Padma Bhushan – Dr. Homi Jahangir Bhabha

Born : (1909-10-30)30 October 1909, Bombay, British India
Fields : Nuclear Physics, Atomic Energy Commission of India
Institutions: Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Cavendish Laboratory, Indian Institute of Science, Trombay Atomic Energy Establishment
Alma mater : University of Mumbai,   University of Cambridge
Doctoral advisor : Ralph H. Fowler
Known for : Indian nuclear programme,  Point particles,  Bhabha Scattering,  Cascade process of cosmic radiations
Notable awards :  Adams Prize (1942),  Padma Bhushan (1954),  Fellow of the Royal Society
Parents : Jehangir Hormusji Bhabha, Meheren
Residence : New Delhi, India
Nationality : Indian
Died : 24 January 1966(1966-01-24) (aged 56) Mont Blanc, France

Homi Jahangir Bhabha, was an Indian nuclear physicist, founding director, and professor of physics at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. Colloquially known as "father of Indian nuclear programme", Bhabha was the founding director of two well-known research institutions, namely the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) and the Trombay Atomic Energy Establishment (now named after him); both sites were the cornerstone of Indian development of nuclear weapons which Bhabha also supervised as its director.

Early Life and Education:

He received his early education at Bombay's Cathedral and John Connon School and entered Elphinstone College at age 15 after passing his Senior Cambridge Examination with Honors. He then attended the Royal Institute of Science until 1927 before joining Caius College of Cambridge University. Bhabha obtained a degree in Mechanical engineering from Cambridge and then return to India, where he joined the Tata Steel Mills in Jamshedpur as a metallurgist.

At the University of Cambridge:

Bhabha embarked on his mathematical studies under Paul Dirac to complete the Mathematics Tripos. Meanwhile, he worked at the Cavendish Laboratory while working towards his doctorate in theoretical physics.

During the 1931–1932 academic year, Bhabha was awarded the Salomon’s Studentship in Engineering. In 1932, he obtained first class on his Mathematical Tripos and was awarded the Rouse Ball traveling studentship in mathematics. During this time, the nuclear physics was attracting and became lifelong passion of Bhabha, and his leading edge research and experiments brought great laurels to Indian physicists who particularly switched their fields to nuclear physics.

Career as Scientist:

Starting his scientific career in nuclear physics from Great Britain, Bhabha returned to India for his annual vacation prior to start of the World War II in September 1939, prompting Bhabha to remain in India, and accepted a post of reader in physics at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, headed by Nobel laureate C.V. Raman. During this time, Bhabha played a key role in convincing the Congress Party's senior leaders, Jawaharlal Nehru to start the ambitious nuclear programme. As part of this vision, Bhabha established the Cosmic Ray Research Unit at the institute, began to work on the theory of the movement of point particles, while independently conduct research on nuclear weapons in 1944. In 1945, he established the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Bombay, and the Atomic Energy Commission in 1948, serving its first chairman. In 1948, Nehru led the appointment of Bhabha as the director of the nuclear programme and tasked Bhabha to develop the nuclear weapons soon after. In the 1950s, Bhabha represented India in IAEA conferences, and served as President of the United Nations Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy in Geneva, Switzerland in 1955. During this time, he intensified his lobbying for developing the nuclear weapons, and soon after the Sino-Indo war, Bhabha aggressively and publicly began to call for the nuclear weapons.

Bhabha gained international prominence after deriving a correct expression for the probability of scattering positrons by electrons, a process now known as Bhabha scattering. His major contribution included his work on Compton scattering, R-process, and furthermore the advancement of nuclear physics. He was awarded Padma Bhushan by Government of India in 1954. He later served as the member of the Indian Cabinet's Scientific Advisory Committee and provided the pivotal role to Vikram Sarabhai to set up the Indian National Committee for Space Research.

Death:

On 24th January 1966, Bhabha died in a plane crash when Air India Flight 101  crashed near Mont Blanc, while heading to Vienna, Austria to attend a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's Scientific Advisory Committee.

Legacy:

Bust of Homi Bhabha which is placed in the garden of Birla Industrial & Technological Museum.

After his death, the Atomic Energy Establishment at Bombay was renamed as the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in his honor. In addition to being an able scientist and administrator, Bhabha was also a painter and a classical music and opera enthusiast, besides being an amateur botanist. He is one of the most prominent scientists that India has ever had. Bhabha also encouraged research in electronics, space science, radio astronomy and microbiology.  The famed radio telescope at Ooty, India was his initiative, and it became a reality in 1970. The Homi Bhabha Fellowship Council has been giving the Homi Bhabha Fellowships since 1967 Other noted institutions in his name are the Homi Bhabha National Institute, an Indian deemed university and the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, Mumbai, India.