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.