Category Scientist & Invensions

            Dr Vikram Sarabhai was not only an imaginative and creative scientist but also a pioneering industrialist and an astute planner. He made significant contribution in the field of cosmic ray physics and in the development of nuclear power and space programmes. When Dr Bhabha died suddenly in 1966 in a plane crash, it seemed almost impossible to fill the vacuum but fortunately a worthy successor could be found in Dr Sarabhai. He took up the nuclear programmes with a challenge and also added fresh dimensions to the space research programmes.

            Dr Sarabhai was born on August 12, 1919 at Ahmadabad in a rich industrialist family. His early education was in a private school in Gujarat College at Ahmadabad. He then went to Cambridge, England, and obtained his tripos in 1939 from St. John’s College. He then came back to India and staled research work in the field of cosmic rays with Sir C.V. Raman at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. In 1945 he went back to Cambridge to carry out further research on cosmic rays. There in 1947 he obtained a Ph.D. degree in the same field.

Continue reading “Who is known as the Father of Indian Space Research?”

               Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Memorial Award is given every year for outstanding research by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). It was instituted in 1958 in the honour of its first Director General Dr. Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar. The awards are given in the fields of Physical Sciences; Chemical Sciences; Biological Sciences; Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean, and Planetary Sciences; Engineering; Medical Sciences and Mathematics (alternate years). Each award carries a cash prize of Rupees one lakh and a certificate.

               Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar was a renowned Indian chemist. He was born on Feb. 21, 1894, at Bhera in West Punjab. He obtained his M.Sc. from the Punjab University in 1919. After taking his D.Sc. from London University under Prof. Donan, he worked under Prof. Haber at Kaiser Wilhelm Institute, Berlin, and later under Prof. Freundlich, an expert on colloids. 

               He was a Professor of Chemistry at Banaras Hindu University from 1921-24. From 1924 to 1940 he worked as Director of the University Chemical Laboratories, Lahore. There he made significant contributions in the field of physical chemistry, especially in magneto-chemical studies. He also wrote a book on magneto-chemistry.

               He became the first Director General of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in 1940 and held this post till his death. In 1943 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. In the same year the Secretary of the Royal Society Prof. A.V. Hill visited India to advise the government on the coordination of scientific research in India. Dr. Bhatnagar was one of the members in the meeting along with Hill, Saha and Bhabha.

               In 1946, when Pt. Nehru was the head of the Interim Government, Dr. Bhatnagar took up his views on the development of science in India to translate them into reality. He concentrated on applied sciences and managed to get substantial funds from industrialists for the building up of research laboratories. He opened a chain of National Research Laboratories in India.

               This great scientist died on Jan. 1, 1955. After his death, Bhatnagar Memorial Award was instituted in his honour. 

                In the 19th century when India was excelling in various fields like fine arts, literature and philosophy, her contribution in the field of science was almost negligible. It was Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose, who with his inventions in the second-half of the 19th century, not only made a name for himself but also put India on the science map of the world. 

               Bose was born on November 30, 1858, in a village of Bengal. After studying physics at the Calcutta University he went to England for further studies. He graduated from Cambridge University in 1884, and after coming back to India he became a professor of physical sciences at Presidency College, Calcutta from 1885 to 1915. He was a doyen of Indian science; a pioneer in the field of physical and plant physiological researches.

               He had a deep interest in animal and plant life right from his boyhood. After becoming the professor, he got an opportunity to work in his cherished field. He was the first to realize that both animals and plants have a great deal in common, but he did not have any instrument to prove it. To begin with, he designed and built a very sensitive machine for the detection of minute responses of living organisms to external stimuli. This instrument was called crescograph. It magnified the movement of plant tissues to ten thousand times of their original size and could record the reaction of plants to manures, noise and other stimuli. He is also credited with inventing a wireless transmission system that went unrecognized, much before Marconi. 

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            The first model of a ballpoint pen was patented in 1888 by an American John H. Loud for writing on rough surfaces. But a successful ballpoint-pen, like the modern one, could not be developed till 1943. In fact, the American Air Force is mainly responsible for its invention. The Air Force demanded a special type of pen which could be used by the aircraft crew during flights. They required a pen which would not spill ink due to the reduction in air pressure at high altitudes. Such a pen could only be a ballpoint pen and hence there was a very fast development of it after this demand. Later on it became so popular that even the common people began to use it.

            The ballpoint pen has a hollow body made up of some metal or plastic material. It has a cap, a spring and an ink-refill with a tiny brass ball (writing point) fitted at its one end. The cap controls the writing point. The spring helps the writing point to move up and down. The refill is generally made of polythene and is filled with different colours of ink. 

            The ink used in ballpoint pen is specially formulated to be thick so that it may not leak. Its flow, however, remains smooth and unbroken lines can be drawn with the help of these pens. The ink is drawn through internal ducts in the socket by capillary action (a phenomenon in which the surface of a liquid confined in a narrow-bore tube rises above level.)

            A ballpoint pen has many uses. No blotting paper or inkpot is needed when it is used. This pen writes fast. Its ink does not spill on paper. The words written by it are not affected by water. It has certain disadvantages also. Unlike a fountain pen it does not make broader or finer strokes. It tires the hand more quickly than an ordinary pen because more pressure has to be exerted which using it.

            In the 1960s, soft-tip pens were developed in Japan. In these pens, the ink flows through a pad when pad touches the writing surface. During 1980s ballpoint-pens with carbide tips became very popular.