Why write a biography and that too of a physicist, Professor Meghnad Saha? This is a question which the authors put to themselves before undertaking this task.
The answer was very clear.
Our country is passing through rather difficult times and for any real improvement, everyone will have to work hard and properly educate our people. Here was a man, who was not only an outstanding scientist and an inspiring teacher but also a great nationalist. The interest of the country was always uppermost in his mind and he never let his personal gain or the gain of his family or friends vitiate his action. He was outspoken and fearless and had the courage to express his views openly.
Professor M.N. Saha's life can serve as a model for our coming generations.
In our effort to prepare this booklet we have drawn heavily from The Collected Works of Meghnad Saha, Vol. I-III, Ed. Santimay Chatterjee and The Collected Scientific Works of Meghnad Saha, Ed. Santimay Chatterjee. Many people have also helped us in our effort. We would particularly like to thank, Prof. S.N. Ghosh, Prof. Rabi Majumdar, Shri U.S. Nigama, Mrs Chitra Roy, Dr Prasanjit Saha, Prof. Devendra Sharma, Dr A.N. Tandon and Prof. A.R. Verma for their ready response to our request for help.
The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has been deeply involved in the development of curriculum, textbooks and other related instructional materials at various levels of school education for the last four decades. This has influenced, directly or indirectly, the curriculum and instructional materials of all the States and Union Territories of the country which is a matter of great satisfaction for the Council.
Generally, it is found that despite a good curriculum and textual materials, students rarely get encouraged and motivated towards self- study. One of the reasons for this is our examination system, which tests only the knowledge imparted through textbooks. Thus, a very few students get motivated to read books other than textbooks. Moreover the reasons for not reading books outside the course can also be attributed to the non-availability of an adequate number of books for different age-groups of children at an affordable price. Although during the last few years, some work has already been initiated in this direction by the Council to overcome this deficiency, it is insufficient.
Taking all these aspects into consideration, the Council has initiated an ambitious and innovative project in the form of writing informative and enriching books for children of different age-groups under different themes covering science and technology, languages, literature, social sciences, biographies, stories, culture etc. Under this project entitled, Reading to Learn, a series of books are being prepared for different age groups of children, in a simple and interesting style, in different subject areas by the Council. In the area of science and technology alone, more than thirty-six books have already been developed under this project. We hope that we shall be in a position to publish a large number of books in Hindi and English in new and applied areas of science very soon.
Professor Meghnad Saha (1893-1956) was one of the great stalwarts on the Indian scene during the major part of the first half of the last century. He will always be remembered for his 'brilliant discoveries in the theory of ionization and its application to the spectra of the sun and stars'. The theory had all the simplicity which is usually a hallmark of any fundamental contribution. Apart from this work, Saha's researches covered many other areas of astrophysics and physics, including solar corona, propagation of radio waves in the ionosphere, ẞ decay and age of rocks. He organised very active schools of research at Allahabad University and Calcutta University, and helped to establish the Institute of Nuclear Physics, later named after him. He was mainly responsible for the starting of the monthly Journal Science and Culture and edited it for a number of years. He wrote extensively to popularise science and create awareness among the people about scientific and educational problems facing the country. He was an active member of the National Planning Committee set up by the Indian National Congress much before India became independent.
The Saka Calendar, used in India, in parallel with the Gregorian Calendar, is all due to his efforts. He was aware of the defects of the Gregorian Calendar and on his initiative, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) appointed a Committee (of which he was the Chairman) to suggest a reformed Calendar. He was also the moving spirit behind the Damodar Valley Project.
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