Jagadis Chandra Bose

Born on November 30, 1858, in Mymensingh in Bengal, Jagadish Chandra Bose became one of the great scientific pioneers of colonial India. He studied in Calcutta and later in England, then taught physics at Presidency College in Calcutta, where he built a reputation for inventive experiments and determined scholarship.

Bose is remembered for important early work on radio and microwaves, including experiments that helped demonstrate how electromagnetic waves could be generated and detected. He later turned deeply to plant physiology, designing sensitive instruments such as the crescograph to measure tiny plant responses and arguing that living tissues shared underlying patterns of reaction. His range of interests also extended to writing, making him an unusual figure who linked science, imagination, and public curiosity.

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and in 1917 founded the Bose Institute in Calcutta, an institution created to support scientific research in India. He died on November 23, 1937, but his legacy still stands out for its originality, its independence, and its belief that science should cross boundaries rather than stay inside them.