Plant research

Jagadish Chandra Bose with other prominent scientists from Calcutta University.

His major contribution in the field of biophysics was the demonstration of the electrical nature of
the conduction of various stimuli (e.g., wounds, chemical agents) in plants, which were earlier
thought to be of a chemical nature. These claims were later proven experimentally. [28] He was
also the first to study the action of microwaves in plant tissues and corresponding changes in
the cell membrane potential. He researched the mechanism of the seasonal effect on plants, the
effect of chemical inhibitors on plant stimuli and the effect of temperature. From the analysis of
the variation of the cell membrane potential of plants under different circumstances, he
hypothesised that plants can "feel pain, understand affection etc."

Radio research
See also: Invention of radio

Bose's 60 GHz microwave apparatus at the Bose Institute, Kolkata, India. His receiver (left) used
a galena crystal detector inside a horn antenna and galvanometer to detect microwaves. Bose invented the
crystal radio detector, waveguide, horn antenna, and other apparatus used at microwave frequencies.

The Scottish theoretical physicist James Clerk Maxwell mathematically predicted the existence
of electromagnetic radiation of diverse wavelengths, but he died in 1879 before his prediction was
experimentally verified. Between 1886 and 1888, German physicist Heinrich Hertz published the
results of his experiments on electromagnetism, which showed the existence of electromagnetic
waves in free space. Subsequently, British physicist Oliver Lodge, who had also been researching
electromagnetism, conducted a commemorative lecture in August 1894 (after Hertz's death) on the
quasi-optical nature of "Hertzian waves" (radio waves) and demonstrated their similarity to light and
vision including reflection and transmission at distances up to 50 metres. Lodge's work was
published in book form and caught the attention of scientists in different countries, including Bose in
India.[20]
The first remarkable aspect of Bose's follow-up microwave research was that he reduced the waves
to the millimetre level (about 5 mm wavelength). He realised the disadvantages of long waves for
studying their light-like properties.[20]
During a November 1894 (or 1895[20]) public demonstration at Town Hall of Kolkata, Bose ignited
gunpowder and rang a bell at a distance using millimetre range wavelength
microwaves.[21] Lieutenant Governor Sir William Mackenzie witnessed Bose's demonstration in the
Kolkata Town Hall. Bose wrote in a Bengali essay, Adrisya Alok (Invisible Light), "The invisible light
can easily pass through brick walls, buildings etc. Therefore, messages can be transmitted by
means of it without the mediation of wires."[20]
Bose's first scientific paper, "On polarisation of electric rays by double-refracting crystals" was
communicated to the Asiatic Society of Bengal in May 1895, within a year of Lodge's paper. His
second paper was communicated to the Royal Society of London by Lord Rayleigh in October 1895.
In December 1895, the London journalElectrician (Vol. 36) published Bose's paper, "On a new
electro-polariscope". At that time, the word coherer, coined by Lodge, was used in the English-
speaking world for Hertzian wave receivers or detectors. The Electrician readily commented on
Bose's coherer. (December 1895). The Englishman (18 January 1896) quoted from
the Electrician and commented as follows:
Should Professor Bose succeed in perfecting and patenting his Coherer, we may in time see the
whole system of coast lighting throughout the navigable world revolutionised by a Bengali scientist
working single handed in our Presidency College Laboratory.
Bose planned to "perfect his coherer" but never thought of patenting it.[20]

Diagram of microwave receiver and transmitter apparatus, from Bose's 1897 paper.

Bose went to London on a lecture tour in 1896 and met Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi, who had
been developing a radio wave wireless telegraphy system for over a year and was trying to market it
to the British post service. In an interview, Bose expressed his disinterest in commercial telegraphy
and suggested others use his research work. In 1899, Bose announced the development of a "iron-
mercury-iron coherer with telephone detector" in a paper presented at the Royal Society, London.[22]

Place in radio development

Bose' work in radio microwave optics was specifically directed towards studying the nature of the
phenomenon and was not an attempt to develop radio into a communication medium.[23] His
experiments took place during this same period (from late 1894 on) when Guglielmo Marconi was
making breakthroughs on a radio system specifically designed for wireless telegraphy[24] and others
were finding practical applications for radio waves, such as Russian physicist Alexander
Stepanovich Popov radio wave base lightning detector, also inspired by Lodge's
experiment.[25] Although Bose's work was not related to communication he, like Lodge and other
laboratory experimenters, probably had an influence on other inventors trying to develop radio as
communications medium.[25][26][27] Bose was not interested in patenting his work and openly revealed
the operation of his galena crystal detector in his lectures. A friend in the US persuaded him to take
out a US patent on his detector but he did not actively pursue it and allowed it to lapse."[13]
Bose was the first to use a semiconductor junction to detect radio waves, and he invented various
now-commonplace microwave components.[25] In 1954, Pearson and Brattain gave priority to Bose
for the use of a semi-conducting crystal as a detector of radio waves.[25] In fact, further work at
millimetre wavelengths was almost non-existent for the following 50 years. In 1897, Bose described
to the Royal Institution in London his research carried out in Kolkata at millimetre wavelengths. He
used waveguides, horn antennas, dielectric lenses, various polarisers and even semiconductors at
frequencies as high as 60 GHz;.[25] Much of his original equipment is still in existence, especially at
the Bose Institute in Kolkata. A 1.3 mm multi-beam receiver now in use on the NRAO 12 Metre
Telescope, Arizona, US, incorporates concepts from his original 1897 papers.[25]
Sir Nevill Mott, Nobel Laureate in 1977 for his own contributions to solid-state electronics, remarked
that "J.C. Bose was at least 60 years ahead of his time. In fact, he had anticipated the existence of
P-type and N-type semiconductors."[25]