LS13. MEGHNAD SAHA - ENAKSHI CHATTERJEE (DEGREE FIRST YEAR – OU SYLLABUS)

DEGREE FIRST YEAR – OU SYLLABUS

13. MEGHNAD SAHA

- ENAKSHI CHATTERJEE

INTRODUCTION:-

Meghnad Saha was written by Enakshi Chatterjee. She is a writer, translator and media critic. She has translated Bengali novels, short stories and a book of poems. She has written over 30 books, Paramanu Jignasa, written jointly with her husband. Dr. Santimay, won the 1974 Rabindra Puraskar. The work of Meghnad Saha (1893-1956), an astrophysicist best known for his development of the Saha equation to describe chemical and physical conditions in stars.

EXPLANATION:-

Meghnad Saha was the fifth child in a family of eight. He was born in village near Dhaka in 1893. His father owned a grocery shop. He wanted Saha to help in the shop instead of going to school. But because of his elder brother motivation Saha went to school. The teachers were impressed by his unusual ability for learning. Finally, he went to Dhaka on a scholarship. He had to forfeit his scholarship. Since, he demonstrated against the British governor’s visit to the school. He completed intermediate successfully. He then went to Calcutta to join the presidency college.

He was interested in Mathematical Physics. He was concerned about the application of science for national development. He began to focus more on the organization of research and application of science for national development from 1930 onwards. He formed a regional centre named U.P Academy of sciences. It acquired an All India States later as the President of Indian Science Congress. He put forward plans for an all Indian academy. He started a journal, “Science and Culture” in 1935.

He conveyed his views on the planning of resources and on the controlling of the perennial eastern rivers. His students extended whole hearted co-operation in all his ventures.

When he spent two years in England, he met Bhatnagar. A bond of mutual admiration grew between them. Saha affectionately called him “Steamship Bhatnagar”, a nick name. This nickname described Bhatnagar zeal of work .

Meghnad Saha visited Copenhagen in 1936. He met the American inventor of the cyclotron, Ernest Lawrance, at the institute of Neil Bohr. The constituents of matter increadible tiny particles started yielding their secret in the laboratory. He could pay attention to the puzzling results obtained by Fermi in his experiments at Copenhagen conference. Discussions at their conference led to the undertaking of experiments which finally resulted in the discovery of fission later.

Meghnad Saha exposure to the latest ideas on astrophysics led to his brilliant work in thermal ionization. The spectra of ionized atoms are different from normal atoms. Meghnad applied this theory to explain the existence of the spectra of the star chromospheres and of other stars. It is considered to be one of the ten major discoveries in astrophysics.