Abstract
AFTER nearly fifteen years of service in the University of Allahabad, Prof. M. N. Saha is returning to his Alma Mater, the University of Calcutta, as Palit professor of physics. The first occupant of this chair, the gift of a rich Calcutta lawyer to the University, was Sir C. V. Raman (1918-32), and he was succeeded in 1932 by Prof. D. M. Bose (1932-37), who is now director of the Bose Research Institute founded by his uncle, the late Sir J. C. Bose. Prof. Saha graduated from the University of Calcutta in 1915 in applied mathematics, and in 1917 became lecturer in physics in the newly founded University College of Science. Between 1917 and 1921, he published a number of papers in the Philosophical Magazine and other journals on the application of the special theory of relativity to electrodynamics, on selective radiation pressure and its application to astrophysics, and the theory of thermal ionization of elements. The grant of a foreign scholarship by the University of Calcutta enabled him to visit England in 1920-21, and to work in the laboratory of Prof. A. Fowler at the Imperial College of Science and Technology. He was thus enabled to give the finishing touches to his paper “On the Physical Theory of Stellar Spectra” which was published by the Royal Society in 1921, and is now regarded as a work of highest importance in astrophysics. When, two years later, the University of Allahabad was just then passing from an examining to a teaching university, Saha accepted the chair of physics there and was called upon to frame the courses of teaching, organize the laboratory, and initiate research work. He succeeded in creating a fine school of teaching and research under great handicaps and in infecting his colleagues with enthusiasm, resulting in important contributions to knowledge. Students trained by him have already achieved great distinction, among them being Prof. D. S. Kothari (Delhi) and Dr. R. C. Mozumdar in astrophysics; Dr. N. K. Sur in meteorology, Dr. G. R. Toshniwal in ionospheric research, and Dr. P. K. Kichlu (Lahore), in spectroscopy.
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Prof. M. N. Saha, F.R.S.. Nature 142, 145–146 (1938). https://doi.org/10.1038/142145c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/142145c0