Essays

"Homi Jahagir Bhabha is mostly known as the chief architect of India’s  nuclear programme. However, his contribution to India*s development goes far beyond the sphere of atomic energy. He had established two great research institutions namely the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) and the Atomic Energy Establishment at Tomboy (which after Bhabha's death was renamed as, the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC). He played a crucial role in tlie development of electronics in India. Bhabha was outstanding scientist and a brilliant engineer."

Homi Jehangir Bhabha was bom on October 30, 1909 in a well known (his family both on his father's and mother's side were related to the house of Tata) Parsi family. His father was a famous barrister and his family had a tradition of learning. His schooling took place mainly at the Cathedral High School in Bombay and after passing his Senior Cambridge he eventually left for England in 192 7. His parents had admitted him to Caius College. Cambridge in order to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering. However, the famous Paul Dirac influenced Bhabha immensely and eventually lured the latter into the discipline of Physics. After obtaining his Mechanical Sciences Tripods in 1930 he went on to study theoretical physics at Cambridge. By the ie Bhabha received his Ph. Din Physics in 1935 he had already made his presence m the international arena of Physics. Following this Bhabha continued to make -.efficient contributions in Physics and was awarded the prestigious Isaac Newton fellowship. By now he had blossomed into one of the great physicists of the 20^th century and also mainly due to his attractive personality.

In the year 1939 he returned to his motherland India and he was subsequently requested by Prof. C.V. Raman to join the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. Initially he was appointed as a Reader but he was soon elevated to the position of Professor of Cosmic Ray Research. At a young age of 31 he was selected to the prestigious the Royal Society. In the year 1942 he also became the first Indian to be awarded the Adams Prize. Later on Bhabha was also selected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.

As soon as he stabilized himself in India, started to organize and build the Indian scientific infrastructure. It transpired on him that India needed a fundamental research institutional world class. For this venture he was able to obtain help from late J.R.D. Tata. In his famous letter to the Tata Trust mentioned, "an embryo from which I hope to build up. In the course of time, a School of Physics comparable to the best anywhere". Initially this institute (TIFR) was established at Bangalore in June 1945 ' but within six months Bhabha moved it to his own house in Bombay. Eventually this institute outgrew its accommodation and was moved to the famous Royal Yacht Club.

 Bhabha and Nehru were like brothers and under the persuasion of Bhabha Nehru made to pass the Atomic Energy Act on April 15, 1948. Thus Bhabha granted permission to set up the Atomic Energy Commission, Following this January 3, 1954 the Atomic Energy Commission decided to set up an Atomic Energy Establishment at Trombay where already some work was being carried out.

Bhabha not only understood the scientific industrial needs of the nation international politics extremely well. While the main focus of the Indian Atomic Energy Commission was to generate electricity for the nation, nevertheless, the nuclear programme was tailored to be of dual utility. The aim was to produce weapons grade Plutonium-239 (while generating electricity).Bhabha's vision again be correct when the British demonstrated that Plutonium-239 from nuclear power plants could be utilized for the production of nuclear weapons. In such a manner the large scale manufacture of nuclear weapons could not only be convenient extremely cheap. Under the supervision of Bhabha the first large scale Plutonium “Production facility in Asia became functional in 1964 in India. Bhabha also saw that reactors were built in India for the sole purpose of production of large quantities of Plutonium-239. Actually Bhabha was also keen for some nuclear tests. The late T.N. Koul our veteran diplomat has mentioned that Bhabha wanted to testament way back in the late 1950s. In fact the famous U.S. nuclear weapons expert. General K.D. Nichols who played a key role in producing the first nuclear explosion mention that he was convinced that in 1960 if given the go ahead by Nehru, India could  quite easily detonated a nuclear weapon. Unfortunately, Nehru though a great person was deadly against nuclear weapons hence, no such moves were undertaken.

During Bhabha's lifetime many great advances were made, such as fabrication of the first atomic reactor namely, Apsara in Asia (if a part of then Sow! Union was not considering a part of Asia). Other reactors such as Cirus, Zerlina, followed. Bhabha realized that India had one of the largest reserves ofThormm-2)! in the world and hence he pushed for fast breeder technology to convert this element to fissionable Uranium-233. Uranium-233 is a dual purpose element and can be used for power generation and also for the production of nuclear weapons. Today India one of the few countries in the world which operates (the others being Russia. France Japan) a fast breeder reactor. Following this in the year 1996 the experimental Ml Kamini reactor went critical utiIizingUranium-233. The genius vision of Bhabhahil clearly made evident in March 1944 when he mentioned, "When nuclear energy In been successfully applied for power production, say a couple of decades from OT, India will not have to look abroad for its experts but will find them ready at half, It must be remembered that the first man initiated self-sustained controlled nuclear chain reaction was done on Dec. 2, 1942 under the direction of none other than Enrico Fermi and this too was then a closely kept secret!

Unfortunately Bhabha was killed in an air-crash near the famous Mont Blanc  peak of the Alps on January 24, 1966, while he was on his way to Vienna to attend acting of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the International Atomic Energy Agency. At the time of his death, Bhabha was Director and Professor of Theoretical Physics of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Secretary to the Government of India in the Department of Atomic Energy, ex-officio Chairman of the Indian Atomic Energy Commission and Director of the Atomic Energy Establishment at Tomboy. We would like to conclude the sketchy and perhaps incoherent account of Bhabha's life and work by quoting J.R.D. Tata on Bhabha: "Scientist, engineer, master-builder and administrator, steeped in humanities, in art and music, Horn! was a truly complete man".

Vocabulary

1. architect—designer, someone who creates plans for buildings. 2. barrister—attorney, lawyer. 3. immensely—vastly, to an exceedingly great extent or degree. 4. eventually— at length, one of these days. 5. blossomed—bloomed, flowered. 6. prestigious— esteemed, honored. 7. infrastructure—base, the basic framework or features of a system or organization. 8. accommodation—adjustment, fitting. 9. extremely—highly, super. 10. diplomat—an official engaged in international negotiations. 11. convinced— confident, positive. 12. fabrication—assembly, manufacture, prevarication. 13. criticality—criticalness, cruciality.