Meghnad Saha - A Pioneer in Astrophysics

“The impetus given to astrophysics by Saha’s work can scarcely be overestimated, as nearly all later progress in this field has been influenced by it and much of the subsequent work has the character of refinements of Saha’s ideas.”

S. Rosseland in Theoretical Astrophysics (Oxford University Press, 1939)

“Scientists are often accused of living in the “Ivory Tower” and not troubling their mind with realities and apart from my association with political movements in my juvenile years, I had lived in ivory tower up to 1930. But science and technology are as important for administration now-a-days as law and order. I have gradually glided into politics because I wanted to be of some use to the country in my own humble way.”

Meghnad Saha

“He (Saha) was extremely simple, almost austere, in his habits and personal needs. Outwardly, he sometimes gave an impression of being remote, matter of fact, and even harsh, but once the outer shell was broken, one invariably found in him a person of extreme warmth, deep humanity, sympathy and understanding; and though almost altogether unmindful of his own personal comforts, he was extremely solicitous in the case of others. It was not in his nature to placate others. He was a man of undaunted spirit, resolute determination, untiring energy and dedication.”

D. S. Kothari in Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the National Institute of Sciences of India, Vol .2, New Delhi, 1970

‘Meghnad Saha’s place in the history of astrophysics and in the history of modern science in India is unique’, wrote Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (1910-95). Saha’s theory of thermal ionisaiton, which explained the origin of stellar spectra, was one of India’s most important contributions to world science during the 20th century. It was an epoch-making discovery. Arthur Stanley Eddington (1882-1944), while writing on stars in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, described Saha’s theory of thermal ionisaiton as the twelfth most important landmark in the history of astronomy since the first variable star (Mira Ceti) discovered by Saha made important contributions in different branches of physics. Saha (jointly with B.N. Srivastava) wrote the renowned textbook, entitled, Treatise on Heat, which was originally published in 1931 under the title, A Text Book on Heat. It was Saha who first started the teaching and training in nuclear physics in the country. The first cyclotron in the country was built with Saha’s initiatives. Saha was a great institution builder. Among the institutions that he built were: National Academy of Sciences, India, at Allahabad, Indian Physical Society, Kolkata, National Institution of Sciences of India (which was later renamed Indian
National Science Academy), New Delhi, Indian Science News Association, Kolkata, and Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata. Saha was an active member of the National Planning Committee constituted by the Indian National Congress in 1938 with Jawaharlal Nehru as its Chairman. He was the Chairman of the Indian Calendar Reform Committee constituted by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research in 1952. He was an elected Independent Member of the Indian Parliament. He advocated large-scale industrialisation for social development.

Meghnad Saha was born on October 06, 1893 in the village of Seoratali in the Dhaka (then Dacca) district (now in Bangladesh) of undivided India. He was the fifth child of his parents, Jagannath Saha and Bhubaneswari Devi. His father, Jagannath, was a petty shopkeeper. Given their social and economic background his parents had neither the means nor the inclination for educating their children beyond the primary education. Saha’s elder brother Jainath, after failing to pass the matriculation examination, started working in a jute company on a monthly salary of Rs.20. His second brother had to discontinue his school education in order to help his father in running the shop. At the age of seven Saha joined the village primary school and from the very beginning he demonstrated an unusual aptitude for learning.

Radharani Saha, wife of Saha,

After the completion of his primary education there was no certainty that his education would continue further. Their parents would have preferred to have him work in the family’s grocery shop. In any case they did not see any use of further education in running the shop. Moreover there was no middle school nearer to his village. The nearest middle school was at Simulia, which was 10 kms away from his village. Saha’s parents did not have the means to take care of the expenses of his boarding and lodging. At this stage his elder brother Jainath came in his rescue by locating a sponsor in Ananta Kumar Das, a local doctor. The kind-hearted doctor agreed to provide Saha free boarding and lodging in his house provided Saha washed his own plates (a condition that reflected the prevailing rigid caste system) and attend minor household works including the taking care of the cow. Saha readily accepted all the conditions as he had a strong urge to continue his studies further. Every weekend he used to visit his village. When the village became flooded he would row all the way, otherwise he would simply walk down. Saha completed his middle school by topping the list of successful candidates in the entire district of Dhaka. As a result he secured a scholarship of Rs.4 per month. In 1905 Saha came to Dhaka, where he joined the Collegiate School, a government school. His elder brother sent him a monthly allowance of Rs.5, it was indeed a great sacrifice on his part, as his total monthly salary was Rs.20. The Purba Banga Baisya Samiti gave another Rs.2 per month. So Saha had Rs.11 to manage his food, lodging and other expenses.

There were widespread political disturbances in Bengal in 1905. In this year Lord Curzon, the then Viceroy of British India, had decided to partition Bengal. Saha, like many others, was affected by this political upheaval. He, along with some other students, were rusticated from the Collegiate School, because of their participation in the demonstration against the visit of the Bengal Governor, Sir Bamfylde Fuller, to the school. It is not certain whether Saha actually participated in the demonstration or not, because there is another version of the story. According to this version, Saha did not take part in the demonstration. On that fateful day as usual he had gone to school barefooted. For Saha it was a usual practice, as he had not enough money to buy shoes. But on that day the authorities took it as a deliberate insult directed against the Governor. Besides being rusticated Saha was deprived of his scholarship. Fortunately a private school, named Kishori Lal Jubilee School, accepted Saha with a free studentship and a stipend. In 1909 Saha passed the Entrance Examination from Kishori Lal Jubilee School standing first amongst all the candidates from erstwhile East Bengal.

In school Saha’s favourite subject was mathematics and he also liked history. He was particularly fond of reading Todd’s Rajasthan. He used to be fascinated by the heroic tales of Rajput and Maratha warriors. Among his favourite books were Rabindranath Tagore’s Katha O Kahini, which glorifies the values of the Rajput and Maratha warriors and Madhusudan Dutt’s epic poem Meghnad Badh. During his school days Saha also attended the free Bible classes conducted by the Dhaka Baptist Mission. He stood first in one of the competitive examinations of Bible conducted by the Mission and received a cash prize of Rs.100.

After passing the Intermediate Examination of the Calcutta University in 1911 from the Dhaka College, Dhaka, Saha joined the Presidency College at Kolkata (then Calcutta). Among his classmates was Satyendranath Bose, of the Bose-Einstein Statistics fame. Prasanta Chandra Mohalanobis, the founder of the Indian Statistical Institute, was his senior by a year. His teachers included Prafulla Chandra Ray in chemistry and Jagadis Chandra Bose in physics. Saha passed his BSc Examination with Honours in Mathematics in 1913 and MSc (Applied Mathematics) Examination in 1915. Saha stood second in order of merit in both the examinations. The first position in both cases went to S.N. Bose.

With President Rajendra Prasad

Saha was appointed lecturer in the Department of Applied Mathematics in 1916 in the University College of Science. The foundation stone of the University College of Science was laid down on 27 March 1914 just four days before Asutosh Mookerjee laid down his office as Vice Chancellor of the University. It may be noted here that Mookerjee who was the Vice Chancellor of the Calcutta University during 1906-14 and then again during 1921-23. Both Saha and S.N. Bose, who also joined the Department as a lecturer, got themselves transferred to the Physics Department, where a year later C.V. Raman joined as Palit Professor of Physics. After joining the physics department Saha started giving lectures to the post-graduate classes on topics like hydrostatics, the figure of the Earth, spectroscopy and thermodynamics. For teaching physics to the postgraduate classes, Saha had to learn it himself first, as he studied physics only in the undergraduate classes. It was a great challenge indeed. Besides teaching Saha also started doing research. It was not an easy task. In those days there was no experimental laboratory in the Department of Physics of the University College of Science. He had only one ‘research facility’ that is the wellequipped Library of the Presidency College. Saha had no guide for supervising his research work. He totally depended on his knowledge acquired from private studies. During this period Saha did not have enough money to pay for publication of his research paper in foreign journal. To quote Saha :

“By the end of 1917, I had written a long essay on `Selective Radiation Pressure’ elaborating on theory of the role of radiation pressure’ acting on the atom selectively and compensating the action of gravity on solar atoms. This paper was sent to the Astrophysical Journal for publication, but the editors replied that as the paper was rather long, it could be published only if I were willing to bear a part of the printing costs which ran to three figures in dollars. Much as I would have liked to do so, it was not possible me to find out so much money as my salary was small and I had to maintain my old parents and a younger brother who was studying within this salary. So I wrote to the editors of the Astrophysical Journal expressing my inability to pay the costs of printing, but never heard anything more about the publication of this paper nor was it returned to me. Years afterwards, in 1936, when I visited Yerkes Observatory, Dr. Morgan showed me the manuscript which was still being kept there. I got a short note published in the Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 50,220 (1919) and submitted a duplicate of the original article on `selective radiation pressure and problem of solar atmosphere’ ( Journal of the Department of Science, Calcutta University, 1919) sometime afterwards for publication in our own university journal which had no circulation worth mentioning. I am mentioning these facts because I might claim to be the originator of the Theory of Selective Radiation Pressure, though an account of above discouraging circumstances, I did not pursue the idea to develop it. E.A. Milne apparently read a note of mine in Nature 107, 489 (1921) because in his first paper on the subject `Astrophysical Determination of Average of an Excited Calcium Atom, in Month. Not. R. Ast. Soc., Vol.84, he mentioned my contribution in a footnote, though nobody appears to have noticed. His exact words are: `These Paragraphs develop ideas originally put forward by Saha’.”

Initially Saha worked on diverse topics as reflected from the titles of his published research papers as indicated below:

• “On Maxwell’s Stresses” ( Philosophical Magazine, 1917), this paper was based on his studies of the electromagnetic theory of radiation;
  
• “On the Limit of Interference in the Fabry-Perot Interferometer” ( Physical Review, 1917),
  
• “On A New Theorem in Elasticity” ( Journal of the Asiatic Society, Bengal, 1918),
  
• “On the Dynamics of the Electron” ( Phil. Mag. 1918)
  
• “On the Pressure of Light” ( Journal of the Asiatic Society, Bengal, 1928)
  
• “On the Influence of Finite Volume of Molecules on the Equation of State” ( Phil. Mag , 1918). This paper was jointly written with S.N. Bose.
  
• “On the Mechanical and Electro-dynamical Properties of the Electron” ( Physical Review, 1919);
  
• “On the Radiation Pressure and the Quantum Theory” ( Astrophysical Journal, 1919);
  
• “On the Fundamental Law of Electrical Action” ( Phil. Mag. 1919).

Based on his above work Saha submitted his thesis for the degree of Doctor of Science of the Calcutta University in 1918. He was awarded the degree in 1919. The same year he was awarded the Premchand Roychand Scholarship for his dissertation on the ‘Harvard Classification of Stellar Spectra’. While working on diverse topics he was also preparing for his main work in astrophysics. For this work he profited from reading Agnes Clarke’s two popular books on astronomy and astrophysics. He had also read Planck’s Thermodynamics and Nernst’s Das Neue Warmestaz and research papers of Niels Bohr and Arnold Sommerfeld on the quantum theory of atom. He published four papers on his astrophysical research in the first six months of 1920 in the Philosophical Magazine viz. “Ionisation of the Solar Chromosphere” (March 04, 1920), “On the Harvard Classification of Stars” (May 1920), “On Elements in the Sun” (22 May 1920) and “On the Problems of Temperature-Radiation of Gases” (25 May 1920). In these papers Saha formulated his Theory of Thermal Ionisation. His thesis on the ‘Origin of Lines in Stellar
Spectra’ won him the Griffith Prize of the Calcutta University in 1920.

It is interesting to note here that Saha, jointly with S.N. Bose prepared an English translation of Einstein’s papers on theory of relativity and got it published in a book form. Incidentally their translation of Einstein’s work on the theory of relativity happens to be the first on record. Chandrasekhar wrote : “…In 1919, only three years, after the founding of the general theory of relativity, Saha and S.N. Bose should have taken the time and the effort to translate and publish Einstein’s papers which have since become epochal. At a celebration of the Einstein centennial at Princeton University, three years ago, reference was made to a Japanese translation of Einstein’s papers as the first on record and I was glad that I was able to correct the impression. A Xerox copy of the Saha-Bose translation is now in the Einstein Achieves at Princeton”.

The Premchand Roychand Scholarship of the Calcutta University awarded in 1919 enabled Saha to spend about two years in Europe. He first went to London where he spent about five months in the laboratory of Alfred Fowler (1868-1940). From London he moved to Berlin where he worked in Walther Nernst’s Laboratory.

For a long time after Saha published his work on thermal ionization theory, the European scientific community used to believe that Saha did this work under the supervision of Albert Fowler. For example in 1972 while commenting on Saha’s paper on the ionization in the solar chromosphere, A.J. Meadows in his biography of Sir Norman Lockyer wrote : “Shortly after Lockyer’s death, an Indian physicist M.N. Saha, came to work under Fowler at Imperial College. The paper he wrote during this visit … showed how the spectra of stars could be understood in terms of the new quantum theory of the atom together with the dissociation hypothesis. After some initial opposition, his results were rapidly accepted. The theory showed that both temperature and pressure affected the dissociation of atoms in stellar atmospheres. So both Lockyer and his opponents had been partly right. It is only fair to Lockyer to add that the influence of temperature on stellar spectra is much more marked than of pressure.”

Medows’ observation was far from truth. To quote D. S. Kothari : “It is pertinent to remark that the ionization theory was formulated by Saha working by himself in Calcutta, and the paper quoted above was communicated by him from Calcutta to the Philosophical Magazine - incorrect statements to the contrary have sometimes been made. (Saha’s first visit to Europe was made a couple of months later.) Further papers soon followed. It is not too much to say that the theory of thermal ionization introduced a new epoch in astrophysics by providing for the first time, on the basis of simple thermodynamic consideration and elementary concepts of the quantum theory, a straight forward interpretation of the different classes of stellar spectra in terms of the physical condition (temperature and to a lesser extent pressure) prevailing in the stellar atmospheres.”

To describe how Saha got the idea of working on this topic and when he completed his work we quote Saha rather extensively:

“It was while pondering over the problems of astrophysics, and teaching thermodynamics and spectroscopy to the MSc classes that the theory of thermal ionization took a definite shape in my mind in 1919. I was a regular reader of German Journals, which had just started coming after four years of first world war, and in course of these studies, I came across a paper by J.Eggert in the Physikalische zeitschrifts (p.573) Dec. 1919, “ Uber den Dissociationzustand der Fixterngase” in which he applied Nernst’s Heat Theorem to explain the high ionization in stars due to high temperatures, postulated by Eddington in course of his studies on stellar structure.

Eggert, who was a pupil of Nernst and was at the time his assistant, had given a formula for thermal ionization, but it is rather strange that he missed the significance of ionization potential of atoms. Importance of which was apparent from the theoretical work of Bohr, and practical work of Franck and Hertz which was attracting a good deal of attention in those days…Eggert used Sackur’s formula of the chemical constant for calculating that of the electron, but in trying to account for multiple ionization of iron atoms in the interior of stars on this basis, he used very artificial values of ionization potential.

While reading Eggert’s paper I saw at once the importance of introducing the value of ionization potential in the formula of Eggert, for calculating accurately the ionization, single or multiple, of any particular element under any combination of temperature and pressure.

I thus arrived at the formula which now goes by my name. Owing to my previous acquaintance with chromospheric and stellar problems, I could at once see its application. I prepared in the course of six months of 1919 (February to September) four papers and communicated them for publication in the Philosophical Magazine from India within August to September.” “I had no personal acquaintance with Prof. A. Fowler except that I had read his paper on the spectrum of ionized helium. “On my arrival in England, I saw Prof. Albert Fowler who at first thought that I had come to work for the DSc degree of the London University like other Indian students working under him. But when I explained to him that I wanted to work there only for a short period to obtain verification of my theory, he did not show himself very enthusiastic, but allowed me to read and work in his laboratory. Probably he had not much time to listen to me at the first meeting. This was in November of 1920. If you look at the records of Imperial College, you will find that I never got my name registered for my degree work. In the meantime, my first paper “Ionization in the Solar Chromosphere” communicated from India had appeared in Phil. Mag, thanks to a personal call which I made on Mr. Francis, the publisher of the journal. After its publication, Prof. Fowler began to take a more lively interest in my work and in my views.”

In November 1921 Saha returned to India and joined the University of Calcutta as Khaira Professor of Physics, a new Chair created from the endowment of Kumar Guruprasad Singh of Khaira. But Saha did not stay long in Kolkata. He moved to Allahabad in 1923 as Head of the Department of Physics. Saha’s decision to move out of Kolkata was mainly because there were no financial grants for carrying out research. Though Asutosh Mookerjee could create additional chairs out of donations but the Government did not approve his plan for expansion. The then Governor Lord Ronaldshay, while praising the work done in the post-graduate departments of the Calcutta University, said: “In a poor country there are obvious limits to the extent to which such studies can be financed by public funds. The legislature will, I hope, be prepared to make some additional contribution towards the university in the present difficulties. But the legislature itself with extremely exiguous resources is faced with many urgent demands. And under the circumstances it appears to me that the university may have to consider whether it is bound to provide post-graduate teaching on every subject in which it is prepared to examine and confer awards…” Irrespective of Governor’s assurance there was no increase in the funds allocated to the Calcutta University. In 1922 the Government was willing to give an additional grant of two-and-a-half lakh. But the grant was subjected to certain conditions and which were not acceptable to Asutosh Mookerjee. While declining the offer Mookerjee said: “We will not take the money. We shall retrench and we shall live within our means. We shall go from door to door and make the people of Bengal realise their responsibility. Our Post-graduate teachers will starve themselves rather than give up their freedom.” Under these circumstances Saha’s decision to leave Calcutta evoked adverse feelings. The Calcutta Review made scathing attack on Saha’s decision to leave Kolkata. However, it may be noted that Saha before leaving the Calcutta University wrote to its Syndicate : “I am however, willing to continue to serve my alma mater, provided the university is willing to grant me a graded scale of pay namely Rs. 650-50-1000 plus Rs. 15,000 to be placed immediately at my disposal as my personal research grant.” The Syndicate rejected his request stating that “….in view of the present financial position of the university and in view of the claims of other university teachers, his request cannot be complied with.” And so finally Saha went to the Allahabad University. At Allahabad before he could start research work he had to improve the workshop, the laboratory and the library. Moreover, he found hardly any time for research after discharging heavy teaching responsibilities. But Saha was not to be detracted by adverse conditions. And very soon research papers started appearing from Saha and his students. Among his collaborators at Allahabad were N.K. Sur, P.K. Kichlu, D.S. Kothari, R.C. Majumdar, Atmaram, K.B. Mathur and B.D. Nag Choudhary. After his becoming Fellow of the Royal Society in 1927, the Governor of the United Province, Sir William Morris provided a research grant of Rs. 5,000 per year to Saha’s Department. At Allahabad, besides continuing his research work on astrophysical problems, he initiated and organized research in several other branches of physics viz. statistical mechanics, atomic and molecular spectroscopy, electron affinity of electro-negative elements, active modification of nitrogen, high temperature dissociation of molecules propagation of radio waves in ionosphere and physics of the upper atmosphere. It is here that Saha wrote his famous textbook, A Treatise on Heat, which was first published in 1931 under the title of A Textbook of Heat. The book was written jointly with B.N. Srivastava. C.V. Raman in his foreword to the book wrote : “By undertaking the necessarily laborious task of producing a systematic and up-to-date treatise on the theory of heat, Prof. Saha has earned a claim to the gratitude of the wide circle of readers both in and outside of India, who it is confidently hoped, will study this book and appreciate its merits.” A concise version of this book was published for science graduates. It was tilted Junior Text Book of Heat. He wrote another book (jointly with N.K. Saha ) titled Treatise on Modern Physics. At Allahabad Saha established the United Province Academy of Sciences in 1930. Interestingly the suggestion for establishing such an Academy had come from the Governor of the United Province, Sir Malcolm Hailey. While addressing the scientists of the United Province gathered at Allahabad on the occasion of the Indian Science Congress Association Malcolm said : “Now I am well aware that there are definite limits to the extent to which the efforts of our research workers or students can be directed to these problem (of economic and utilitarian value), and I am also well aware that coordination of their labours cannot be directed from outside. It must be voluntary effort, or at the most, it must be advice given by some Academy of Science which will contain authoritative representatives of all the specialized branches of scientific activity now at work in the province. But if some form of visible co-ordination could be attempted, and if it could be proved to the public that science workers were contributing at least some of their energies in the direction I have suggested, then I believe we should have a far more effective case in calling for that public support and private liberality on which the further progress of scientific work must depend.”

Saha returned to the Calcutta University in July 1938. He became the Palit Professor and Head of the Department of Physics. At that time Shyama Prasad Mookerjee was the Vice Chancellor of the University and who was soon to be succeeded by Sir Mahammed Azizul Haque. After joining Saha immediately got involved in organizing research in the Palit Laboratory. He also took the task of remodeling the MSc syllabus in physics. Saha introduced a general and a special paper in nuclear physics in 1940. One may note that, the phenomenon of the fission, was discovered in 1939 by Otto Hahn (1879-1968) and Fritz Strassmann (1902-80). Saha also added a general paper in quantum mechanics. Commenting on Saha’s research work at the Calcutta University D.S. Kothari wrote: “His researches in Calcutta were concerned largely with the systematics of atomic nuclei, particularly beta-activity, the propagation of electromagnetic waves in the ionosphere, and the problem of the solar corona.”

Saha was a great institution builder. He made the Physics Department of the Allahabad University, which he joined in 1923, as one of the most active centres of research in the country, particularly in the field of spectroscopy. The Department attracted students from all over the country. In 1911 Saha founded the UP Academy of Sciences at Allahabad, which was later renamed as National Academy of Sciences, India. The Academy, which was inaugurated on March 1, 1932, was modelled on the lines of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Saha was its first President. In 1933 Saha founded the Indian Physical Society at Calcutta. The Society published the Indian Journal Physics. Eminent scientists like Raman, Saha and Krishnan regularly contributed their important papers to the Indian Journal of Physics. With Saha’s initiative National Institute of Sciences of India was established in Calcutta. Its formation was formally announced on January 7, 1935 in the Senate Hall of the Calcutta University under the Chairmanship of the J.H. Hutton. L.L. Fermor was elected the first president of the Institute. The formation of such an All India Academy of Sciences was first proposed by Saha in his Presidential Address of the Indian Science Congress Association in Mumbai (Bombay) in 1934. The National Institute of Sciences was later renamed as the Indian National Academy of Sciences and its headquarters were transferred to New Delhi. Saha was closely associated with the planning and establishment of the Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute, a constituent laboratory of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, at Kolkata. In 1944 Saha was elected the Honorary Secretary of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science and he was its President during 1946- 50. Saha became the full-time Director of the Laboratories of the Association in 1952, a post he held till his death. Under the leadership of Saha, there was a large-scale expansion of the activities of the Association. As President of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science he built its modern laboratories.

Saha played a significant role in the establishment of departments of Radio Physics and Electronics and Applied physics of the Calcutta University.

In 1950 Saha founded the Institute of Nuclear Physics. The Foundation Stone of the Institute was laid by Dr. Shyama Prasad Mookherjee the then Civil Supply Minister of the Government of India. The institute, which was formally inaugurated by Irene Joliot-Curie on January 11, 1950, was originally situated in the campus of the Calcutta University. Among those who attended the inauguration ceremony were Robert Robinson and J.D. Bernal.

It was Saha, who first introduced nuclear physics in the MSc physics syllabus of the Calcutta University in 1940. He also started a post-MSc course in nuclear science for the country. He initiated steps for building a cyclotron, the first of its kind in the country.

The Conference of Scientific workers in Britain held in July 1946 led to the formation of the World Federation of Scientific Workers. Saha had participated in this Conference and after coming back to India he wrote editorials in the Science and Culture urging Indian scientific workers to form a similar kind of organisation. Explaining the objectives of such an Association Saha wrote: “the aim and objects of the Association are for fuller use of science for national life – for education through meetings and for action in public field.” On some other occasion he wrote: “It is high time for the scientific workers in India that they exert their inherent right to live like decent citizen and shoulder responsibilities for the betterment of their motherland.” The Association for Scientific Workers (India) was eventually formed an 7th July 1947

Saha founded the Indian Science News Association at Calcutta in 1935. Its main objective was to disseminate science amongst the public. The Association started publishing its journal called Science and Culture. On receiving, a copy of the first issue of the Journal, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose wrote: “The appearance of Science and Culture is to be warmly welcomed not only by those, who are interested in abstract science but also by those who are concerned with nationbuilding in practice. Whatever might have been the views of our older “Nation builders” we younger folk approach the task of nation building in a thoroughly scientific spirit and we desire to be armed with all the knowledge which modern science and culture can afford us. It is not possible however, for political workers with their unending preoccupations to glean that knowledge themselves, it is therefore, for scientists and scientific investigators to come in their rescue.” Saha himself wrote more than 200 articles in Science and Culture on a wide range of topics which included: organization of scientific and industrial research, atomic energy and its industrial use, river valley development projects, planning the national economy, educational reforms and modification of Indian calendar. The journal is presently running in its 68th volume.

Saha wrote extensively on his vision of scientific economic planning for India. It was Saha who persuaded Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, then President of the Indian National Congress, to set up a National Planning Committee. At the beginning M. Visvesvaraya, the most celebrated Indian engineer, was the Chairman of the Committee. However, Saha thought that to have its impact the Committee should be headed by a powerful Congress leader and he persuaded Rabindranath Tagore to convince Jawaharlal Nehru to accept the Chairmanship of the Committee.

Saha was an advocate of the peaceful use of nuclear energy. He had initiated the first Parliament debate on this subject on 10th May 1954. Saha was against the establishment of the Atomic Energy Commission. He was of the view that the researches on nuclear energy could be undertaken in the university sector. In fact he wanted the ‘Indian Atomic Energy Act’ to be scrapped altogether. Saha wanted that the Government should first build up necessary infrastructure and trained manpower before it undertook such a programme. However, in spite of Saha’s opposition the Atomic Energy Commission was created in 1948 under the chairmanship of Homi J. Bhabha. Many people may agree with what D. M. Bose had to say in 1967. “The decision of the Prime Minister (Jawaharlal Nehru) to locate the Department of Atomic Energy and Atomic Energy Commission with Bhabha as Secretary of the former and Chairman of the latter must have caused some disappointment to Saha. Since 1935 Nehru and Saha cooperated in many fields of common interest, including the formation of the planning committee in 1938 by Subhash Chandra Bose with Nehru as Chairman and Saha as an important member. A growing estrangement with the Prime Minister with some of the later decisions may have been one of the factors, which decided Saha to enter politics in 1952. There can be no doubt, however, as the events shaped subsequently that the Prime Minister Nehru was undoubtedly right in entrusting Bhabha with the development of India’s plan for utilization of atomic energy. Bhabha identified himself completely with the development of atomic energy in India. Saha’s interest was many and varied.”

Saha was deeply concerned with the recurring disastrous floods in many Indian rivers. The extensive damage caused by floods in North Bengal in 1923 prompted Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray to organize relief operation under the aegis of North Bengal Relief Committee. Ray was able to collect a large fund from the general public for the relief work and he was assisted by Subhash Chandra Bose, Meghnad Saha and Satish Chandra Dasgupta. And it was while carrying out the relief work Saha got a first hand experience of the devastating power of floods. Saha wrote about his experience in newspapers and magazines. In his Presidential address to the Indian Science Congress in Mumbai in 1934 he drew specific attention to serious problems caused by floods. He also emphasized the need for a River Research Laboratory. Again in 1938, in his presidential address to the National Institute of Sciences of India he highlighted the danger posed by recurrent floods in Indian rivers particularly in the deltaic ones. In 1943 the flood in Bengal isolated Kolkata from rest of India and Saha wrote extensively on the issue. Saha’s writings and speeches made the government realize the gravity of the situation. As a result the Damodar Valley Enquiry Committee came into being in 1943. The Committee was chaired by the Maharaja of Burdwan. Saha was also a member of the Committee. Saha presented a plan for handling the Damodar river system before the Committee. He also wrote extensively on river control based on modern science and technology. He argued that the model of Tennessee river system under the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in USA could be adapted to the Damodar Valley. At the instance of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, the then member-in-charge of power and works in the Viceroy’s cabinet, the Government adopted a resolution to set up a Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) after the model of TVA. The DVC was set up in March 1948. Saha’s interest was not confined to Bengal rivers alone.

Saha’s work relating to reform of Indian calendar was very significant. Saha was the Chairman of the Calendar Reform Committee appointed by the Government of India in 1952 under the aegis of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. Other members of the Committee were: A. C. Banerjee, K. K. Daftari, J. S. Karandikar, Gorakh Prasad, R. V. Vaidya and N. C. Lahiri. It was Saha’s effort, which led to the formation of the Committee. The task before the Committee was to prepare an accurate calendar based on scientific study, which could be adopted uniformly throughout India. It was a mammoth task. The Committee had to undertake a detailed study of different calendars prevalent in different parts of the country. There were thirty different calendars. The task was further complicated by the fact that with calendar religion and local sentiments were involved. Nehru, in his preface to the Report of the Committee, which was published in 1955, wrote: “They (different calendars) represent past political divisions in the country…now that we have attained Independence, it is obviously desirable that there should be a certain uniformity in the calendar for our civic, social and other purposes and this should be done on a scientific approach to this problem.” Some of the important recommendations of the Committee were:

1. The Saka era should be used in the unified national calendar. (The year 2002 corresponds to the Saka era of 1923-24.)
   
   
2. The year should start from the day following the vernal equinox (occurs about March 21) day.
   
   
3. A normal year would consist of 365 days while a leap year would have 366 days. After adding seventy-eight to the Saka era, if the sum is
   divisible by four, then it is a leap year. But when the same becomes a multiple of 100 it would be a leap year when it is divisible by 400, otherwise it would be a common year.
   
   
4. Chaitra should be the first month of the year. From Chaitra to Bhadra each month would have thirty-one days and the rest to have thirty days.

According to Saha, large-scale industrialization was the only answer for improving the quality of life. He thought that India had no hope if she failed to develop science and technology. Saha wrote: “The philosophy of kindliness and service to our fellow-men was preached by all founders of great religions, and no doubt some great kings and ministers of religions in every country and at all ages tried to give effect to this (altruistic) philosophy. But the efforts were not successful, for the simple reason that the methods of production of commodities were too indifferent to yield plenty for all, which is an indispensable condition for practical altruism. We can, therefore, hold that so far as individual life is concerned, science has achieved a target aimed at by the great founders of religions in advanced countries of the world. The effects of maldistribution of wealth, due to historical causes, are being rapidly cured by introduction of social laws.”

In 1952 Saha was elected Member of the Parliament as an independent candidate from the North-West Calcutta constituency. Welcoming Saha’s election JBS Haldane said: “May I also be allowed to congratulate him on his recent successful reentry recently into politics. India (and Britain too) needs men who will bring some understanding of science to the government of the country. Even those who do not share his political views may rejoice that he can make his voice heard in the council of the people.” Many
wonder why Saha, an internationally known scientists decided to fight election.

Saha died suddenly due to a massive heart attack on his way to the office of the Planning Commission on 16 February 1956. As D. S. Kothari one of Saha’s illustrious students, wrote: “The life of Saha was in a sense an integral part of the growth of scientific research and progress in India and the effect of his views and personality would be felt for a long time to come in almost every aspect of scientific activity in the country. His dedication to science, his forthrightness and utter disregard of personal comforts in the pursuit of his chosen vocation will long remain an inspiration and an example.”

Books written by Meghnad Saha

1. The Principles of Relativity (with S.N. Bose) Calcutta University, Calcutta, 1920. (It was a translation of Einstein’s papers on theory of relativity).
   
2. Treatise on Heat (with B.N. Srivastava), Indian Press, Allahabad, 1931.
   
3. Junior Text-Book on Heat (with B.N. Srivastava), Indian Press, Allahabad, 1932.
   
4. Treatise on Modern Physics, Vol-1 (with N.K. Saha) Indian Press, Allahabad, 1934.
   
5. My Experience in Soviet Russia, Bookman Inc, Calcutta, 1947.

For Further Reading

1. Meghnad Saha by Santimay Chatterjee and Enakshi Chatterjee, National Book Trust, New Delhi 1984.
   
   
2. Meghnad Saha by S.B. Karmohapatra, Publications Division, Govt. of India, New Delhi, 1997
   
   
3. Meghnad Saha by D.S. Kothari in biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the National Institute of Sciences of India (Vol. 2), New Delhi 1970.
   
   
4. Professor Meghnad Saha, His Life, Work and Philosophy, Edited by Samarendra Nath Sen, Meghnad Saha 60th Birthday Committee, Calcutta, 1954.
   
   
5. Thirty Years of the Institute of Nuclear Physics, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, 1981.
   
   
6. Collected Scientific Papers of Meghnad Saha, Edited by Santimay Chatterjee, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi 1969.
   
   
7. Collected Works of Meghnad Saha Edited by Santimay Chatterjee, Orient Longman Ltd., Calcutta, 1982-1993.
   
   
8. Science and Culture, Golden Jubilee Volume, Indian Science News Association, Calcutta, 1985
   
   
9. Science & Culture, Vols. 1-21, Indian Science News Association, Calcutta, 1936-55.
   
   
10. Jawaharlal Nehru on Science, Edited by Baldev Singh, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi 1986.

Darashaw Nosherwan Wadia - Pioneer of Geological Investigations in India

“A giant among geologists, Darashaw Nosherwan Wadia was a great visionary who not only shaped our understanding of the geological making of the Indian subcontinent but also set the national agenda of geological activities when India won freedom.” K. S. Valdiya “Fortunately for India, it found in Wadia an eminent geologist of its own, who would enthuse generations of Indian geologists. To say that he was energetic and hardworking is perhaps an understatement; one found clambering up and down the Nanga Parbat area of the Himalayas, at the height of twelve thousand feet, when he was fifty.” Biman Nath

“It is granted to very few to live and to live fully to the last, and be revered and remembered after death. One such was Darashaw Nosherwan Wadia. His life was spent in unswerving worship of geology, the Stony Muse whose ardent votary he was. Through his hard and continuous labour over the years, he made important contributions to Indian geology and left a lasting impress on it. He remained unaffected in his simplicity and poise when honours, both at home and abroad, came his way.” K. K. Dar

Darashaw Nosherwan Wadia was one of those great geologists of the Geological Survey of India, whose pioneering work laid the foundation of geological investigations in India. What is important to note is that most of his observations and interpretations in those early days of Indian geology still hold good. Wadia’s career was a single-minded pursuit of his scientific interests and indefatigable effort. He climbed peak after peak in the Himalayas to understand their geology and their structure. Wadia explained the abnormal sequence of rock formations of varied ages in the North-Western Himalayas. He also offered an explanation for the formation of the unique knee-bend of the mountain chains around the knot called Nanga Parbat. For the first time he gave a detailed geological account of the districts of Chilas, Astor-Deosai and Hazara. Wadia’s devotion to the study of the Himalayas was unlimited. Wadia was a great visionary. He was responsible for the establishment of the Institute of Himalayan Geology in Dehradun and became its founder director (1968-69). The Institute was later renamed as the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology in Wadia’s memory. He was intimately associated with the establishment and functioning of the National Geophysical Research Institute at Hyderabad and the National Institute of Oceanography in Panaji, Goa. Wadia was the founder director of the Indian Bureau of Mines (1947) and the Atomic Minerals Division (1949-69). Wadia was an ardent advocate of a national policy for the search, utilization and conservation of mineral resources including gas, oil and water. He was an avid reader and wrote the first textbook on Indian geology that enthused generations of geologists. Wadia was extremely energetic and hardworking and lived a simple life. Wadia was born on October 23, 1883 at Surat, a historical town in Gujarat in a Parsee family. He was the fourth of nine children of his parents, Nosherwan and Cooverbai Wadia. He was a descendant of the well-known clan of the Wadias, the erstwhile shipbuilders of Surat. When the Wadias built ships in Surat, it was an important west-coast port for maritime trade and commerce. With the development of its dockyard in 1735, the city of Mumbai (then Bombay) became the centre of maritime trade and commerce in the west coast. Most of the Wadias shifted to Mumbai. Only a few families preferred to stay back at Surat. In Mumbai, the Wadias rose quickly in the ladder of social hierarchy. The Wadias occupied important positions in industry, commerce, and education. Ardseer Cursetjee (1807-1877), a member of the Wadia clan, was the first Indian to be elected as the Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) of London in 1841. Cursetjee was a naval architect and marine engineer. Wadia’s father, Nosherwan Wadia, was a Station Master at a small railway station. As there was not much scope of education where his father worked, Wadia was kept in Surat under the care of his randmother. Wadia first studied in a private Gujarati school and then in Sir J J English School to complete primary education. At the age of 11, Wadia joined the Baroda High School at Baroda, where his family shifted from Surat. At Baroda Wadia came under the influence of his elder brother, Munchershaw N. Wadia. From Munchershaw, who was a well-known educationist, Wadia imbibed thre important qualities of his life—a strong love for science, devotion to knowledge and a rational outlook. After completing his school education, at the age of 16, Wadia joined the Baroda College, which was then affiliated to Bombay University. From Baroda College, Wadia completed two BSc degrees. His first BSc degree, which he obtained in 1903, was in Zoology and Botany. He obtained his second BSc degree in 1905, which was in Botany and Geology. Wadia’s interest in geology was aroused by his teacher at the Baroda College, Adarjee M. Masani, a keen naturalist and Professor of Natural history. In those days Baroda College did not have sufficient facilities for imparting education in geology therefore whatever Wadia learned was mostly through selfstudy. At Baroda College, Wadia was also influenced by Aurobindo Ghosh, who was then a Professor of English. Aurobindo later turned a mystic, philosopher and saint. In 1905 Wadia was appointed Fellow of the Baroda College. He completed his MSc degree in Biology and Geology in 1906. The geological specimen kept in the Museum of Arts and Science at Baroda greatly helped Wadia to pursue his geological studies. The Museum was set up under the patronage of the then ruler of Baroda State, Maharaja Sayaji Rao Gaekwar. In 1907 Wadia joined the Prince of Wales Colege in Jammu in the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir as Professor of Geology. The Prince of Wales College was later renamed as Mahatma Gandhi College and now it is affiliated to the Jammu University. He served at the Prince of Wales College for 14 years. Besides geology, Wadia also taught English, a testimony of his command over the language. During his services at the College, Wadia spent his vacations in the foot-hills of the Himalayas to get famililarised with their geology. He also collected minerals, rocks and fossils to aid his teaching at the college and also to solve problems that emerged from his field trips. Commenting on Wadia’s teaching and research work in geology during his stay at Jammu, KS Valdiya, an eminent geologist, has written: “ He used to take his students on adventure trekking and investigative field trips in the Siwalik Hills of the Jammu region. It was in one of these ventures that he discovered a 3 metre long fossil tusk of an elephantine mammal Stegedon ganesa, a finding of crucial importance. He pursued his personal research on stratigraphy, structure and palaeontology of the Kashmir Himalaya with single-minded devotion. Having a very keen eye for observation, he worked towards identification of broad structural elements of the NW Himalaya.” The fossil tusk is now kept at the Museum of the Geology Department of the Jammu University. In 1921 Wadia left the Prince of Wales College, and joined the Geological Survey of India (GSI) in 1921 as Assistant Superintendent. He was 38. It has been reported that Wadia was the first Indian without any European degree to be appointed in the GSI. Wadia’s appointment provided him ample opportunities for carrying out investigations on the stratigraphy and tectonics of the northwestern Himalayas. Wadia embarked upon the arduous and challenging task of mapping and interpretation of the geology of North Western Himalayas. It was a very laborious work. Thus K. K. Dar wrote: “Nothing can speak so much of Wadia’s unremitting labour as the fact that when his first memoir was published in 1928 with his geological map, he was found to have covered not only the 2,000 square miles of the mountaineous Poonch State in the Middle and Lesser Himalayas, but an additional 2,100 square miles of the piedemount country in the adjacent parts of Punjab.” He made pioneering contributions. R. D West wrote: “wherever Wadia traveled in the Himalayas he was successful in throwing significant light on problems of stratigraphy and tectonics which had hitherto remained uninvestigated or unexplored.” Wadia authored about one hundred original research papers, monographs on various topics and the Records and Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India. Wadia’s work led to the understanding of the geological history of the northwestern Kashmir. He gave a detailed geological account of the terra-incognito that Chilas, Astor-Deosai and Hazara districts were then. Against all difficulties Wadia succeeded in the mapping of the geological structure and the rock and mineral composition of the Nanga Parbat and adjoining portions of Chilas in Gilgit district. The basic geological information on the Nanga Parbat gathered by Wadia has become the basis for future research on tectonics of the region. Wadia developed his explanation of the ‘knee-bend’ (or syntaxial turn) of the Himalayan mountain chains around the knot called Nanga Parbat. Wadia’s explanation differed from the earlier interpretations. The regional Himalayan trend in the Kashmiri PirPanjal is North-West to South-East. Further North-West the trend becomes North-South and then makes knee-bend to make the trend northeast-southeast in Hazara. This deeply inflexed knee-bend, which is called the Hazara or Jhelam Syntaxis, is a spectacularly unique orographic feature and which affects hundreds of kilometers of the Himalayan mountain system. Earlier Edward Suess, the eminent Swiss geologist, had suggested that the bend was a meeting or converging point of two distinct mountain systems, the Himalayas and Hindukush. Wadia gave a tectonic interpretation for the formation of the knee-bend. He suggested that the bend was produced by a loop-like bending around a central pivotal mass of the fold systems of Purana (older than 500 million years) and Carboniferous-Eocene (355 to 30 million years old) rock groups of the Middle and Inner Himalayas. Wadia’s explanations have been validated by more recent studies in structural analysis, metamorphism and geochronological dating. Wadia made important contributions on the geological setting and economic minerals of limestones found as island-like mass forms of older rocks amidst younger sedimentary rocks in the Sub-Himalayan Tertiary belt of Jammu. He prepared detailed geological map of the Dandili-Devgar hills in the Kotli area of Jammu region. He demonstrated that tectonic deformation in this area is of very recent origin and the topography is of very young in nature. Wadia discovered the existence of vast reservoir of sulphide ores of copper, nickel, lead and zinc. In 1928, Wadia discovered a very well-preserved skull of Actinodon from Gangamopteris beds of Lower Gondwana affinity. The discovery of this skull, which was found in association with fossil ganoid fish and pteridospermous plants, led to the fixing of the age of an important geological rock formation in the Kashmir Himalaya to the Permo-Carboniferous time (355 – 250 million years). As noted earlier, Wadia had discovered bones Stegodon ganesa Wadia’s contribution to the soil science in India was very significant. It was Wadia who not only noted the neglect of soil science in India but also showed the way for its rectification by his own writings. In 1935 Wadia, jointly with M. S. Krishnan and P. N. Mukherjee, published the first soil map of India. This was published by the Geological Survey of India and paved the way for later soil maps. Thus Wadia’s work had considerable bearing on agricultural development in the country. He represented India at the 3rd International Congress of Soil Science held at Oxford in 1935 and also participated in an excursion arranged by the Congress to study the soil profiles in England, Wales and Scotland. Wadia also participated in the 2nd International Congress of Carboniferous Stratigraphy at Heerlen in Holland. One of his major contributions was his textbook on geology for Indian students. The book was titled Geology of India for Students and it was published by Macmillans in 1919. A book on Indian geology was very much needed as there was no adequate material on the subject. In 1887, the Geological Survey of India, had published the work of the early pioneers of Indian geology, H. B. Medlicott and W. T. Blanford. This was revised by R. D. Oldham in 1893 and issued as the Manual of the Geology of India. (It may be noted that R. D. Oldham was the first Director of Geological Survey of India. Oldham had assumed his post in 1851). However, this manual had gone out of print and moreover it had become outdated, as more knowledge on the geology had gathered. Wadia realized the acute need of a textbook on Indian geology while he was teaching at the Prince of Wales College. Recalling his experience Wadia wrote: “a lecturer in geology of students preparing for the Punjab University examinations, I have constantly experienced great difficulty in the teaching of the geology of India, because of the absence of any modern adequate book on the subject.” For writing the book he was greatly encouraged by Sir T. H. Holland, FRS and C. C. Middlemiss. Wadia’s book, which proved to be a classic on the subject, reached its sixth edition in 1966. Commenting on the book, K. S. Valdya wrote: The erudite book he wrote—The Geology of India— published in 1919 by the Macmillans, London, distils his vast and intimate knowledge of the geology of the entire Indian subcontinent, embracing Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. This classical work, which had six editions, made him not only a celebrity but also a guru of countless generations of students of geology all over the world.” R. D. West, former Director, Geological Survey of India wrote: “Written, as are all his contributions, in matchless, and in places Churchillian style, it has had a profound influence on generations of students of geology, attracting them where others might have repelled, and stimulating them to take a keen interest in the subject of Indian geology.” His other important publications were: Syntaxis of North-Western Himalayas: Its Rocks, Tectonics and Orogeny (1931); Geology of Nanga Parbat and Gilgit District (1932); Cretaceous Volcanic Series in the Great Himalayan Range of Kashmir (1937); Structure of the Himalayas and of the North Indian Foreland (1938); Minerals and Metal Resources of India, United Nations Conference, New York (1949) and World Mining and Metallurgical Congress, London (1949). While working in the Geological Survey of India, Wadia spent his study leave (in 1926-1927) at the British Museum, where he worked on the vertebrate fossils collected from Potwar and Kashmir. During this period he also visited geological institutions in Germany, Austria and Czechslovakia and attended a course in Apline geology at the University of Geneva. In 1935 he visited China, Japan and USA and in 1937 he attended the International Geological Congress held at Moscow where he presented his famous paper on the “Tectonic Relations of the Himalayas with the North Indian Foreland.” After his retirement from the Geological Survey of India in 1938 he joined as the Government Mineralogist to the Government of Sri Lanka (then Ceylone). This gave him an opportunity to study the unique geology of an island in a stable continental region. His studies included accurate geological maps of the island and geological investigations concerning water supply, dam-sites and other engineering projects. It was Wadia who first produced the geological sketch map of Colombo. He showed four distinct units of geological formations viz. intrusive granites and charnockites; fundamental biotitegneiss of Vijayan series; laterite and laterite earth; and Pleistocene and recent alluvial gravel and coastal deposits. In 1945 Wadia was appointed the Geological Advisor to the national government of Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru. He initiated and formulated a mineral policy for the country. In 1963 the Government of India made him the first National Professor in geology. The government of India honoured him with the award of Padma Bhusan (1958). In 1957 Wadia was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. Among other awards he received were: the Back Award from the Royal Geographical Society (1934); the Lyell Medal of the Geological Society of London ((1943); the Joy Kishen Gold Medal of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Calcutta (1944); the Jagadis Chandra Bose Memorial Medal from the Royal Asiatic Society (1947); the Leopold von Buch Award of the German Geological Society (1960); Khaitan Gold Medal of the Asiatic Society (1964); the Sarvadhikari Gold Medal from Calcutta University (1964). Wadia was also the recipient of the Meghnad Saha Medal of the Indian National Science Academy and the P. N. Bose Memorial Medal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. He was awarded honorary degrees by a number of Indian Universities. The Royal Asiatic Society of Ceylon conferred upon him its Honorary Fellowship for his contributions to geology of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). He was a Commonwealth member of the Geological Society of London; President of the National Institute of Sciences of India (later renamed as Indian National Science Academy) during 1946-47; President of the Geology Section of the Indian Science Congress (1921 and 1938); General President of the Indian Science Congress (1942 and 1943); President of the Calcutta Geographical Society (1938); Inaugural President of Indian Society of Soil Sciences (1949); President of the Geological Society of India (1951-52); President of the Mining, Geological and Metallurgical Institute of India (1951-52). President of Geographers’ Association of India (1955); President of the XXII International Geological Congress at Delhi (1964); President of the Engineering Geological Society of India (1965-66) and President of the Geochemical Society of India (1965-67). He was the Chairman of the Indian National committee for Oceanic Research. He was a correspondent of the Geological Society of America and an honorary member of the German Geological Society and the Belgian Geological Society. Wadia died on June 15, 1969 at the age of 86. For Further Reading Valdiya, K. S. D. N. wadia. Resonance, Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 2-3, 2003. Thakur, V. C. Research Contributions of D. N. Wadia. Resonance, Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 65-75, 2003. Dar, K. K. Darashaw Nosherwan Wadia in Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy, Vo. 4, pp. 83- 100. New Delhi: Indian National Science Academy, 1976. D. N. Wadia—A Biography (Booklet) published by Indian Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun. Dr. D. N. Wadia Commemorative Volume. Kolkata: Mining, Geological and Metallurgical Institute, 1965. West, R. D. “D. N. Wadia—An Appreciation” in Dr. D. N. Wadia Commemorative Volume. Kolkata: Mining, Geological and Metallurgical Institute, 1965. Wadia, D. N. The Making of India—A review of Some Aspects of the Geological Structure of India. Presidential Address to the 29th Indian Science Congress. Reprinted in The Shaping of Indian Science: Indian Science Congress Association, Vol.1 (1914-47). Hyderabad: Universities Press (India) Pvt.Ltd, 2003. Wadia, D. N. Minerals’ Share in the War. Presidential Address to the 30th Indian Science Congress. Reprinted in The Shaping of Indian Science: Indian Science Congress Association, Vol.1 (1914- 47). Hyderabad: Universities Press (India) Pvt.Ltd, 2003. D.N. Wadia with his friend’s (Source : www.unescoparzor.comigppl.html)

Julius Robert Oppenheimer - A Great Synthesiser of Ideas

“Dr. Oppenheimer, I am pleased that you are here today to receive formal recognition for your many contributions to theoretical physics and to the advancement of science in our nation. Your leadership in the development of an outstanding school of theoretical physics in the United States and your contributions to our basic knowledge make your achievements unique in the scientific world.” President Lyndon Johnson while the presenting the US Atomic Energy Commission’s Enrico Fermi Award to Robert Oppenheimer on December 02, 1963.

“Any single one of the following contributions would have marked Oppenheimer out as a pre-eminent scientist: his own research work in physics; his influence as a teacher; his leadership at Los Alamos; the growth of the Institute for Advanced Study to a leading centre of theoretical physics under his directorship; and his efforts to promote a more common understanding of science. When all combined, we honour Oppenheimer as a great leader of science in our time. When all is interwoven with dramatic events that centred around him, we remember Oppenheimer as one of the most remarkable personalities of this century.” Abraham Pais “It is not possible to be a scientist unless you believe that knowledge of the world, and the power which this gives, is a thing which is of intrinsic value to humanity, and that you are using it to help in the spread of knowledge, and are willing to take the consequences.” Robert Oppenheimer

Julius Robert Oppenheimer was a first class theoretical physicist, a synthesiser of ideas, an inspiring teacher, an able scientific administrator, a nuclear policy-maker and an advocate of international arm control. However, Oppenheimer is mainly remembered for his association with the Manhattan Project. This project spearheaded by Oppenheimer led to the development of the atomic bomb. This was one of the most controversial scientific enterprises of the 20th century. The story of Oppenheimer or the story of how the atomic weapon was made, is really gripping. Oppenheimer was one of the most brilliant men of the twentieth century. Thus his longtime associate Charles Lauritsen said: “This man was unbelievable. He always gave you the answer before you had the time to formulate the question.” He was one of the most inspiring teachers of his time. The story of Oppenheimer’s life and work make a compelling reading. It is compelling not only because he headed a project that unleashed a terrifying power that changed the world for ever but it also clearly demonstrated what dominating role science would play in the world affairs. Oppenheimer was born on April 22, 1904 to a wealthy family in New York. In those days New York was the scientific and commercial capital of the USA. His father Julius Oppenheimer had come to the USA from Germany at the age of 17 in 1888. At the time of his arrival, Julius had no fortune. He possessed few job skills and he could speak little English. However, he prospered in his adopted country as a successful garment importer. To make a career, Julius was helped by his other family members, who were already in the USA. Two of his older cousins had come to New York about 10 years before Julius’ arrival. Julius Oppenheimer was quite active in many community affairs. He was interested in art and music. In his collection of paintings he had three Van Gogh’s. Oppenheimer’s mother, Ella Oppenheimer (nee Freedman) was a painter, who had studied in Paris. Oppenheimer attended the New York School for Ethical Culture. It is in this school Oppenheimer spent almost the whole period of his pre-college studies. The school, run by Felix Adler, a philosopher and an educator, was one of the best schools in New York. At all levels, the school curriculum stressed the responsibility of the individual to the larger society. In school he was taught language, literature including Greek and French literature, science, art and ethics. He had a true feel for language. He could learn a new language in a period of one or two months. He learnt Sanskrit. He had developed a keen interest in literature. He had even written some philosophical poems. Oppenheimer’s interest in science developed very early. Since his childhood he was always eager to explore the nature around him and to understand its different phenomena. Already at the age of five, Oppenheimer collected mineralogical specimens. It was his grandfather who made him interested in mineralogy. One of his biographers, Jack Rummel, wrote: “When he was five, his parents took him and his brother Frank back to Germany to visit his grandfather, Benjamin, who had remained in Europe after Julius Oppenheimer immigrated to the United States. His grandfather gave Robert a gift of a collection of minerals. The chiseled and glittering stones immediately captivated the boy. After he returned to the United States, he became a devoted amateur mineralogist, often touring the countryside during weekends in search of new samples to add to his collection. His fascination with geology and mineralogy became so strong that by his 11th birthday he had become an elected member of the New York Mineralogical Club. His first scientific paper was a report about minerals that he read to the club when he was 12.” After completing his school education in 1922, Oppenheimer joined the Harvard University. In 1925 he graduated with a major in chemistry. He took just three years for the normal four-year course. In addition to studying the science subjects he learnt Latin and Greek. At Harvard he was very much influenced by Percy Williams Bridgman (1882-1961), an original experimental physicist. It was Bridgman, who attracted Oppenheimer to the world of physics. In Oppenheimer’s own words Bridgman was “wonderful teacher because he never really was quite reconciled to things being the way they were and he always thought them out; his exercises were a good way to learn where the bones were in …physics…He was a man to whom one wanted to appreciate.” At Harvard Oppenheimer did not miss any chance to gain knowledge. Later he said: “I had a real chance to learn. I loved it. I almost came alive. I took more courses than I was supposed to, lived in the library stacks, just raided the place intellectually.” In the last year of his graduation, Oppenheimer had made up his mind to plunge into the world of physics. The decision was not easy. He knew that his degree majoring in chemistry would not be welcomed by the renowned physicists at the leading European universities, with whom Oppenheimer would like to work for his graduate study in physics. He also knew that he had only a beginner’s knowledge in physics. With a letter of recommendation from Percy Bridgman, Oppenheimer left USA for England in September 1925. This was the beginning of his four-year tour to the great centres of physics in Europe. The year 1925, in which Oppenheimer decided to enter physics, was very important in the history of physics. In this year the modern quantum mechanics came into being. He spent the year 1925-26 at the Cavendish Laboratory of the Cambridge University, where he came in contact with Lord Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937), one of the finest research physicists of the twentieth century. Initially Rutherford was not very willing to admit Oppenheimer as a student at the Cavendish Laboratory. However, relentless pleading for admittance by Oppenheimer persuaded Rutherford to change his mind. Oppenheimer was placed under the charge of Joseph John Thomson (1856-1940), who had discovered electron in 1897. The stay at Cambridge was not much enjoyable for Oppenheimer. He had to consult a psychiatrist for treatment for his emotional problems. He did not like the work at Thomson’s laboratory. He wrote to one of his Harvard friends, Francis Fergusson: “I am having a pretty bad time. The lab work is a terrible bore, and I am so bad at it that it is impossible to feel that I am learning anything.” At Cambridge he read physics with all seriousness. He became familiar with the new ideas in physics. He mastered quantum mechanics. At Cavendish Laboratory Oppenheimer also met Niels Bohr, who had come there to meet his old teacher Rutherford. Oppenheimer realized that his aptitude was more suited to theoretical physics and not experimental physics. Eventually he overcame his emotional insecurities. After completing one year at Cambridge he went to Germany to work with the German-born British theoretical physicist Max Born (1882-1970) at the University of Gottingen for his PhD. He completed his PhD within two years after his graduation. With Born, Oppenheimer wrote a very important paper on the “Quantum Theory of Molecules.” After obtaining his PhD in 1927, he returned to the USA for the academic year 1927-28 and became a Fellow of the National Research Council, first at Harvard University and then at the California Institute of Technology. As a Fellow of the International Education Board (1928-29), Oppenheimer visited Leiden and Zurich. During this period he worked with the Austrian-born American physicist Wolfgang Pauli (1900-58), who influenced his scientific work to a great extent. During his stay at Europe, Oppenheimer also interacted with the German physicist Werner Heisenberg (1901-76), and the Italian-born American physicist Enrico Fermi (1901-54). Heisenberg formulated the principle of nuclear indeterminancy and he was awarded Nobel Prize in physics in 1932. It was Fermi who directed the construction of the first atomic pile. Fermi was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1938. Commenting on the work done by Oppenheimer during his stay at Europe, Rummel wrote: “Between 1926 and 1929, his last year in Europe, Oppenheimer published 16 papers on the physics of quantum mechanics. His papers, which were densely mathematical and difficult for a non-physicist to understand, used the concept of quantum theory to focus on different aspects of the atom, such as electron spin, or the idea that the electron itself spins on its own axis as it moves around the nucleus in the same way the Earth spins as it moves around the Sun. The concept of electron spin helped physicists resolve questions about how the atom binds together.” The sixteen papers published by Oppenheimer marked him as a rising theoretical physicist. After returning from Europe, Oppenheimer accepted joint appointments at the California Institute of Technology at Pasadena and the University of California at Berkeley. The areas in which he worked included quantum electrodynamics, cosmic rays, nuclear physics and astrophysics including the first theoretical suggestion of black holes. It was at Berkeley, that Oppenheimer created his great school of theoretical physics. Most of the best theoretical physicists who grew up in 1930s or 1940s were trained by Oppenheimer at one stage or other. Hans Albert Bethe (1906- ), who worked with Oppenheimer at Los Alamos, wrote: “…Oppenheimer created the greatest school of theoretical physics that the United States has ever known. Before him, theoretical physics in America was a fairly modest enterprise, although there were a few representatives. Probably the most important ingredient he brought to his teaching was his exquisite taste. He always knew what were the important problems, as shown by his choice of subjects. He truly lived with these problems, struggling for a solution, and he communicated his concern to his group. In its heyday, there were about eight or ten graduate students in his group and about six Post-doctoral Fellows. He met this group once a day in his office, and discussed with one another the status of the student’s research problem. He was interested in everything, and in one afternoon they might discuss quantum electrodynamics, cosmic rays, electron pair production and nuclear physics.” In California, Oppenheimer actively participated in radical politics. Besides joining the radical Teachers’ Union, Oppenheimer was associated with a number of other organizations secretly controlled by Communist Party activists. To quote Oppenheimer: “I became a real left-winger…joined the teachers’ Union, had lots of Communist friends. It was what most people do in college or late high school…but I’m not ashamed of it. I’m more ashamed of its lateness. Most of what I believed then, now seems complete nonsense, but it was an essential part of becoming a whole man.” It is not known whether Oppenheimer was actually a Communist Party member or not. However, his association with left politics became major concerns for the authorities when Oppenheimer was working at Los Alamos for developing the atomic weapon. In May 1942 General Leslie R. Groves appointed Oppenheimer as Director of the Central Laboratory for Bomb Design and Development in Los Alamos, New Mexico. This was the beginning of the Manhattan Project, which led to the development of the atomic bomb. The choice of Oppenheimer was rather surprising. He was not a Nobel Laureate and so his stature was not equal to those of some others who would be expected to join the group. Oppenheimer was a theorist but he was expected to lead a largely experimental programme. The Manhattan Project was work of massive scale and significance. He succeeded in gathering a group of gifted scientists and generating an atmosphere of urgency. He skillfully handled the interface between his military superior General Groves and the unorthodox research scientists under him. It was a very difficult task. They had only some theoretical ideas about how to proceed. Victor Weisskopf, a colleague of Oppenheimer at Los Alamos, said: “The task facing Oppenheimer and his collaborators was stupendous. When the work started at Los Alamos not much more was known than the fundamental ideas of a chain reaction. What happens in a nuclear explosion had to be theoretically predicted in all details for the design of the bomb since there was no time to wait for experiments; no fashionable material was available yet. The details of the fission process had to be understood. The slowing down of neutrons in matter and the theory of explosions and implosions under completely novel conditions had to be investigated. Nuclear physicists had to become experts in fields of technology unknown to them such as shock waves and hydrodynamics. Oppenheimer directed these studies, theoretical and experimental, in the real sense of the words. Here his uncanny speed in grasping the main points of any subject was a decisive factor; he could acquaint himself with the essential details of every part of the work. He did not direct from head office. He was intellectually and even physically present at each decisive step. He was present in the laboratory or in seminar rooms, when a new effect was measured, when a new idea was conceived. It was not that he contributed so many ideas or suggestions; he did so sometimes, but his main influence came from something else. It was his continuous and intense presence, which produced a sense of direct participation in all of us; it created that unique atmosphere of enthusiasm and challenge that pervaded the place throughout its time.” It was Oppenheimer’s intelligence, his unique capacity for assimilating different ideas and his administrative and leadership qualities which made the Manhattan Project successful. Edward Teller, who worked with Oppenheimer and who later worked for the development of the hydrogen bomb, wrote: “Oppie (Oppenheimer) knew in detail what was going in every part of the laboratory. He was incredibly quick and perceptive in analyzing human as well as technical problems…Oppie knew [what the staff’s] relationships with one another were and what made them tick. He knew how to organize, cazole, humor, soothe feelings—how to lead powerfully without seeming to do so. He was an exemplar of dedication, a hero who never lost his humanness. Disappointing him somehow carried with it a sense of wrongdoing.” After four years’ of hard work the team headed by Oppenheimer at Los Alamos designed and built two types of atomic bombs. The first type was a uranium bomb that was triggered by U-235 “bullet” that was impelled into a U-235 sphere by an explosive. It was called ‘Little Boy”. The other was a plutonium implosion-type bomb consisting of a plutonium core, surrounded by an initiator of polonium and beryllium and a circle of explosive. This type was called “Fat Man”. By July 1945, four bombs were built—two bombs of plutonium-assembly type, one bomb for test and another for keeping in reserve, two bombs, one of each type, for possible use. Oppenheimer named the site for the first-ever site for atomic explosion Trinity after a sonnet by the English poet John Donne. This is because Oppenheimer thought Donne’s sonnet set the proper tone for the experiment at Trinity. The test of the first atomic bomb called the Fat Man at the Trinity Site on July 16, 1945 was a step into the unknown. No one including the scientist who actually built the bomb knew exactly what would happen when the bomb exploded. The test, though there were several hours of delays because of bad weather and dangerous winds, went exactly as planned. Finally the first atomic bomb exploded over the desert. It changed the world for ever. Enrico Fermi who viewed the explosion from an elevated desert floor called Compania Hill, thirty kilometres away from the actual site said: “ Although I did not look directly toward the object. I had the impression that suddenly the countryside became brighter than in full daylight…After a few seconds the rising flames lost their brightness and appeared as a huge mushroom that rose rapidly beyond the clouds.” After seeing the all-illuminating flash of the explosion of the atomic weapon, Oppenheimer recited a Sanskrit verse from the Bhagvad Gita. “If the radiance of a thousand suns Were to burst at once into the sky, That would be like the splendor of the Mighty One. I am become Death The destroyer of worlds. Oppenheimer, like any other scientist associated with the project, was elated at the success of the project. They were working with a patriotic zeal to ensure the defeat of Germany and its allies, to wipe out war for ever from the face of the Earth. However, Oppenheimer was deeply concerned with the ominous implications of the atomic weapon. At Los Alamos, Oppenheimer had discussed his concerns with Niels Bohr. In his later life Oppenheimer was a strong advocate of the international control of the atomic weapon. At the time of acquiring atomic weapons the Second World War was not yet over. Japanese forces continued to fight bloody battles. It has been reported that Japan was given an warning to surrender or face inevitable complete destruction of Japanese armed forces and the utter devastation of Japanese homeland. Japan ignored the warning and resolved to fight for successful conclusion of the war. The first atomic weapon was dropped on Hiroshima on August 06, 1945. The bomb was “Little Boy” type and the aircraft, which carried the bomb was called Enola Gay. The destruction was complete. One member of the crew of Enola Gay later recalled: “I don’t believe anyone ever expected to look at a sight quite like that. Where we had seen a clear city two minutes before, we could no longer see the city.” Japanese did not surrender. So on August 09, 1945 another atomic bomb, the “Fat Man” type was dropped on the southern city of Nagasaki. On August 14, 1945, Emperor Hirohito (1901-89) announced Japan’s surrender. The terms of the surrender were signed on September 02, 1945 aboard the battleship USS Missouri and the Second World War was ended officially. Oppenheimer served as the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission’s General Advisory Committee. It was very important and time-consuming responsibility. The Committee included Fermi, Rabi, Conant, Dubridge, Smythe and Seaborg and two industrialists, Worthington and Rowe. The Committee used to have six sessions a year. It advised the Commission on both scientific matters as well as matters of general policy. Seaborg wrote: “At the conclusion of each session, when the AEC Commissioners came in to review our work, Oppie presented a masterful summary of the proceedings. I know that my fellow members of the GAC remember with me that this was pure Oppenheimer at his very best. I regret that tape-recordings were not made of these eloquent summations of our deliberations, for I believe that these would provide fascinating historical material.” As a Chairman of the General Advisory Committee of the Atomic Energy Commission, Oppenheimer played an important role in strengthening and expanding research in physics particularly in nuclear physics. Oppenheimer led the General Advisory Committee’s opposition to the development of the hydrogen bomb. The opposition to the hydrogen bomb was not entirely on moral ground but also because fusion did not appear technically feasible. Further the Committee thought that a crash programme would divert scarce resources from newly developed fission weapons. President Harry Truman did not heed to the Committee’s opposition and approved a crash programme for the hydrogen-bomb. Oppenheimer wanted to resign from the Chairmanship of the Committee but his resignation was not accepted. After the war ended, Oppenheimer decided to return to academic life again. General Groves, though reluctantly, accepted Oppenheimer’s resignation. Before leaving the Los Alamos, Oppenheimer accepted the certificate of appreciation from the Army to the Los Alamos Laboratory. On this occasion Oppenheimer said: “If atomic bombs are to be added to the arsenals of the world, or the arsenals of the nations preparing for war, then the time will come when mankind will curse the name of Los Alamos and Hiroshima. The peoples of the world must unite or perish. This war, that has ravaged so much of the earth, has written these words. The atomic bomb has spelled them out for all men to understand. Other men have spoken them, in other times, in other wars, or other weapons. They have not prevailed. There are some, misled by a false sense of human history, who hold that they will not prevail today. It is not for us to believe that. By our works we are committed, committed to a world united, before the common peril, in law and in humanity.” In 1947, Oppenheimer was appointed as Director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. At that time the most important member of the Institute was Albert Einstein. At Princeton Oppenheimer himself did not do much research but he certainly inspired his collaborators. He made the Institute a centre of young physicists. Bethe wrote: “…on Oppenheimer’s arrival, the physics department of the Institute changed. While its emphasis had been on well-established professors before, it now became a centre for young physicists. Five research associates from Berkeley came with him in 1947. Thereafter the Institute was open to dozens of post-doctoral fellows, from the United States and abroad. Even more than Berkeley in the 1930’s, the Princeton Institute became the centre of physics. Nearly everybody who was anybody passed its stimulating atmosphere.” In 1953, his political background and his support for making the hydrogen bomb was questioned. In fact Oppenheimer was under investigation since 1942, first as a matter of routine and then more rigorously when reports critical of his loyalty to the interest of the State, began to arrive at the office of Colonel Pash, the in-charge of security at Los Alamos. He came under suspicion because some of his friends had been members of the Communist Party and also because he moved freely in left-wing circles. Joseph McCarthy, one of the most conservative Senators in the US Congress started investigating Oppenheimer’s communist links. The Joint Congressional Committee on Atomic Energy also started an investigation into Oppenheimer’s past. The Joint Committee brought out a series of damaging charges against Oppenheimer. Alarmed by the charges brought out by the Joint Committee against Oppenheimer, the Atomic Energy Commission began investigating against Oppenheimer. He was asked to resign from the post of Chairman of the General Advisory Committee but when Oppenheimer refused to do so, the Commission ordered the proceedings of the trial against Oppenheimer. The hearings ran from April 5 until May 6, 1954. On June 28, 1954, the US Atomic Energy Commission stripped Robert Oppenheimer of his security clearance. Though Oppenheimer was not found guilty of espionage but the Commission judged that Oppenheimer possessed “substantial defects of character and imprudent dangerous associations (with) known subversive” and so he could not be trusted anymore with military/government secrets. After this Oppenheimer found himself cut off from inside circles of nuclear policy. Oppenheimer accepted his downfall with grace. The Atomic Energy Commission trial had its effect on the personal life of Oppenheimer. His brother Franck was dismissed from his teaching job at the University of Minnesota because of his former ties to the Communist Party. A number of friendships and personal associations were either severed or strained. But there were people who lent him their emotional support. Among them were Hans Bethe, Niels Bohr and one of his former colleagues at Caltech and Los Alamos. In 1963, the General Advisory Committee elected Oppenheimer for its Enrico Fermi Award for excellence in the field of nuclear research. The award was to be presented by President John Fitzgeral Kennedy (1917-63). But two weeks before the award ceremony, President Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963. Finally, the President Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908-73) presented the award on December 02, 1963. Oppenheimer had a complex personality. He took interest in a number of human activities including religion. Isador Isaac Rabi (1898-1988): “[Oppenheimer] was overeducated in those fields which lie outside the scientific tradition, such as his interest in religion, in the Hindu religion in particular, which resulted in a feeling of mystery of the universe that surrounded him almost like a fog. He saw physics clearly, looking toward what had already been done, but at the border he tended to feel there was much more of the mysterious and novel than there actually was.” Not long after this award ceremony he returned to California to join the Faculty of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. The success of the atomic bomb had made Oppenheimer a well-known and highly respected public figure. He was no more a simple theoretical physicist. At California he again started doing research in theoretical physics. He succeeded in publishing a few research papers. There are two books by Oppenheimer. The first book, Science and the Common Understanding (1954) offers a firsthand look at physics, quantum mechanics and the role of scientist in modern society. The second book The Open Mind, (1955) is based on lectures given by Oppenheimer during 1946 and 1954. In these lectures Oppenheimer addressed the problems of atomic weapons and the relationship between science and society. Oppenheimer died on February 18, 1967 at his home in Princeton. He was 62 years old. References 1. Chevalier, Haakon. Oppenheimer: The Story of a Friendship. New York: Braziller, 1965. 2. Davis, Nuel Pharr. Lawrence and Oppenheimer. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1968. 3. Goodchild, Peter. J. Robert Oppenheimer: Shatterer of Worlds. New York: Fromm International, 1985. 4. Michelmore, Peter. The Swift Year: The Robert Oppenheimer Study. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1969. 5. Rabi, I. I., Robert Serber, Victor Weiskopf, Abraham Pais, and Glenn Seaborg. Oppenheimer, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1969. 6. Rummel, Jack. Robert Oppenheimer: Dark Prince. Hyderabad: Universities Press (India) Ltd., 1999. 7. Smith, Alice and Charles Weiner. Robert Oppenheimer: Letters and Recollections. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1980. 8. Stern, Phillip (with Harold Green). The Oppenheimer Case: Security and Trial. New York: Harper & Row, 1969. 9. Spangenburg, Ray and Diane K. Moser. The History of Science: From 1895 to 1945. Hyderabad: Universities Press (India) Ltd., 1999. 10. A Dictionary of Scientists. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.