A Tribute To Homi J. Bhabha -The Atom Man of India

Homi Jahangir Bhabha is known as the force behind India's atomic power. With the active support of Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru who had also fore seen the India's future in the advancement of science and technology, he created two premier institutions, the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. He was the first chairman of India's Atomic Energy Commission.

He was born on 30th October 1909 at Bombay in a rich Persian family. His father was a reputed advocate. Right from his childhood Bhabha gave a thought to every problem deeply. He slept very late. His parents were worried about his sleeplessness. They consulted a doctor about the cause of insomnia who told them that it was only due to his super active brain and continuous flow of thoughts that he sleeps late and that he was not suffering with any disease. After graduating from Elphinstone College and the Royal Institute of Science Bombay he went to Cambridge for studying mechanical engineering as per the wishes of his father. His father wanted to make him an engineer and to work for the Tata Steel Plant. However he had much interest in physics and mathematics. Hence he continued his studies as research scholar in theoretical physics after completing his engineering. He received his doctorate in 1934. In this university he came in contact with some famous scientists like Rutherford, Neil Bohr, Paul Dirac and Heitler. In 1937 Bhabha along with Heitler presented the Theory of Electron Showers in Cosmic Rays which are fast moving primary rays comprising of protons, electrons and gam ma rays. This theory was known as Bhabha-Heitler Cascade Theory which explained the course of electron shower in cosmic rays. His work with Neil Bohr contributed to the development of Quantum Mechanics. He also discovered the electron-positron scattering which was as a result of scattering of positrons by electrons in a reaction. This was known as the Bhabha Scattering. These works made Bhabha famous in the scientific community world wise.

He returned to India in 1939 due to outbreak of second world war which proved to be a landmark in his career and more for India in the development of science. In 1940 he joined the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore as reader in theoretical physics. He set up a separate cosmic rays

department for research. He rose to the position of professor in the institute in 1942. He dreamt of building modern India with the promotion and application of science. At that time no sufficient facilities for research in nuclear physics were available in India. He therefore wrote a letter Dorabji Tata in March 1944 wherein he informed that India needed nuclear energy in years to come and hence it needed proper research facilities in atomic physics and requested him to help in opening a proper institute for exclusive research in this field. It was his farsightedness that he realised the importance of atomic energy at a time when it was just in infancy stage as the demonstration of the first reactor was done only two years back in 1942.

As a result of this letter The Tata Institute of Fundamental Research was founded in 1945 which was also supported financially by Government of India. Bhabha was appointed its first director. Atomic Energy Commission was established in 1948 and Bhabha was appointed its first chairman. The commission took the responsibility of constructing Atomic Reactors, purification of atomic materials and also conduct fundamental research. Now the atomic energy programme began to take a concrete shape and a new department of Atomic Energy was created by Government of India in 1954 which was under the direct control of Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru. With this development the atomic energy got special attention of the government. With the hard work of Bhabha as chairman of the Atomic Energy commission the first atomic reactor of Asia was put into operation at Trombay in 1956. He provided his pivotal support to Vikram Sairabhai in setting up Indian National Committee for Space Research. He was also elected as the president of Indian Science Congress in 1951.

JRD Tata and Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru gave support and encouraged Bhabha in his work. He was very close to Nehru and enjoyed his confidence. There was great synergy in the thoughts of Nehru and Bhabha with respect to industrialization and scientific research in the country. Two more reactors namely Apsara and Zerlina were also built by Indian scientists under his guidance. After the construction of these reactors Bhabha started his work in the direction of construction of power plants. Three power plants were set up at Tara Pur, Rana Pratap Sagar and Kalpakam. An Atomic Energy Establishment was also created for application of atomic energy for peaceful purposes and again Bhabha was appointed its director. All this enabled India to win new laurels in the study of atomic energy. Bhabha was also invited by Nehru to become the minister of atomic energy in his cabinet but Bhabha declined saying that he has great love for science than the charm of ministry. He also started a training centre to train young scientists in different fields of nuclear science. He brought many scientists at one platform and arranged lectures. He became the chairman of the first United Nations conference on the peaceful uses of the atomic energy held in Geneva in 1955. He emphasised that there should be an international control on nuclear energy and a ban on atomic weapons. He also stressed the need for using atomic energy for alleviation of poverty and misery of the people.

For his love to science he never thought of marrying and remained a bachelor throughout his life. Once asked about his marriage he told " I am married to creativity". It was due to his excellent ground work done and right direction given in the field that India was able to perform its first atom ic explosion in May 1974 at Pokhran in Rajasthan and join the galaxy of nuclear power nations becoming the sixth in the series. Sadly this great scientist of India who is also known as the father of nuclear power in India met a premature death at the age of 56 in a plane crash in Switzerland on 24th January 1966 while proceeding to attend an international conference. The Atomic Energy Establishment at Trombay was renamed as Bhabha Atomic Research Centre on 12th January 1967 in the honour of this great scientist of India. In the words of Sir C. V. Raman, Bhabha was a great lover of music, a gifted artist, a brilliant engineer and an outstanding scientist.

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Courtesy: D R Bhagat and The Daily Excelsior: 24th January, 2014