PRASANTHA CHANDRA MAHALANOBIS

PRASANTHA CHANDRA
MAHALANOBIS
( 1893 - 1972)

Prasantha Chandra Mahalanobis was born in Calcutta, India on June 29, 1893. As a young boy, Mahalanobis received his education at the Brahmo Boys School in Calcutta. He then went on to the presidency College in Calcutta where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in the field of physics. He then went to England, where he originally intended to study in London, but became so impressed with Cambridge that he decided to join Cambridge University. There he studied mathematics and physics. Because of World War I, his departure was delayed, leading to the meeting that began Mahalanobis' interest in statistics. Mahalanobis was looking around the library at King's College when he was approached by a fellow named Macaulay for his opinion on some volumes of Biometrika, edited by Karl Pearson. Mahalanobis' interest was peaked so much that he bought the entire set of Biometrika that was then published and brought them along with him to India. This was the beginning of a wonderful interest in statistics.
Mahalanobis was the founder of the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) in 1931, which was actually started in a room of the Baker Laboratory of the physics department at the Presidency College. He also started a new journal in statistics called Sankhya. He established a division within the ISI called the National Sample Survey (NSS). The NSS grew quickly into an agency noted for its use of continuing sample surveys for the collection of socioeconomic and demographic data that covered the whole country. This division, along with Mahalanobis, played such an incredibly vital role in the creation of the second five-year economic plan in India that the government took over NSS and now it functions as a necessary part of the Ministry of Planning.
Mahalanobis' contributions to statistics are quite numerous. His work could always be associated with some field of application. The Mahalanobis distance, called the D statistic, which is used extensively in classification problems, rose out of his work on anthropometric problems. The Mahalanobis distance is used not to find the physical distance from one object to another, but to find the distance in terms of related characteristics and likelihood of occurrence of the two objects. The Mahalanobis in multivariate analysis, along with the interpenetrating network of samples (IPNS) in sample surveys and fractile graphical analysis have now become part of standard statistical methodology.
Mahalanobis received many awards for his work in India and his work on statistics, but some say that his most prized awards would be the Fellowship of the Royal Society and one of the highest civilian awards in India, the Padma Vibhushan. Mahalanobis was always a very active man and he held many positions of importance throughout his life, many of them simultaneously. Yet he never grew tired of his work.
Mahalanobis had many other interests besides statistics and physical science. He enjoyed studying ancient Indian philosophy and he loved to read Bengali literature. Professor Mahalanobis had over 200 published scientific articles along with many non-technical articles in Bengali and English. P.C. Mahalanobis died on June 28, 1972, on the eve of his seventy-ninth birthday.

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JOSEPH NICEPHORE NIEPCE

JOSEPH NICEPHORE NIEPCE
( 1765 - 1833)

French multi-talented inventor. In 1826, (after trying since 1814), invented the “heliogram” and became the first man ever to fix a print. The “heliogram” as a method was extremely time consuming, since it required long time exposures (his first photgraph needed eight hours of exposure time). In 1829 he sighed a contractual agreement with Daquerre in spite of the fact that the latter developed a photographic method of his own after Niepce died in 1833.

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SATYENDRA NATH BOSE

SATYENDRA NATH BOSE

A renowned Indian scientist. He developed a new branch of physics. He worked with Albert Einstein, Madame Curie and other scientists of world renown. He was a veteran teacher revered by his students for his affection, discipline and methodical work.Some students love mathematics. What are the maximum marks they score in it ? It would be a hundred per cent. We would be surprised to be told that some students have secured more than a hundred per cent, wouldn't we! One such student was Satyendranath Bose. As a student of the fourth standard he set up a new record by scoring 110 marks out of 100. This bright youngster later became a scientist and won worldwide fame. Once the great scientist, Niels Bohr, was delivering a lecture. Bose presided.
The fame of Satyendranath Bose as a brilliant student of physics and mathematics has spread the world over. In India, which is still a developing country, he strove hard for the dissemination of science. In addition, he did significant work in the fields of education, politics, music and literature, too. He has come to be popularly known Satyen Bose (S. N. Bose).
Satyendranath Bose was born on the first of January 1894 in Calcutta. Surendranath was his father. He was employed in the Engineering Department of the East India Railway. Satyendranath was the eldest of his seven children; the rest were all daughters. Though Surendranath Bose lost his wife at an early age, without losing heart, he brought up all his children well. It is said that, when Satyen was hardly three years old, a Bengali astrologer made this prediction: "This child will face many obstacles all through his life;
Satyendranath joined Presidency College of Calcutta for higher studies. The period of his stay in Presidency College may be called a Golden Age. The company of good friends and classmates and the guidance of ideal teachers shaped his future life. Some of the most renowned scientists - Meghnad Saha, Nikhilranjan Bose, J. C. Ghosh, J. N. Mukherjee and Girijapathi Bhattacharya - were his classmates. He came to be acquainted with Netaji Subashchandra Bose also. Sharatchandra Bose was his contemporary. These youths were fortunate in their teachers. Eminent scientists like Jagadishchandra Bose, Prafullachandra Ray and S. N. Maitra were their professors. J. C. Bose taught them physics while P. C. Ray taught chemistry. These great scientists were also great patriots. They inspired their students to understand the real values, of life and to set definite goals before themselves.
He joined Dacca University in 1921 as a reader in Physics. While serving in this post he wrote a short article of just six pages in English. It was an article relating to physics, on 'Max Planck's Law' and 'Light Quantum Hypothesis'. This article was sent to Albert Einstein. He had not only won the Nobel Prize but was one of the world's greatest scientists in the twentieth century. The learned professor read the article. This little article brought about a great change in the life of Satyendranath.
Bose first visited Paris in 1924. He stayed there for a year. He conducted research in the Madame Curie Laboratory, which had special facilities. Here he became acquainted with several physicists. The next year, he left Paris for Berlin to join Einstein and work with him. There he came into close contact with noted scientists like Schroedinger and Heisenberg. He participated in all the meetings and discussions held there. While Bose was in Berlin, the post of a professor fell vacant in Dacca University. J. C. Ghosh and other friends persuaded him to apply for the post. Bose had not yet got his doctorate. It was, therefore, difficult for him to secure the professorship. A recommendation from Albert Einstein to select him would have made things easy for him. So, with great hesitation, Bose approached Einstein. Einstein was surprised. He said, "You are so proficient in you’re subject; is their need for any other certificate or recommendation?"
His eightieth birthday was celebrated in 1974. At the Golden Jubilee celebrations of Quanta Statistics, which was held in the same month, he was felicitated. Within a few days after he completed 80, Bose suffered an unexpected and a severe heart attack. He lay ill for some time and breathed his last on the fourth of February 1974. The death of Bose was a great loss not only to India but also to the whole world and especially to the world of science. Bose left behind his wife, two sons five daughters.Einstein and Madame Curie are among the world's great scientists. Bose worked with them. This it self clearly means that India has definitely secured a high place in the world of science.

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SIR HUMPHRY DAVY

SIR HUMPHRY DAVY

( 1778 - 1829)

Chemistry genius, friend and assistant of Wedgwood in his experiments whose results were published at Royal Society, in 1802 by Davy. The problem of “fixing” the images remained in spite of Davy’s breakthroughs in chemistry

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ROGER BACON

ROGER BACON
( 1214 - 1292 )

Roger Bacon is called the father of modern science. His early studies were in the faculty of arts at Oxford and in early 1240 he went to Paris to teach at the Arts faculty of university of Paris. There he turned his attention to science through the influence of Aristotle.

Roger Bacon’s significant contribution to the philosophy of science was his explanation about the role of experience and experiment in conforming or refuting speculative hypothesis. He believed in the practical value of scientific speculation and insisted that the criterion for the use of scientific knowledge should be part of a unifying ethical system. Bacon discovered gun powder, eye glasses and few other equipments.

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PRAFULLA CHANDRA ROY

PRAFULLA CHANDRA ROY

The Bengal renaissance did not leave a single path unfolded. As literature and art reached the peak of realism, science did not lag behind. Along with a host of genius Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose and Acharya P.C Roy carried forth the quest to reveal the secret of nature. Born on 2nd August,1861 in
Senhati (Khulna) now Bangladesh, he was educated at Hare school, the Albert school, the metropolitan institution and Presidency college. In 1882 he left for England as a Gilchrist scholar and took the degree of Bsc. and Dsc. from Edinburgh University. He got the Hope scholarship in 1887-88. P.C. Roy returned to India in 1888 and joined the Presidency college as a lecturer in Chemistry on 1st July1889. As a professor he was the source of inspiration for the up coming generation. A scientific mind he devoted his spare time in his research in Ayurveda and published 'The History of Hindu Chemistry' in two volumes. Funds crunch, unavailability of necessary equipments and other problems could not cease him and soon he was able to synthesize chemically the compound Potassium Nitrate. He was single-handedly responsible for setting up the first Indian pharmaceutical institution " The Bengal Chemical & Pharmaceutical Works Ltd." in 1901In 1916 he joined the newly established college of science of the Calcutta University and attracted young scholars. He was elected the president of the Indian Science Congress in 1920 where he went on working relentlessly for the cause of the spread of scientific knowledge among the mass. He passed away on June 16th 1944. The emptiness that was created was never to be filled. P.C Roy was a patriot irrationalism and unscientific ideology. He fought against the tyrants of his fields and taught people the true cause behind nature's powers. The rationalist thinker, great scientist and teacher, remarkable entrepreneur and the father of modern Indian Chemical industry helped to build a new Bengal with a bright future

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ANNA ATKINS

ANNA ATKINS

( 1799 - 1871 )

We can consider her the first woman photographer. She studied botanology in a period when access to science and studies for women was almost impossible. In 1841 she came into contact with Talbot who was a friend of her father’s. immediately she became aware of the possibilities that photography could offer to scientific research. She worked with the procedure of cyanotype a technique which was just discovered by Herschel and seemed much easier to her. Because of the stability of cyanotype many of her pictures still exist to this very day. In October 1843 she published the first book containing photographs which was named “British Algae – Cyanotype impressions” which was completed in a period of 10 years and came before Talbot’s publication. “The pencil of nature”.

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BLAISE PASCAL

BLAISE PASCAL
( 1623 - 1662 )
Pascal was a famous mathematician, physicist and a philosopher. “When pressure is applied at any point in a fluid, it gets transmitted equally in all directions”. This is Pascala’s law. Any physics student can state this law. This has helped the inventions of Syringe, hydraulic press and brakes.

Pascal was born on June 19, 1623 in Clermont, France. His father was an accountant in an administrative office. Pascal was good in Mathematics. As 7 years old boy he could make geometrical figures on the ground. At the age of 12 he proved that the sum of the three angles of a triangle is equal to two right angles. At the age of 17 he published an essay relating to mathematics which attracted famous scientist Descartes.

Once Pascal found his father working late in the night doing some calculations with difficulty. To reduce the pressure on his father, Pascal devised a calculating machine in 1642. It was operated by gear wheel. He patented it later.

Pascal invented a triangle which consists of rows of numbers arranged in a specific manner as shown above. It has proved much useful in the study of probability. Pascal did much work on probability, hydrostatics and integral calculus. He was a religious writer having few books to his credit.

He died on August 19, 1662 in Paris.

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ARYABHATA

ARYABHATA

Aryabhata was an astronomer. He was born in Kerala. He studied at the University of Nalanda. He was honoured by the then Gupta ruler Buddhgupta and appointed the head of University.

Aryabhata gave the value of O (Pi) as 3.1416. He was the first to deduce that the earth is round and it rotates on its own axis creating day and nights. He also declared that moon is dark and shines only because sunlight. He believed that the earth is the centre of the universe.

Aryabata devised a method to express big numbers like 100,000,000 in words. He actually found a solution to the intermediate equations like ax-by=c.

Aryabhata’s legendary epic “Aryabahatiya” deals with the various aspects of mathematics and astronomical calculations. He wrote one more treatise “Aryabhata Siddhanta” which was a guide to determine auspicious times for various rituals. Indian’s first Satellite was name Aryabhata.

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BIRBAL SAHNI

BIRBAL SAHNI
( 1891 - 1949 )

Birbal Sahni was the greatest Palaeobotanist of Inida. Palaeobotany is the study of plants of past ages. Sahni was born in Bhera, now in Pakistan on 14 November 1891. He was the son of a chemistry teacher. Both father and son used to climb the mountains and collect rocks, plants and fossil bearing rocks. Birbal Sahni showed interest in botany and geology. His father wanted his son to become an ICS officer. After graduation from Punjab university Sahni went to Britain in 1911. he did research on ferus, Conifers and fossil plants. A.C. Steward, a noted botanist guided him. Sahni got D.Sc. in 1929 from Cambridge university. In 1936 he was elected fellow of the Royal Society.

In the days when no equipment was available to cut and grind rocks to enable to study the fossils of plants Sahni did them with his own skilled hands. He spent his money to buy tools. He studied extensively the flora of Indian Gondwana. He discovered new genus of plants at Mahal hills in Bihar. They helped in understanding the evolutionary relationship between certain species of plants of both the present and past ages. “Penloxyleae” a new group of fossil gymnosperms was his one more discovery. As a geologist, he estimated the age of old rocks. He declared the age of the salt range is 40 to 60 million years old. He found that the Deccan traps in M.P. were of the about 62 million years old., Sahni showed keen interest in archealogy also. He studied the technique of casting coins in ancient India. For this he received the Nelson wrights Medal of the numismatic society of India. Painting, clay modeling, Philately and Numismatics were his favourite hobbies. Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany has been established at Lucknow. He died in 1949.

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