Short Summary :
The co-inventor of radio, progenitor of the wireless communication system used in 5G, and the forefather of biophysics and plant neurobiology, the first scientist of modern India, Sir J C Bose, was a “lapsed scientist” during his lifetime, resurrected many decades after his death. Author Sudipto Das digs deep into Bose’s life to demystify the “Boseian” myth.
Synopsis:
In an ironic turn of events, the first scientist of modern India did not survive long either in the memory of his countrymen or in the mind of the scientific fraternity across the world. Perhaps Sir J C Bose paid the price for defying the norm. His life is a story of defiance, breaking stereotypes, shattering boundaries and finding a grand unity in everything that baffles us with its apparent diversity. Einstein, Romain Rolland and G B Shaw were all fascinated by him, but not as much by his science.
Termed a “lapsed scientist” during his lifetime and resurrected many decades after his death, Bose was the co-inventor of radio, the world’s first patentee of semiconductor diodes, later avatars of which are at the core of all electronics today, progenitor of the world’s first millimetre wave wireless communication system predating 5G by a century, and undoubtedly the forefather of the interdisciplinary fields like biophysics, plant neurobiology, and plant cognition.
Bose’s life was intertwined with India’s during a very turbulent phase while she readied herself for freedom, awakening and uniting her folks. Intriguingly connected to Swami Vivekananda, Rabindranath Tagore and also two extraordinary western ladies, one a revolutionary Irish nun who chose India as her battleground and the other a bohemian wealthy American socialite who dedicated her money and life to the promotion of Indian science and culture, Bose’s life is a labyrinth of many remarkable relationship unexplainable in conventional terms – there too he remained defiant. Both favoured and disfavoured by the English, loved and hated by his acquaintances, mythified and forgotten by his countrymen, Bose was himself a contronym, evoking contradictory emotions depending on the context.
This book is an attempt at demystifying the “Boseian” myth.
