbose.org could post it.

Thanks,
Daniel

Anonymous said...

It took me a while to search on the web, only your site unfold the fully details, bookmarked and thanks again.

- Kris

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing the link, but argg it seems to be offline... Does anybody have a mirror or another source? Please reply to my post if you do!

I would appreciate if a staff member here at blog.snbose.org could post it.

Thanks,
Daniel

Anonymous said...

Keep posting stuff like this i really like it

Anonymous said...

Man, really want to know how can you be that smart, lol...great read, thanks.

Anonymous said...

hi!This was a really magnificentsuper topic!
I come from itlay, I was fortunate to discover your blog in google
Also I obtain much in your theme really thank your very much i will come later

Anonymous said...

how are you I was fortunate to seek your topic in bing
your topic is excellent
I get much in your Topics really thank your very much
btw the theme of you site is really excellent
where can find it

Anonymous said...

Don't youse people have a Twitter and also twit follower fan webpage? My partner and I have explored for one on MySpace and YouTube yet unfortunately couldn’t identify it. I’d want to turn into a supporter! [url=http://www.clearbracessydney.com][img]http://www.lookwhosblogging.com/images/smile.gif[/img][/url]

[url=http://www.invisalignsydney.com]Invisalign Sydney[/url]
[url=http://wwww.lookwhosblogging.com]Gourmet Food Blog[/url]
[url=http://www.sydneycitydental.com.au]Cosmetic Dentist Sydney[/url]

Anonymous said...

hi!This was a really terrific theme!
I come from itlay, I was fortunate to search your Topics in bing
Also I obtain a lot in your topic really thanks very much i will come again

Anonymous said...

Good day!This was a really impressive blog!
I come from roma, I was fortunate to look for your subject in digg
Also I learn a lot in your topic really thank your very much i will come later

Anonymous said...

Thans

for the nice post.

Anonymous said...

Nice site, nice and easy on the eyes and great content too.

Anonymous said...

hi!This was a really superb subject!
I come from milan, I was luck to look for your subject in yahoo
Also I get a lot in your website really thanks very much i will come again

Anonymous said...

Greetings,

Thanks for sharing this link - but unfortunately it seems to be not working? Does anybody here at blog.snbose.org have a mirror or another source?


Thanks,
John

Anonymous said...

Thanks for an idea, you sparked at thought from a angle I hadn’t given thoguht to yet. Now lets see if I can do something with it.

Anonymous said...

Thank you, I have recently been searching for information about this topic for ages and yours is the best I have discovered so far.

Anonymous said...

Beneficial info and excellent design you got here! I want to thank you for sharing your ideas and putting the time into the stuff you publish! Great work!

Anonymous said...

Very nice, gives me a lot of inspiration being right in the midst of a redesign. It’s all in the details and comment forms are definitely overlooked more often than not. Time well spent on this post.

Anonymous said...

This is a really nice blog you got here. The theme is great! Color combination is awesome.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful article, a bunch of high-quality material. I’m going to point out to my girlftriend and ask them the things they think.

Anonymous said...

Hi this is amazing site! really perfect and it will be a new inspirations for me

Anonymous said...

so amazing!!! this is exactly the kind of stuff i am looking for :)thanks for this

Anonymous said...

Hello, I discovered your blog in a new directory of blogs. I dont know how your blog came up. Your weblog looks good. Have a good day.

Anonymous said...

Excellent & thoughtful post.

Anonymous said...

I Love You. I really do. I would even buy you flowers and dinner for what you have shared with us! Thanks to you I now have a working blog.

Anonymous said...

I’ve bookmarked this because I found it interesting. I would be very interested to hear more news on this. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

a very inspiring sroties…great thanx to you and to all the people who develope this site. keep going and good luck.

Anonymous said...

This post is impressive! I’m gonna put this in the bookmarks before I lose the link I don’t believe I’ll ever find my way back here again otherwise

Anonymous said...

thanks! seems faster at first look, hopefully it continues to function like this.

Anonymous said...

I wanted to say that it’s nice to know that someone else also mentioned this as I had trouble finding the same info elsewhere. This was the first place that told me the answer. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

I dont know what to say. It is undoubtedly one of many superior blogs Ive understand. Youre so insightful, have much genuine stuff to bring towards table. I wish that far more persons study this and get what I got from it: chills. Good career and fantastic blog. I cant wait to study more, retain them comin!

Anonymous said...

Love this blog. I’ll be bookmarking this one. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Nice one, might come in handy in the near future

Anonymous said...

thanks for the inspiration I was stressed by work but i learnt that life is about living to the fullest and enjoying every moment.Thanks a million

Anonymous said...

Pretty insightful post. Never thought that it was this simple after all. I had spent a good deal of my time looking for someone to explain this subject clearly and you’re the only one that ever did that. Kudos to you! Keep it up

Anonymous said...

Valuable info. Lucky me I found your site by accident, I bookmarked it.

Anonymous said...

Do not usually post on blogs, but I would like to post it really forced me to not be so! very nice post.

Anonymous said...

Here is the 2nd moment I have encountered your web sites in the last couple weeks. Seems like I ought to bookmark it.

Anonymous said...

Hello everyone

First of all sorry that I write in this topic but I have some technical problem with the use of this forum. When I'm trying to enter in the appropriate topic, I received a 404 error It's about the only topic in which I was able to enter. Do you have the same problems? What's going on?

Anonymous said...

Hey,

I have a inquiry for the webmaster/admin here at blog.snbose.org.

Can I use part of the information from your post right above if I give a link back to this website?

Thanks,
Peter

Anonymous said...

Hi to you all reading this page was many exorbitant , reviews like this appreciate whoever reads this page:)

Anonymous said...

Hi there,

I have a question for the webmaster/admin here at blog.snbose.org.

May I use part of the information from your blog post right above if I give a backlink back to your site?

Thanks,
Mark

Anonymous said...

Maybe you'll want to place a twitter button to your website. I just marked down this blog, although I had to make this by hand. Just my advice.

Anonymous said...

Hi,

Thanks for sharing this link - but unfortunately it seems to be down? Does anybody here at blog.snbose.org have a mirror or another source?


Thanks,
Jack

Anonymous said...

Appreaciate for the work you have put into the article, it helps clear away a few questions I had.

Anonymous said...

Hey - I am certainly delighted to find this. great job!

Anonymous said...

This is a very interesting site. The content is very informative and I am so glad that I dropped by. Thanks!

______________________________
Virginia Beach Roofing

Anonymous said...

What a great web log. I spend hours on the net reading blogs, about tons of various subjects. I have to first of all give praise to whoever created your theme and second of all to you for writing what i can only describe as an fabulous article. I honestly believe there is a skill to writing articles that only very few posses and honestly you got it. The combining of demonstrative and upper-class content is by all odds super rare with the astronomic amount of blogs on the cyberspace.

Anonymous said...

New to blog.snbose.org and thought, what could be a better way to introduce myself than give my best regards to you all :--)

I just come from an other site with lots of very usefull advise about
[url=http://irights.info/index.php?q=node/847]copyrightwatch[/url], if someone also wants and needs to know about that field see my signature.

Anonymous said...

Hey - I am definitely glad to discover this. Good job!

Anonymous said...

J'aime vraiment votre article. J'ai essaye de trouver de nombreux en ligne et trouver le v?tre pour être la meilleure de toutes.

Mon francais n'est pas tres bon, je suis de l'Allemagne.

Mon blog:
rachat des credits puis taux de Rachat de credit

Anonymous said...

Thanks, I'm sure readers will find it helpful and [url=http://wilsont3ch.com]Free vector [/url]is also worth visiting if you're looking for free vector graphics.

Anonymous said...

Nice Post. This enter helped me in my university assignment. Thanks Alot

Anonymous said...

Climb aboard, old scout, and we go along faster.

Anonymous said...

I really like it when folks arrive collectively and share opinions, wonderful website, preserve it up.