“Respected sir,” began a letter that the then Nobel laureate and very famous Albert Einstein received one day in June 1924.

The letter came from the University of Dhaka, a city that was part of India British, so it was on the colonial periphery, far from the scientific center of the world where all established knowledge was being revolutionized.

“I have taken the liberty of sending you the enclosed article for your reading and opinion. I am eager to know what you think about it. If you consider the work worthy of publication, I would be grateful if you would arrange for its publication in Zeitschrift fur Physik.”

The German Zeitschrift fur Physik was one of the most important publications in the world in theoretical and experimental physics at that time.

Who was the author of this letter, and what had prompted him to make such a request?

He acknowledged himself as “a complete stranger” to Einstein, but noted: “I feel no hesitation in making such a request, for we are all your disciples.”

However, he revealed that it was not the first time he had written to him: “I don't know if you still remember that someone from Calcutta asked you for permission to translate your work on relativity into English. You agreed to that request. The book was published. I was the one who translated your work. mathematician Satyendra Nath Bose had found the solution to a problem that even Einstein hadn't been able to solve.

Within eight days, the master of relativity had already translated the article into German and sent it for publication to the journal Zeitschrift fur Physik,accompanied by a note in which he described it as “an important advance” and anticipated that he himself would expand upon these revolutionary ideas.

To Bose, he wrote a postcard confirming that his work was “an important step forward,” adding: “I am very pleased.”

That step forward kept becoming more and more enormous.

From the brief but significant collaboration between Einstein and Bose sprang pioneering knowledge in quantum science that continues to transform the world.

But Despite having contributed to changing the face of 20th-century science and, moreover, having worked with Marie Curie, inspired the poet Tagore, and frequented great scientists and artists, the Indian physicist is little known.

And it is a pleasure to get to know him.

110 out of 100

Bose was born on the first day of 1984 in Calcutta, into a family linked to the Bengali Renaissance, a movement that promoted modern education and cultural renewal in colonial India.

From a very early age, his intellect shone brightly.

Among the various stories circulating about his genius—some true, others perhaps embellished—is the tale of a teacher at his school who, impressed by one of his papers, awarded him a grade of 110 out of 100.

The teacher was convinced that his student would become a brilliant mathematician.

Bose, always curious about all kinds of intellectual and artistic creation, he did indeed end up choosing mathematics as his professional path.

And, like his friend, fellow student, and future astrophysicist Meghnad Saha, he was fascinated by theoretical physics, especially the new quantum theory that German physicists were exploring.

After graduating and becoming professors at the University of Calcutta, Bose and Saha embarked on an unusual task: translating into English the original works of Einstein and Hermann Minkowski on relativity, something that hadn't been done anywhere before.

Remember that in his letter to Einstein, Bose mentioned that he had written to him before?

Well, this was the reason: to avoid violating the great physicist's copyright, he requested special permission.

Einstein gladly granted it, and the book *The Principle of Relativity*, published in 1920, was the first collection in English of those fundamental articles.

More than a simple translation, it was a bridge to global knowledge, a gesture that facilitated the dissemination of revolutionary ideas at a time when scientific news took a long time to cross borders.

However, it was when Bose moved from Calcutta to the University of Dakar that he truly made history.with that article entitled “Planck's Law and the Quantum Hypothesis of Light” that he sent to Einstein.

It was like a key that unlocked the door to knowledge.

In parallel, and thanks to Einstein, Bose obtained a research license to travel to Europe and work with the best laboratories and researchers of the time.

The Amusing Encounter with Marie Curie

Bose arrived in Paris in October 1924 and quickly became involved in scientific circles, attending lectures and talks by figures such as the physicists Paul Langevin and Louis de Broglie.

Interested in learning experimental techniques with radioactivity, Langevin provided him with a letter of introduction to meet Marie Curie at the Radium Institute.

Bose recounted that, after greeting him “warmly,” she told him: “You will certainly have the opportunity to work with me, but not right now, rather in three or four months. First, you have to learn the language; Otherwise, you will find it difficult.” “It's difficult to get around in the laboratory.”

“She told me I should meet a beautiful French woman from whom I should learn. So we searched Paris for this lovely woman. The truth is, I knew French: I could read and write, but I couldn't tell Madame Curie because she talked nonstop.”

Bose found the whole humorous episode and, while waiting for the opportunity to formally join Curie's laboratory, he took advantage of his time in Paris to work with other researchers. and familiarize himself with cutting-edge techniques in experimental physics.

Among them was the French physicist Jacqueline Zadoc-Kahn Eisenmann, with whom he formed a deep friendship.

The correspondence between them portrays the vibrant intellectual exchanges of quantum physics at the time, as illustrated by this letter that Bose wrote to her from Berlin in 1925:

“My sweet Jacqueline, your quick reply made me happy, but mixed with There's a feeling of sadness in her: it makes me think of how little I saw you last day.

"It seems everyone in Berlin is very excited about the developments in physics."

"On the 1st and 28th of last month, [Werner] Heisenberg spoke at the colloquium about his theory. Everyone is very puzzled, and very soon there will be a discussion about the work of [Erwin] Schrodinger."

"Einstein seems very enthusiastic about it. The other day, on the train back from the colloquium, we found him jumping into the same compartment we were in, and he immediately began to speak passionately about what we had just heard."

"We all remained silent, while he spoke almost the entire time, unaware of the interest and fascination he aroused in the other passengers."

Back Home

Any physicist visiting Berlin in the 1920s must have felt a bit like a musician visiting Liverpool in the 1960s, commented physicist and science writer Sharon Ann Holgate in the BBC radio portrait of Bose, The Indian Particle Man.

Some of the brightest minds of the early 20th century were there, discussing the intricacies of the strange new quantum theory that seemed too bizarre to grasp.

“You'll never in your life have the chance to meet such great men of science,” Bose noted.

But India and his family were waiting for him.

On his return, Bose established himself as a central figure in the country's physics, combining teaching, research, and institutional almost leadership, and influencing generations of scientists.

One thing he strongly advocated was the importance of teaching science in India's native languages, rather than the English.

According to his grandson, Falguni Sarkar, who spoke to the BBC, Bose admired countries like Israel and Japan for having created a solid scientific culture and first-rate contributions based on the use of their own languages.

The idea, however, met with much resistance. The Indian physicist Partha Ghose, a disciple of Bose, recalled that one day he asked him why he insisted so much on that question, and that he received a “very convincing” answer.