Bangladesh Hall of Fame - Nuclear Scientist Meghnad Saha

Meghnad Saha - Great nuclear scientist born in Dhaka

Sir Harold Spencer-Jones, F.R.S.

"I well remember how, on the publication of his early and important paper on ionisation in stellar atmosphere, the late Professor Alfred Fowler drew my attention to it and emphasized its fundamental importance. And so it proved, for this paper was the stimulus to the work of Milne, R.H.Fowler, and others in subsequent years. In fact, almost all work on stellar atmosphere has been based on it, either directly or indirectly. The paper provided a new method of attack and opened the way to the solution of many problems that had been puzzling."

Innovation: His theory of high-temperature ionization of elements and its application to stellar atmospheres, expressed in the Saha equation, is fundamental to modern astrophysics; subsequent development of his ideas has led to increased knowledge of the pressure and temperature distributions of stellar atmospheres. He invented an instrument to measure the weight and pressure of solar rays. He produced the famous equation which he called 'equation of the reaction - isobar for ionization' which later became known as Saha's "Thermo-Ionization Equation".

Great Achievement: In 1919 American Astrophysical Journal published his research paper - "On Selective Radiation Pressure and it's application". Slowly his expertise became astrophysics. And "Saha ions theory" was published. By 1920, Meghnad Saha established himself as one of the leading scientist in physics. Saha went abroad and stayed for two years. He spent time in research at Imperial College, London and at a research laboratory in Germany. Saha’s contributions to astrophysics were widely recognized and in 1927, Meghnad was elected as a fellow of London's Royal Society.

Saha was the leading spirit in organizing the scientific societies like the 'National Academy of Science' (1930), 'Indian Institute of Science' (1935) and the 'Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science' (1944). In 1947, he established Institute of Nuclear Physics which later was named after him as Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics. He took the first effort to include Nuclear Physics in the curriculum of higher studies of science. For the sake of development of science he joined politics and in 1951 was elected as a member of the Parliament. This great scientist died in 1956. He was the chief architect of river planning in India. He prepared the original plan for Damodar Valley Project. ...More >>>