Homi Jehangir Bhabha’s life and
contributions
Answer
the following questions in 150 words:
1.
Describe the beginning of the age of nuclear energy and India’s approach to it.
A:
- Homi Jehangir
Bhabha is one of India’s greatest personalities in the field of Physics and
atomic energy. Atomic energy, so far, is a recent phenomenon not only to India
but even to the most advanced countries of the world. Scientists in Europe
discovered a fact that the nuclei of certain elements contain a vast amount of
energy. They also discovered that some unknown force working inside the nucleus
of an atom.
While
the scientists of Europe were unable to detect what that force was and how it
could be unleashed, Bhabha could foresee the tremendous benefits of nuclear
energy. On the advice of Bhabha, the Atomic Energy Commission of India was
founded in 1948. After six years it became the Atomic Energy Department. A site
was chosen to house (place) the reactors and laboratories. In this station,
sincere effort was made to lay down the basics of atomic research in terms of
training man power and providing the infrastructure ultimately leading to the
production of atomic power. This progress in field of atomic energy is
brilliant success in India. Within the span of thirty years’ time, India could
become a nuclear power as the foundation of nuclear energy had already laid in
India. It was only because of Bhabha’s efforts that India was able to entry
into the selective nuclear club.
2. Why
does the author say that Bhabha was a modern man in every sense of the term?
A: - Homi J.
Bhabha was an extraordinary person. He was not a traditional being in
understanding the issues of the world. He, in fact, did not have emotional
attachment with India. It might have happened in his case as he spent many of
his academic years in England. While, after returning from India, a sense of
deep feeling of identity as an Indian grew within him. However, this feeling
was not a cultural factor which rooted him in India but a sense of
responsibility. As a modern intellectual man, he just thought what he as a
scientist could do to shape India's future.
Bhabha wanted to see the progress of
India in the fields of science and research. His ideas and perception are
beyond the imagination of common people. When the scientists of Europe were
unable to foresee the possibilities of Nuclear energy, Bhabha's brilliant mind
could foresee the tremendous possibilities of it. He put all his efforts to
make India a nuclear power in the world. He made it clear to all the experts of
the world how nuclear energy could compete with traditional thermal power.
Hence, it is apt to say that Bhabha was a modern man in
every sense of the term.
3. What
changes did Bhabha bring about in the scientific field of India?
A: - When
Bhabha came from Cambridge, England, he noticed that there were skilled people
working in isolation. He then decided to make use of their skills by bringing
them together. The idea of a school of research came to him and it resulted in
the establishment of Centre for Advanced Research in fundamental Physics, which
was later renamed as the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Bombay.
Bhabha tried his level best for the development of this research institution.
When atomic energy was a new
concept to India, Bhabha laid foundations of it. He was responsible for the
establishment of Atomic Energy Commission in India, which enabled India to
become a nuclear power in the world over a span of just 30 years.
When the then laboratories of India
were surrounded by drab (dirty) buildings, Bhabha did not hesitate to afford
large sums of money in beautifying the environment. Besides nuclear energy, he
encouraged Indian government to establish other kinds of energy plants. Hence,
a heavy water plant was set up in Nangal,
a monazite plant at Alwaye. The
Atomic Minerals Division was set up in the area where Uranium and other useful
elements were available.
In India, the
conventional kind of research had been confined only to universities and even
the facilities in them are inadequate. This research institute can be obviously
compared with world's best research institutes. As India possesses a large
amount of thorium resources, Bhabha had a dream to utilize it for the creation
of nuclear fuel. Bhabha had also given thought to India to work on production
of fast breeder reactors which are crucial for producing nuclear fuel. It was
resulted in the set-up of an experimental fast reactor at Kalpakkam, near Madras.
4. What
were Bhabha's efforts to set up research institute in India?
A: - Homi
Jehangir Bhabha is one of India’s greatest personalities in the field of
Physics and atomic energy.
Homi
Jehangir Bhabha’s return to India from Cambridge University, was one of
the happiest incidents in the history of India as he put a lot of effort for
the establishment of a research institute in India. When he noticed some
competent people in India, who were working in isolation, he wanted to make use
of their skills by bringing them together. The idea of a school of research
came to him, and it resulted in the establishment of Center for Advanced
Research in Fundamental Physics. Somehow or other how, Bhabha wanted to see the
establishment of it, he managed to convince the then India's great
industrialists, the Tatas of the need for such a research centre. His requests
bore (were accepted) fruit, in 1945 the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
(TIFR) was set up in Bombay. He gathered young and talented scientists from all
over India to work at the institute. A good school of mathematics was also
started in the institute under D.D. Kosambi, a teacher from a Bombay college. A
bright Indian mathematician, K. Chandrasekharan was requested to join the
staff. Bhabha invited noted scholars from all over the world to give lectures
in his institute. Cosmic ray studies were the major subject of research in it.
Due to his connections with the world of business, Bhabha never lacked funds.
If there was a shortage of men in Bombay, he recruited men from all over the
country. From the start, because of Bhabha's extreme cooperation, the institute
had a healthy cosmopolitan character.
Hence it is obviously apt to
say that without Bhabha's efforts, we would not have seen the TIFR in India. He
was a rare gift to India.
