Today’s Google Doodle pays a homage to Indian mathematician and physicist Satyendra Nath Bose

Today’s Google Doodle: If you have opened the Google homepage today, you probably came across the unique Google Doodle of an Indian scientist immersed in his work. That person is none other than Satyendra Nath Bose. Google has paid a tribute to the Indian mathematician and physicist through its illustrated artwork on Saturday, June 4. The day is not his birthday or death anniversary, however. The tech giant picked the date to commemorate the occasion when Bose sent his quantum formulation to Albert Einstein. Einstein, recognizing the significance of his work, called it a significant discovery in quantum physics. Later on, that formulation became the foundation for what we today know as the Bose-Einstein Condensate. Read on to know more about Bose and his illustrious work that made him so important in the world of science.

Today’s Google Doodle pays tribute to Satyendra Nath Bose

The Google Doodle portrays a caricature of Bose along with a clipboard where he can be seen writing with focus. The background of the illustration highlights a blackboard with formulas and equations written down. The center of the image is taken up by a symbol for an atom, which is also the gateway for quantum physics. Google has also put up a blog post where it has dedicated a small description of Satyendra Nath Bose’s achievements.

In the post, Google said, “Today’s Doodle celebrates Indian physicist and mathematician Satyendra Nath Bose and his contribution to the Bose-Einstein Condensate. On this day in 1924, he sent his quantum formulations to Albert Einstein who immediately recognized it as a significant discovery in quantum mechanics”.

Who was Satyendra Nath Bose

Born on January 1, 1894, in Kolkata, Satyendra Nath Bose was an academician specializing in theoretical physics. His early source of inspiration were his father, an engineer with the East Indian Railway Company, and teachers such as Jagadish Chandra Bose, Prafulla Chandra Ray and Naman Sharma. He spent the early part of his career as a physics lecturer at Rajabazar Science College under University of Calcutta.

It was during his time as teacher when he began finding flaws in the ways particles were measured and started finding a solution to it himself. After years of building a hypothesis, he documented his findings in a study titled "Planck's Law and the Hypothesis of Light Quanta". He submitted his work to The Philosophical Magazine, a reputed journal, but his research was turned down. Not giving up, Bose made a bold choice of sending his paper directly to Einstein. Immediately realizing the potential of the papers, Einstein began to apply Bose’s formula to his own work. Later, he modified the research. Eventually, the two geniuses worked together for two papers and came up with the Bose-Einstein Condensate, a state of matter in which separate atoms or subatomic particles, cooled to near absolute zero begin behaving like a wave instead of a particle.