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Dr Homi J Bhabha
30 October is the birth anniversary of Dr Homi J Bhabha (1909-2011).
Bhabha is the father of India’s nuclear program.
Born in Bombay to Parsi parents, the brilliant student left for Cambridge in 1927 for higher studies. His paternal aunt was Lady Meherbai Tata, wife of Sir Dorab Tata, elder son of Jamshedji Tata, the founder of the Tata group. Since she didn’t have any children, Homi was her de-facto child.
Homi Bhabha was the topper throughout his studies and received a number of scholarships, including the Issac Newton scholarship for engineering. He received his PhD in Nuclear Engineering in 1933 from the University of Cambridge. The Queen Mother Elizabeth personally handed over his degree certificate. He continued to work in the Cavendish laboratory and under Neils Bohr in Copenhagen till 1939, when WW II forced him to return to India. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Institute ( FRS) in 1942.
Dr Bhabha established the Cosmic Ray institute in 1944 with a grant from the Sir Dorab Tata Trust. The Tata Trusts helped him found the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in 1945.
In 1948, Prime Minister Nehru invited Bhabha to head independent India’s nuclear program.
He established the Department of Atomic Energy in 1948. Bhabha was appointed the first Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission in 1954.
Dr Bhabha died in a mysterious plane crash over Mont Blanc in Switzerland . It is rumoured that CIA had placed a Bombay on the airplane to thwart the attempts of India’s premier nuclear scientist to build a nuclear bomb following the India China war in 1962.
The Bhabha Atomic Research Station and the Trombay Nuclear Power Plant are fitting tribute to the father of India’s nuclear program.
– Joy Kallivayalil.
