(Satyendra Nath Bose 1894-1974 Source- The S N Bose Project - http://www.snbose.org)
(Chronicle adds: A distant relative of Satyendra Nath Bose was a professor emeritus in Applied Mathematics department at our institute. He retired in 1973. Another person, Bablu Ghosh (Electrical 1962) was a cousin from Prof. Bose’s wife side.
We contacted Falguni Sarkar, the grandson of Prof. S N Bose, who lives in California, to get accurate details.)
The Bose-Einstein Condensation Principle statistically predicts the behaviour of gas atoms near absolute zero (0 degree K or -273.15 C). In simplified way, it states that near absolute zero temp., instead of individual Brownian type motion, gas particles moves in a group and behaves like a liquid.
This finding has important bearing on principle of quantum mechanics, as it supports quantum theory. According to quantum theory, any change in a system, including energy level can occur only in discrete steps. Thus any gas near the absolute temperature behaves more like a liquid, called superfluid. The result of the efforts of Bose and Einstein is the concept of a Bose gas, governed by the Bose–Einstein statistics, which describes the statistical distribution of identical particles with integer spin, now known as bosons (named after S N. Bose). A Bose–Einstein condensate is a state of matter formed by bosons cooled to temperatures very near to absolute zero.
In the early 1920s Satyendra Nath Bose was studying the new idea (at that time) that the light came in little discrete packets (we now call these "quanta" or "photons"). Bose assumed certain rules for deciding when two photons should be counted up as either identical or different. We now call these rules "Bose statistics" (or sometimes "Bose-Einstein statistics"). Bose used statistical example of flipping 2 coins to find out the probability of getting 2 heads, 2 tails or (1 head + 1 tail). Einstein supported his idea with the belief that something strange must happen to a gas at very low temp., and help published the article; hence the name Bose-Einstein Condensation Principle.
For further reading:
- The S N Bose Project - Link
The Story
Satyendra Nath Bose’s path breaking work won him Einstein’s admiration and a permanent place in the annals of theoretical physics. But few know about his passionate patriotism or his talent as an esraj player. Falguni Sarkar, a grandson, writes a fond account.The above website contains complete biography of Prof. Bose, technical articles, discussion, videos and blogs devoted to Prof. Bose and Bose-Einstein Condensate Theory.)
S N Bose Project is a grandson's biographical research on the life and times of Professor Satyendra Nath Bose (1894-1974) — Indian mathematical-physicist, humanist, and multi-faceted genius ... a polymath in diverse fields of science, education, literature, music, politics, social reform, and philanthropy.
Please also read in the links section of website, “Bose and Einstein by Prof. K. C. Wali”.
- http://www.siliconeer.com/past_issues/2000/august2000.html
- http://www.colorado.edu/physics/2000/bec/
(Website of Department of Physics, University of Colorado at Boulder, Co, USA-with very nice explanation and animation)
BEC Homepage
Bose-Einstein Condensation in a gas: a new form of matter at the coldest temperatures in the universe...
| Predicted 1924... | ...Created 1995 | |
 A. Einstein |  S. Bose |  |
