January

Satyendra Nath Bose was a Bengali-Indian physicist and mathematician,

Best known for his work with Albert Einstein on the Bose-Einstein Condensate as well being the namesake of the boson particle.

B.Sc. in 1913 and M.Sc. in 1915.

Bose decided to pursue further studies and enrolled at the University College of Science in Kolkata in 1917. Here, Bose had access to research material on quantum theory and relativity which was a novelty for Indian colleges at that time. He also studied theories on Statistical Mechanics by the American mathematician and physicist J. Willard Gibbs as well as Einstein’s publications on the theory of relativity. He also taught courses to graduates and undergraduates there and set up research laboratories for students.

Bose was born in Kolkata, India on January 1, 1894 as the eldest and only male child of his family. His mother had no formal education, but ensured that her children never lacked the same. Bose, always having been an intelligent student, was encouraged in the pursuit of studies by his mother.

In 1924, Bose made the biggest breakthrough of his career when he wrote a paper in which he derived Planck’s “quantum radiation law”. This he did by counting the number of identical states, without any reference to classical physics theories. This paper was of immense importance as Planck’s law had not been proven satisfactorily up to this point. This paper was submitted by Bose to Einstein for his review. Einstein was considerably impressed with Bose’s research and translated it into German and further submitted the paper to the European Physics Journal (known as Zeitschrift für Physik) with his personal recommendation. Einstein used Bose’s basic concept and further extended the research into the field of material physics.

Bose’s paper received international acclaim and in October 1925, he obtained a two year leave from his teaching position and travelled to Paris to meet with prominent scientists including Einstein and Marie Curie. Einstein and Bose’s collaborative research came to be known as the Bose-Einstein Condensate and a certain type of particle was named “boson” in recognition of the contributions made by Bose. This particle is sometimes called the “God particle” and Bose himself came to be known as “The Father of the God Particle”. In 2013, further research in the field by the scientists Peter Higgs and Belgian physicist Francois Englert led to them winning the Nobel Prize in Physics. Bose himself was never awarded this honor although several notable scientists feel that it was rightly deserved by him.

Bose was appointed as the head of the Physics department at the University of Kolkata upon his return from Paris in 1927 and he continued to hold this position until 1945. Bose stopped publishing papers for a long time after his return and instead chose to focus on other fields such as philosophy, literature and the Indian independence movement. He was awarded the title of Padma Vibhushan by the Indian government, which is the second highest civilian award in India, and in 1959, he was appointed as “National Professor” which is the highest honor received by a scholar in India. Other honors include adviser to the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the president of the Indian Physical Society and the National Institute of Science and appointment as Fellow of the Royal Society in London in 1958. Satyendra Nath Bose died on February 4, 1974. The S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences in Salt Lake, Calcutta is named in his honor.

Kalpataru Day also called Kalpataru Diwas or Kalpataru Utsav is an annual religious festival observed by monks of the Ramakrishna Math monastic order of Hinduism and lay followers of the associated Ramakrishna Mission, as well as the worldwide Vedanta Societies. These organizations follow the teachings of Ramakrishna, the 19th century Indian mystic and figure in the Bengali Renaissance.

The event commemorates the day on 1 January 1886, when his followers believe that Ramakrishna revealed himself to be an Avatar, or God incarnate on earth. It is held each 1 January. Although the observances are held in many locations, the most significant celebration takes place at Cossipore Garden House or Udyanbati near Kolkata (then called Calcutta), present Ramakrishna Math, a branch of Ramakrishna Order, the place where Ramakrishna spent the last days of his life. It is classified as one of the "Lord's special festivals" by followers of Ramakrishna.

In India on 1 January 2010, as in other years, "Devotees from all over the country thronged the famed Kali Temple at Dakshineshwar for Kalpataru Utsav, which is celebrated on this day every year."[2] India's Eastern Railway scheduled two special trains on 1 January 2010, to carry the crowds to Kali Temple.[3] The event includes providing medical care, blankets and clothing to the poor.