Bangladesh Hall of Fame - Great Physicist Satyendranath Bose

Satyendranath Bose - Developed Bose-Einstein Statistics at Dhaka University

Bose sent his paper Planck's Law and the Hypothesis of Light Quanta (1924) to Einstein, where he wrote a covering letter saying:- Respected Sir, I have ventured to send you the accompanying article for your perusal and opinion. You will see that I have tried to deduce the coefficient .. in Planck's law independent of classical electrodynamics.

Bose was appointed as a Reader in physics at the University of Dhaka in 1921 and taught there until 1945, being a professor and head of the physics department from 1927.

Superb Contribution: He wrote this paper while working in University of Dhaka. Only four pages long derives Planck's formula and was able to derive the formula for radiation from Boltzmann's statistics. The paper, and his method of deriving Planck's radiation formula, was enthusiastically endorsed by Einstein who saw at once that Bose had removed a major objection against light quanta.

An important consequence of Einstein's response to Bose's article was that his application to the University of Dhaka for two years research leave beginning in 1924 was approved. Much progress had been made by Einstein following his receipt of Bose's paper for he was able to see how the ideas could be taken forward.

Great Achievement: The paper was translated into German by Einstein and submitted with a strong recommendation to the Zeitschrift für Physik. Einstein extended Bose's treatment to material particles whose number is conserved and published several papers on this extension.

Bose published on statistical mechanics leading to the Einstein-Bose statistics. Dirac coined the term boson for particles obeying these statistics. Through these terms his name is rightly known and remembered, for indeed his contributions are remarkable, especially given the fact that he made his important discoveries working in isolation from the mainstream developments in Europe. ...More >>>