Indian Scientists who changed the world
Shreya Pareek
Science is an important part of our everyday life, even more so than we notice. From our fancy gadgets to the technologies we can’t live without, from our humble light bulb to the space explorations, it is all a gift of science and technology.
I wonder what we would be doing if none of these things were invented? How often do we take out the time to think about those extraordinary minds who made life easier for us? Here is a series on Indian scientists whose path-breaking achievements led to the international progress of Science. In this issue, we continue with Homi J. Bhabha.
Born on October 30, 1909 in Bombay, Homi Jehangir Bhabha played an important role in the development of Quantum Theory as applied to collisions of high energy particles. Bhabha worked at the prestigiousCavendish Laboratory for his thesis work towards getting a doctoral degree. For instance, James Chadwick had just discovered the neutron (which is found in atomic nuclei along with protons). Cockcroft and Walton were learning how to accelerate particles to collide them at high energies, and positrons (the anti-particle of electrons) were being studied here.
The underlying theory and calculation of collisions of electrons and positrons was worked out by Bhabha and today this is known as Bhabha scattering, after him. Bhabha also worked on cosmic rays and their composition. These are high energy particles (mostly protons) that hit Earth from outer space. Their origins are still a mystery even today.
Just before the outbreak of the second world war, Bhabha was visiting India. War broke out, and Bhabha did not return to England. Instead, in 1939, he joined Sir C V Raman's group at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. 
He was convinced of the importance of nuclear physics and he soon started the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Bombay in 1945, just after the war ended. He also lobbied Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to establish the Atomic Energy Commission in 1948. He worked on both cosmic rays and nuclear weapons/nuclear energy at this time.
He was convinced that nuclear power was the solution for energy-starved India. He served as President of the United Nations Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy in Geneva, Switzerland in 1955. At the same time, he continued to lobby for nuclear weapons. He was a member of Indian government's Scientific Advisory Committee and was involved in setting up an independent organisation for space research. He was also keen on music and arts.
He died in a plane crash in France (on the french Alpine mountains), while on his way to Vienna to attend a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency on 24 Jan, 1966.
He left behind a legacy which included investment in basic science research in India, as well as development of nuclear energy and nuclear weapons programme. He also believed that the development of nuclear power would help alleviate poverty in India.