Chandrasekhar
Venkata Raman
(1888 - 1970)
C.V.Raman
was a scientist in Physics, who won noble prize in
1930. His discovery of the 'Raman Effect' made a very
distinctive contribution to Physics. He was knighted
by the British Government in 1929. He was also conferred
the highest title of 'Bharat Ratna' in 1954.
Raman
was born on 7th November,1888 at Ayyanpettai in Tamil
Nadu. He had his education in Visakhapatanam and Madras.
After getting top ranking in the Financial Civil Service
Competitive Exam, he was appointed as Deputy Accountant
General in Calcutta (Kolkutta). In 1917 he became
the professor of Physics at the Calcutta University.
After 15 years service at the Calcutta University,
Raman shifted to Bangalore and became the Director
of the Indian Institute of Science in 1933. In 1943
he founded 'Raman Research Institute', near Bangalore.
The
'Raman Effect' was a demonstration of the 'Collision'
effect of light bullets (photons) passing through
a transparent medium, whether solid, liquid or gaseous.
Raman's publications include 'Molecular Diffraction
of Light', 'Mechanical Theory of Bowed Strings' and
'Diffraction of X-ray's', 'Theories of Musical Instruments'
etc. Raman conducted pioneering research in musical
acoustics, particularly on Tamboura, the well known
Indian musical instrument.
Dr. H. J. Bhabha
(1909 - 1966)
The eminent scientist who ushered India into
the atomic age was Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha. He was
born on 30 October 1909 in a Parsi family of Mumbai.
He is called the 'Father of Indian Nuclear Science'.
Dr.Bhabha
was appointed the first chairman of the Atomic Energy
Commission, set up in 1948. It was largely due to
his efforts that the nation's first Atomic research
Center, now named Bhabha Atomic research Center, was
established at Trombay, near Mumbai. Under his expert
guidance the nation's first atomic reactor 'Apsara'
was also commissioned in 1956. In 1945, he founded
the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai.
Dr.Bhabha
had a highly distinguished career and was an exceptionally
bright student. Even as a student, he made some fundamental
discoveries in electricity, magnetism, quantum theory
and the cosmic rays.
Dr.Bhabha
as the scientist of a very high caliber, received
many national and international awards and honours.
In 1942, he was awarded the 'Adams' award. In 1951,
Bhabha was elected the president of the Indian Science
Congress. In 1955, he was elected the chairman of
the U.N. sponsored International conference on the
peaceful uses of the atomic energy held in Geneva.
The Government of India also honoured him with 'Padma
Bhushan' in 1954. The 'Homi Jehangir Bhabha Award'
has been instituted by Indian National Science Academy.
He passed away in 1966 in a plane crash.
Srinavasa Ramanujan
(1887 - 1920)
Srinivasa Ramanujan was a great Mathematician, who
became world famous at the age of thirty six. He was
born at Erode in Tamil Nadu on 22 December 1887. Ramanujan
could not complete his college education because of
illness. He was so interested in mathematics that
he learned on his own. He found out new formulas for
solving mathematical problems and wrote articles about
them. Professor Hardy a scientist in the Cambridge
University saw one his article and impressed by his
knowledge, took Ramanujan to England.
Ramanujan
was considered as the master of theory of numbers.
The most outstanding of his contributions was his
formula for p (n), the number of 'partitions' of 'n'.
It was in 1914, while he was working in Trinity College
he developed the 'Number Theory' and for his valuable
contribution, was elected fellow of Trinity College
on 18th October 1917. He returned to India in 1919
and began Research. He passed away on 26 April 1920.
Government of India issued a commemorative stamp in
his honour. Indian National Science academy and many
other scientific institutions in India are giving
various awards in memory of this brilliant mathematician.
Subramanyan Chandrasekhar
(1910 - 1995)
Subrahmanyan
Chandrasekhar, a Nobel Laureate in Physics and one
of the greatest astrophysicists of modern timesborn
on October 19, 1910 in Lahore, (now in Pakistan) to
parents Chandrasekhara Subrahmanya Ayyaa civil servant
and Sita Balakrishnan. Being the nephew of the great,
C.V. Raman, a Nobel Prize winner in Physics young
Chandrashekhar's interest in the subject came naturally
to him. In 1930, at the age of 19, he completed his
degree in Physics from Presidency College, Madras
and went to England for postgraduate studies at the
Cambridge University. Chandrasekhar was noted for
his work in the field of stellar evolution, and in
the early 1930s he was the first to theorize that
a collapsing massive star would become an object so
dense that not even light could escape it; now known
as the Black hole. He demonstrated that there is an
upper limit ( known as 'Chandrasekhar Limit' ) to
the mass of a White dwarf star.
Initially
his theory was rejected by peers and professional
journals in England. Disappointed, and reluctant to
engage in public debate, Chandrasekhar moved to America
and in 1937 joined the faculty as an Assistant Professor
of Astrophysics at the University of Chicago and remained
there till his death. At Chicago, he immersed himself
in a personalized style of research and teaching,
tackling first one field of astrophysics and then
another in great depth. He wrote more than half a
dozen definitive books describing the results of his
investigations. More than 100,000 copies of his highly
technical books have been sold. He also served as
editor of the Astrophysical Journal, the field’s
leading journal, for nearly 20 years; presided over
a thousand colloquia; and supervised Ph.D. research
for more than 50 students.
He won the Nobel Prize in 1983 and received 20 honorary
degrees, was elected to 21 learned societies and received
numerous awards in addition to the Nobel Prize, including
the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society of
London; the Royal Medal of the Royal Society, London;
the National Medal of Science, the Rumford Medal of
the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; and the
Henry Draper Medal of the National Academy of Sciences.
NASA's premier X-ray observatory was named the Chandra
X-ray Observatory in his honor. He and his wife, Lalitha
became American citizens in 1953. This genius passed
away on 21 August 1995 in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Amartya Sen
Economist
(1933 - )
Amartya Kumar Sen, son of Amita Sen and Ashutosh Sen,
was born on 3rd November 1933 at Shantiniketan, West
Bengal. He received his initial education at Shantiniketan
and then Presidency College, Calcutta. He was exposed
early on to the plight of the poor. As a 10-year old
child, during the Bengal famine, he was shocked to
see people dying of hunger on the streets of Calcutta
yards away from shops stocked with food. Three years
later in Dhaka a Muslim labourer was killed in communal
riots outside his house. The traumatic incidents directed
Sen to a relentless study of the economic mechanism
underlying famines and poverty.
Amartya
Sen joined Trinity College, Cambridge in 1953. He
became the youngest chairman of the Department of
Economics, Jadavpur University, at the age of 23.
Between 1956-1998 he was Professor of Economics at
various Universities in India and abroad.
Sen's
contributions on welfare economics and definition
of poverty in relation to development have offered
a new philosophy and an alternative way to solid economic
development. He was of the opinion that the World
Bank system of ranking countries according to the
GNP and saving rates was not enough and he helped
to create the United Nations Human Development Index
which has now become the most authoritative international
source of welfare comparisons between countries. Some
of his works include ' Choice of Techniques', ' Collective
Choice and Social Welfare', ' Poverty and Famines',
' Development as Freedom' etc.
Sen
is the sixth Indian to get the Nobel and the first
Asian winner of the Economics Prize. Some of the honours
to his credit are 'Indira Gandhi Gold Medal Award'
of the Asiatic Society (1994), 'Nobel prize for Economics'
(1998) for his work on ' The poorest people in Society',
'Eisenhower Medal' from USA (2000), 'Honorary Companion
of Honour' from UK (2000). He also received 'Bharat
Ratna', the highest civilian award in India. He has
been honored with Honorary D.Litt degrees and fellowships
of a large number of Indian and Foreign Universities
and Institutes of repute. Now living in Cambride,
Massachusetts with his third wife, an economic historian
Emma Rothschild, this genius has spent a lifetime
fighting poverty with analysis rather than activism.
Shakuntala
Devi
(1939 - )
Shakuntala Devi is generally known as a 'Human Computer'
because of extraordinary talents in solving complex
mathematical problems without any mechanical aid.
She also found her place in the Guinness book of records
as a result of her extraordinary talents. Nowadays,
apart from solving mathematical problems, she is utilising
her amazing talent in the field of astrology.
She
was born in 1939 in Bangalore, Karnataka. Manifested
with an extraordinary love for numbers at the age
of 3, she became an expert in complex mental arithmetic
at the age of five. On 18 June 1980, Shakuntala Devi
gave the product of two, thirteen digit figures after
multiplying them within 28 seconds. Many countries
have invited Shakuntala Devi to demonstrate her extraordinary
talent. Today, she is acclaimed as an accomplished
mathematician.
