Homi Jehangir Bhabha (1909-1966)
Homi Jehangir Bhabha is remembered as the most important
exponent and visionary of the Indian nuclear programme. He is credited with
designing the architecture of the Indian nuclear research programme. He was a
physicist par excellence. Initially he had deeply studied cosmic rays while
studying at Cambridge. Later he learned of the discovery of fission.
Bhabha's
childhood and education
Bhabha was born to a wealthy Parsi family on 30 October
1909. His father Jehangir Bhabha was a well-known lawyer of his time in Bombay.
Homi Bhabha was brought up in an atmosphere of academics and learning. He was
initiated to literature, fine arts, music and painting during his formative
years.
Homi's schooling was at the Cathedral and John Connon School
in Bombay. He later took admission into The Elphinstone College in Bombay.
Later, he joined The Royal Institute of Science. Homi studied Mechanical
Engineering in Cambridge.
He was interested in Mathematics and theoretical physics as
subjects and thus had no heart to study engineering. He wrote a letter to his
father to allow him to pursue theoretical physics. His father asked him to
complete his engineering and then go for it. Eventually after completing his
engineering course, Homi Bhabha did his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from
Cambridge. During his stay and research, Bhabha travelled extensively. During
his travel, he met several great physicists and science luminaries of the time.
The interactions with the who's who of the then leading scientific community
lay a profound foundation of scientific learning in Homi. Most of the
interactions were with the leading physicists of the time and physics being
very close to his heart, he became immensely interested in the study of atoms,
quantum theory and nuclear physics. He received Ph.D from Cambridge in 1935 in
theoretical physics.
Early
days as scientist
Bhabha-Heitler
Theory
In 1936, Bhabha met Walter Heitler, a German physicist.
Their collaboration resulted in the celebrated 'cascade theory of electron
showers'. They proposed that cosmic rays are composed of electrons, protons and
gamma rays and they hit the earth from all directions.
Positron
theory: Bhabha scattering
The major achievement of one of his papers was-- Bhabha's
investigation of electron positron scattering known as "Bhabha
Scattering".
Meson
theory
Bhabha had predicted the 'meson' in 1937. Bhabha himself has
proposed the name 'meson' instead of 'mesotron' as it was earlier called.
Mesons are unstable sub-atomic particles which are made up of quarks and
anti-quarks.
Bhabha
Equation
In the area of theoretical physics, he worked principally on
what came to be referred to as the 'Bhabha Equation'.
Homi Bhabha played a very critical role in the early days of
the development of quantum electrodynamics.
Return
to India
Bangalore
Days
In 1939 he came for a short holiday to India, but was unable
to go back as the second World War broke out. In India he took up the position
of Special Reader teaching theoretical physics in the Indian Institute of
Science in charge of the cosmic ray units.
In Bangalore, his work was mainly focused on cosmic and
elementary particles. He extensively used powerful mathematical techniques, and
took note of fluctuation from the mean. During this period he also did some
experimental work and designed Geiger counter telescopes and flew them on
American Air Force planes, of course with due permission, to try measure the
hard components of cosmic rays.
Bombay
days
Bhabha came to realize the immense potential that science
and technology had and the lasting role they alone could play to transform
India from an underdeveloped country to a developed one.
He contemplated deeply as to what was hindering the
widespread development of India and propagation of science. He came to a firm
conclusion that there was a lack of adequate support for scientific
infrastructure in India and here were the short comings that were
pulling India as a nation behind and not letting it advance. He then took
steps in that direction.
Notable
contributions and their impact
Bhabha founded the Tata Institute of Fundamental research
(TIFR). It helped India produce its very own scientists and experts who steered
India towards self-reliant nuclear power generation, and other scientific
fields. He was eventually successful in persuading Jawaharlal Nehru enact in
Parliament the Atomic Energy Bill, creating the Atomic energy Commission (AEC).
Bhabha was made the first chairman. Nehru later established a separate Ministry
of Atomic Energy in August 1954. Bhabha was appointed secretary to this
ministry directly responsible to the Prime Minister of India.
Bhabha was very foresighted in building up resources
towards the Indian nuclear programme. He sent many scientists for training abroad
in the initial stages
He was also instrumental in defining the three-stage
programme in 1950 which formed the basis for India's nuclear development that
we see today.
He was a pioneering geologist of India. He wanted to conduct
thorough survey of natural resources, particularly minerals important for
atomic energy programme such as uranium, thorium, beryllium, graphite etc.
He also wanted to develop strong research schools in basic
sciences. He was keen to start a programme for instrumentation particularly
in electronics.
Bhabha was all for the use of nuclear energy for peaceful
purpose. He promoted nuclear energy control and also prohibition of atomic
bombs worldwide. He was completely against India using nuclear energy for
building atomic bombs even if the country had enough resources and capabilities
to do so. His vision was to harness the vast amounts of nuclear and atomic
energy to eradicate India's misery and poverty. In an incredibly short span of
two decades, he was able to realize his visions, of an increasingly
capable India to the area of nuclear power that he had formed in the
mid-forties.
Homi Bhabha was the unanimous choice for the
scientific advisory committee to the secretary general of the United nations
for the post of President of the conference. He went on to become a Governor of
the International Atomic Energy Agency at Vienna.
Achievements
Homi Bhabha achieved a lot in scientific research,
discoveries, organizational construction and nation building through the use of
science.
He was awarded honorary doctorate by several Indian and
foreign universities for his stellar contributions.
In 1941, he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of
London. His name was proposed by none other than C V Raman.
In 1948, he was felicitated with the Hopkins prize of the
Cambridge Philosophical Society.
He was elected the president of the Indian Science Congress
in 1951.
He was conferred with the Padma Bhushan in 1954 for the
advancement of nuclear energy in India.
Untimely
Death
On 24 January 1966, while he was on his way to Vienna, the
flight crashed on the Mount Blanc peak of the Alps Mountains in Switzerland and
Bhabha was no more.
At 56, he had left behind an organization which would for
years keep on doing the work he had started and contribute to the nation
building through advancements in nuclear science and technology.
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