So when astronomers were sorting stars into different groups by spectrum, they were really sorting them by temperature. In other words, different temperatures lead to different patterns of bands. And Saha determined that as rising temperatures strip more and more electrons out of atoms, the location and number of the dark bands change. Electrons within atoms absorb light of specific frequencies, creating the dark bands in stellar spectra. Saha realized that the answer involved chemistry. Why did different categories of stars exist? Embarrassingly, though, no one knew what those groupings meant. Since the mid-1800s astronomers had been classifying stars into Linnaeus-like taxonomies based on similar spectra. And owing to his background in astronomy he realized that the work could in turn answer a vexing question about stars.Īll stars produce a spectrum-a barcode-like pattern of thin, black lines that appear when starlight filters through a prism. Specifically, he could combine his knowledge of chemistry with quantum physics to determine the exact temperatures at which atoms of different elements lose electrons. The paper seemed superficial, and Saha knew he could push the research further. It involved thermal ionization, the stripping away of electrons as atoms heat up. And in 1919, as World War I ended and German journals began trickling into India again, Saha read a paper that changed his life. He initially made a name for himself as a young professor by translating some of Einstein’s seminal papers on relativity into English. Surprisingly, the German helped his career as much as anything. After scoring top marks in astronomy and chemistry in high school, he went to college and studied an eclectic mix of fields-thermodynamics, quantum physics, German. Another school’s principal, looking for charity cases, enrolled Saha, who made the most of this third chance. School administrators, embarrassed, expelled him and several others.īut again someone took pity.
Protests erupted nationwide, and when the local governor visited Saha’s school, the barefoot boy joined the denunciations.
In the early 1900s the British government proposed splitting Saha’s Bengali state into Hindu and Muslim halves, a controversial move. But at least he got a second chance at school.Īnd then he promptly blew it. Because of his caste many students refused to eat in the same room with him. When monsoons flooded his village, Saha rowed a boat to class. A kindly local doctor who recognized Saha’s talent intervened and enrolled the boy in middle school. After an older brother flunked high school, the father declared schooling a waste of money and put Saha to work in the family grocery. Meghnad Saha was born into a low-caste family in 1893, the fifth of eight children. But the Darwin of astronomy-a poor polymath from what’s now Bangladesh-remains virtually unknown in the West today. The scientists who bring about such revolutions usually enjoy widespread fame. In the 1800s, for example, the passive taxonomies of Linnaeus gave way to the natural selection of Darwin. In particular, they often shift from purely descriptive fields to more precise and predictive undertakings.
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