The Doodle of Satyandranath Bose



A devoted foodie with keen interest in wild life, music,…
The recent doodle by Google on Satyandranath Bose led to a series of question in Reneâs mind. Find out in this story of Papa and Rene how Rene feels proud after knowing the story of this great Indian scientist.
By Somashis Gupta
âPapa â Rene Seriesâ
Starring: Triparni Das as Rene
It was the 4th of June. I was enlightening myself with the 9th volume of âA paper of Thomas A. Edison â competing interestâ when I heard Rene rushing through the corridor. I knew a series of question follows, and as expected âŠ.
âPAPAAAA who is this in Google?â she asked. Her eyebrows almost reached her forehead showing her excitement. I took her laptop and found a new Google doodle.

âAh! It is nice to see Google recognizing him on this dayâ I replied âThis my dear, is Satyandranath Boseâ
âAnd who is he?â asked Rene
âHe was a scientistâ
âBut he is an Indian isnât he?â There was a doubt in her tone. I realized the reason is probably because it is rare to find an Indian scientist these days. The educational system in our country produces just another âanother brick in the wallâ.
âYes he was an Indianâ I replied âbesides various others his most prominent achievement is the Bose-Einstein Condensate.â
âI donât understandâ Rene expressed âwhat is all this Bose-Einstein Condensate?â
I handed her a paper weight and asked âWhat is this?â
âIt is a paper weightâ she replied
âYes, now what state it is in?â I asked again.
âI donât understandâ Rene looked confused âwhat state means?â
âIs it solid, liquid or gar?â
âItâs solid no doubtâ Rene answered playing with the paperweight.
âRight you areâ I took the paper weight and gave her my Makaibari tea cup, ânow what is thisâ
âThis is Tea Papaâ she laughed âand before you ask, it is in liquid state.â
âGood, now tell me how is the food cooked by Mama, I mean what is burnt for cooking?â
âGasâ she looked happy, as she replied. I knew it is because of the word âcookingâ, she loves food in any form at any time of the day.
âAbsolutelyâ I confirmed âand all these solid, liquid and gas are made out of atomsâ
âYes I know Papa. I read about itâ Rene said âatom is what makes matters. It is the smallest unit without release of any energy.â
âCorrectâ I continued âAtoms exist in various states, at high temperature it transforms to gas, if you cool the gas it becomes liquid and if you cool the liquid it becomes solid.â
âYes Papaâ Rene agreed.
âGood, now the same atom under certain circumstances when cooled to absolute zero that is -273.15 degree centigrade, they undergo a very strange transformation. They undergo an identity crisis.â
âIdentity crisis?â asked a confused Rene.
âLet me explain. A French physicist, named Louis de Broglie, in his 1924 PhD paper, suggested that all matters have wave property due to the electrons. This happens to the bosons âŠâ
âBosons?â Rene interrupted.
âBosons are such atoms whose protons, neutrons and electrons sum up to an even number. Let me give you an exampleâ I took a paper and told her âyou know Helium right?â
âYes Papa, when hydrogen breaks in Sun it changes to Helium (He)â
âWow you know this?â I was impressed ânow Helium has 2 protons, 2 neutrons and 2 electrons if you add them up it is 6 which is even hence Helium is a bosonâ
âI see, but Papa why is it called boson?â Rene asked.
âThe name boson was coined by Paul Dirac to commemorate the contribution of Satyandranath Bose, the man in the doodle you showed meâ
âHe seems to be a great personalityâ Rene said âI already feel proudâ
âAnd you should beâ I said âanyways so as I was saying once you cool bosons to absolute Zero, it lose its identity and starts behaving like a super atom and moves like wavesâ I continued âA French Physicist named Louis de Broglie concluded that any matter which has linear momentum is also a waveâ
âOh! I see but how is this relevant to what you were saying about Bose Einstein Condensateâ Rene asked.
âYou see Satyandranath Bose had sent a letter to Albert Einstein giving his calculation, wait I think I have a copy of that letterâ I took out my files and showed her this letter.

âIn this letter he introduced some new form of statistical calculation. Einstein worked on this and predicted 5th state of matter.â
âWow this gives me Goosebumpsâ
I smiled and started looking for a book which I felt Rene should read. But I was interrupted by Rene. âPapa is this something related to God Particle?â Rene hazarded a guess.
âYes indeedâ I continued âhowever âGod Particleâ is an unscientific term, the name is Higgs Bosonâ.
âOh I see than why is it called God Particle?â
âYou see it took nearly 50 years and the most complex machine human kind has ever builtâ I explained âit was such an elusive thing that one physicist, Nobel laureate Leon Lederman, wanted to name his book on this as âThe Goddamn Particleâ. But the publisher asked him to drop the âdamnâ word, and that is how this name âGod Particleâ became more popular.â
âOh! So it has nothing to do with God?â Rene asked
âNo, Higgs Boson has nothing to do with the concept of Godâ I confirmed.
âHmmâŠ.It gives me a new perspectiveâ Rene expressed.
âDid you know Satyandranath Bose was a student of Jagadish Chandra Bose?â I asked Rene.
âYou mean Jagadish Chandra Bose who is the father of 5G technology?â
âYes, I am happy that you know this, let that be a story for another day.â
âOkay Papaâ saying this Rene left my study, leaving me in deep thoughts. Thoughts on how very little is known about these great scientists our country. I promised myself to tell Rene more about them and provide her with more such knowledge. After all it is only knowledge will help develop a better human and in turn make a better society free of superstations.
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A devoted foodie with keen interest in wild life, music, cinema and travel Somashis has evolved over time . Being an enthusiastic reader he has recently started making occasional contribution to write-ups.
Great piece of writing and very informative also
Excellent piece
..loved it!
Dr Saumya Shankar Chowdhury