Jagadish Chandra Bose (30.11.1858-23.11.1937) was an Indian physicist and physiologist and one of the founders of biophysics. He was born in Mymensingh. He studied at the University of London and the University of Cambridge, graduating from the latter in 1884. In 1885-1915 he was professor of physics at Presidency College in Calcutta, and from 1917 the founder and director of the Bose Institute.
He carried out a number of important studies of the properties of electromagnetic waves and improved the technique of experimenting with them, in particular the design of sources of short waves (down to 6 mm) and the sensitivity of their detector; he studied the polarisation and the double refraction of these waves in various materials, and their reflection and refraction, he determined their wavelength, and so on.
After 1897 Bose began to study important problems of plant physiology. He studied the processes of the growth and the death of plants, the movement of sap in them, and the effect of various kinds of radiation and of electrical, mechanical and thermal influences on the vital functions of plants; he was the first to use an electric probe to study processes in plants, and he designed a number of instruments for his experiments. He put forward the idea of a similarity between certain phenomena in living and in inanimate nature; in particular, he tried to find physical analogues of memory, and he carried out original experiments with an artificial eye.
Bose was the first Indian natural scientist; he often represented Indian science at various scientific gatherings and did much for its development.
A Fellow of the Royal Society (1920).