Jagadish Chandra Bose

Bose was born in Mymensingh, then in Bengal and now in Bangladesh, in 1858. He studied natural sciences at Christ's College, Cambridge, and received degrees from Cambridge and the University of London in 1884. After returning to India, he taught physics at Presidency College in Calcutta (now Kolkata).

In the 1890s Bose investigated very short-wavelength electromagnetic waves, now described as millimetre waves or microwaves. His experimental apparatus used components such as waveguides, horn antennas, lenses, polarizers and detectors. He demonstrated wireless transmission and reception of electromagnetic waves in Calcutta in 1895 and presented related experiments in London in 1897. His work on crystal detectors also contributed to early studies of semiconductor devices. These results form an important chapter in the history of microwave research; they should be distinguished from later commercial development of radio communication.

From around the turn of the twentieth century, Bose increasingly studied how plants respond to external stimuli. He designed instruments including the crescograph, which magnified and recorded very small movements and growth in plant tissues. His experiments investigated electrical and mechanical responses in plants and drew comparisons between responses in living and non-living materials. His books on this subject include Response in the Living and Non-Living (1902) and The Nervous Mechanism of Plants (1926).

In 1917 Bose founded the Bose Institute in Calcutta as a centre for research. Its work reflected his interdisciplinary interests across physical and biological sciences. He directed the institute until 1937. The institution, now called Bose Institute, preserves and documents his scientific legacy.

Bose is remembered for pioneering experimental work in millimetre-wave physics, contributions to early detector technology, and instrument-based research on plant physiology. His career connected research in physics and biology at a time when these fields were often treated separately. Historical accounts of his radio experiments emphasize his early use of microwave components and the importance of placing his work within the broader development of wireless science.