Professor Partha Ghose Memoir Kanamatra (কণামাত্র)

Einstein's death shattered Bose...

Readers and viewers of this site, and followers of S.N. Bose know that if one had to name just one person who has done more to preserve, promote, and given voice to the work, story, and memory of Bose, it would have to be Professor Partha Ghose. Professor Ghose has published his autobiography Kanamatra (কণামাত্র). 

​Known, at least to those who follow Bose, as "Bose's last student" Professor Ghose is a Kolkata India resident, known to many as a multifaceted talent in science, education, music and the arts. As a public intellectual, Professor Ghose has dedicated his life to popularizing science for the masses.  

Professor Ghose also features prominently in the recent Dear Master a film by Subha Das Mollick, as can be seen in the film trailer.

Wikipedia introduces him this:

Partha Ghose FNASc (born 1939) is an Indian physicist, author, philosopher, musician and former professor at the S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences in Kolkata. He is the former Chairman of Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, Kolkata and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata. 
Partha Ghose is one of India's best known popularizers of modern science. He has written influential papers and books on physics as well as popular books on science. He was an anchorperson in the popular Indian TV shows Quest and Eureka. He has directed plays and appeared in media programmes and films including the National Award-winning film 'The Quantum Indians', which is about great Indian scientists Satyendranath Bose, C. V. Raman and Meghnad Saha. 
Ghose received the National Award for the Best Science and Technology coverage in the Mass Media of the National Council for Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC) for the period 1986–1990. He was also awarded the Indira Gandhi Prize for the popularization of science by the Indian National Science Academy. 

Professor Partha Ghose (circa 2015). Wikipedia

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NatureIndia published an interview with Professor Ghose and discussed his memories of Bose, as well as his own interest in science, music, and the arts.

'Einstein's death shattered Bose - he tore off an unpublished research paper in grief'

A new book by Satyendra Nath Bose’s student and particle physicist Partha Ghose talks of Bose’s relations with Albert Einstein. Nature India caught up with Ghose to discuss some untold stories that find place in his Bengali autobiography Kanamatra.

By Biplab Das, NatureIndia, 13 May 2024.

Nature India: What inspired you to embark on a career in particle physics?
Partha Ghose: In 1961, I went to Imperial College London wanting to decipher what lies at the deepest core of matter. This was when physicists had already begun smashing atoms in colliders, churning out new transient particles to unveil the secrets of matter.
I was lucky to learn advanced physics from stalwarts in particle physics like Abdus Salam, P. T. Matthews and T. W. B. Kibble. In 1963, an opportunity to work briefly at CERN further spurred my interest in particle physics.
NI: How did you meet S. N. Bose?
PG: It was in mid-1963 that I met Bose, quite by chance. The famous Bengali pote Bishnu Dey, a relative of ours and Bose’s close friend, took me to meet Bose. They were immersed in discussion, and Bose suddenly turned to me and asked, ''Would you like to work with me?''. It was an offer I couldn’t refuse. He arranged everything very quickly and within days I joined his research group at the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics in Calcutta as a junior scientist. I worked on particle physics, mainly on broken SU(3) symmetry which was in vogue at the time.
NI: How did Bose start interacting with Einstein and how was their relationship?

Read the Full Article

Kanamatra (কণামাত্র)

Available for order at Ananda Publishers or Amazon.in

‘‘আমার ছাত্তর হয়ে বাংলায় কিছু লিখলি না?’’ গুরু বিজ্ঞানাচার্য সত্যেন্দ্রনাথ বসুর এই স্নেহময় তিরস্কারই এই বইয়ের অনুপ্রেরণা। বিজ্ঞানের সঙ্গে প্রথম পরিচয় কেবলমাত্র মাতৃভাষাতেই সম্ভব। রবীন্দ্রনাথ তাঁর ‘বিশ্বপরিচয়’ পুস্তিকাটিতে লিখেছেন, ‘‘বিজ্ঞানের সেই প্রথম পরিচয় ঘটিয়ে দেবার কাজে সাহিত্যের সহায়তা স্বীকার করলে তাতে অগৌরব নেই।’’ এই কথাটি লেখক মহাবাক্য হিসেবে মেনে নিয়েছেন। তাই বিজ্ঞানকে জীবনের আটপৌরে ঘটনার মধ্যে, খেলাধুলো, সংগীত সবকিছুর মধ্যেই চিনিয়ে দেবার চেষ্টা করেছেন। সেই অর্থে এটি কেবল বিজ্ঞানের বই নয়। এর মধ্যে বিজ্ঞানের ‘রোম্যান্স’ আড্ডার মেজাজে ধরা পড়েছে এই আত্মকথন। অথচ বিজ্ঞানের দুরূহ ব্যাপারে অতিসরলীকরণের সঙ্গে কোনও আপস লক্ষ করা যায় না। বিজ্ঞানের পরিভাষাও এই বইটিতে পেয়েছে একটি বিশেষ স্থান। আর যে সব প্রবাদপ্রতিম মানুষদের সংস্পর্শে তিনি এসেছেন, যাঁরা তাঁকে গড়ে তুলেছেন, তাঁদের গভীর প্রভাব লেখার মধ্যে অগোচরেই স্থান পেয়েছে। এ গ্রন্থ বহুমুখী প্রতিভার অধিকারী এক বিজ্ঞানতাপসের জীবনের চলমান প্রতিচ্ছবি।Ananda Publishers.