Homi Jehangir Bhabha Profile: The second season of Sony Liv’s web series ‘Rocket Boys 2’ has been released on Thursday (March 16). This series is mainly based on two great scientists of the country, Homi Jehangir Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai. The first season of this series made a lot of headlines. After the arrival of this series, the audience wants to know more about scientist Homi Jehangir Bhabha. We tell you about Homi Jehangir Bhabha.
Homi Jehangir Bhabha was an Indian nuclear physicist and the founding director of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) in Mumbai. He is called the father of India’s nuclear program. He had worked to make the country a nuclear power-rich nation at a time when the Cold War was going on in the world and opposition was being raised regarding the ill-effects of nuclear weapons. However, Bhabha had recognized the time to come and felt the need to make the country a nuclear nation.
Know about Homi Bhabha
Homi Bhabha was born on October 30, 1909 in a Parsi family in Mumbai. His father, Jehangir Hormusji Bhabha, was a noted lawyer, and his mother, Meherbai Tata, was the daughter of industrialist Ratanji Dadabhai Tata. Bhabha completed his early education in Mumbai before going to England for his higher education. He graduated in mechanical engineering from the University of Cambridge in 1930, before moving to the US to study physics at the California Institute of Technology. After engineering, his trend had increased in physics. He did his Ph.D. in nuclear physics from the University of Cambridge in 1935.
After returning to the country, he got involved in scientific research
Starting his nuclear physics career in Britain, Bhabha returned to India in September 1939 for leave before the outbreak of World War II. Due to the war, he decided to stay in India and got involved in scientific research. He accepted the position of Reader in Physics at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, headed by Nobel laureate C.V. Raman was doing. During this time Bhabha was instrumental in convincing senior leaders of the Congress Party, especially Jawaharlal Nehru, who later served as India’s first prime minister, to launch an ambitious nuclear programme.
He established the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) in Mumbai in 1945, which became one of the leading research institutes in India. Under his leadership, TIFR made significant contributions in the fields of mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology. Bhabha also played an important role in the establishment of India’s nuclear program. He believed that India’s nuclear power was necessary to ensure national security and to advance the country’s scientific capabilities.
India’s first nuclear reactor developed
He worked closely with the Government of India to set up the Atomic Energy Commission of India in 1948. He served as its first president. India’s Atomic Energy Commission under Bhabha’s leadership developed Apsara, India’s first nuclear reactor, in 1956. The reactor was used for research purposes and helped lay the foundation for India’s nuclear power programme. He served as a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Indian Cabinet and was instrumental in setting up the Indian National Committee for Space Research to Vikram Sarabhai.
Received many awards and honors
Bhabha also played an important role in setting up the Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC) in Mumbai. The center was established in 1954 to support India’s nuclear program and conduct research in other areas of science and technology. Jahangir Homi Bhabha had received many awards and honors. In 1954, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan, one of India’s highest civilian honours. He was also awarded the Padma Vibhushan, another prestigious civilian award in India, in 1959.
How did Homi Bhabha die?
Was Homi Bhabha’s death a conspiracy?
There are many assumptions related to his death and plane crash. It is said that this accident was arranged. It has been claimed that America’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was involved in this conspiracy which wanted to stop India’s nuclear program, but this has not been proved. It is also claimed that if Homi Bhabha had not died, India would have become a nuclear country in the 1960s itself.
The country had lost two great sons at a gap of a few days
Regarding this accident, many people believed that there was an explosion in the plane. At the same time, some people expressed doubt that it would have been dropped through missile or fighter aircraft. However, these claims were not investigated from the angle of conspiracy and the truth was never revealed. There were also some reasons to doubt Bhabha’s death. In which the first reason was that there was a difference of a few days between the death of Homi Jehangir Bhabha and the Prime Minister of India, Lal Bahadur Shastri. Both died under suspicious circumstances.
In 2017, some evidence was also found in Homi Jehangir Bhabha’s plane crash. A researcher found some human remains on Mount Blanc in the Alps hills of France. About whom it was said that they could be of the Air India plane crash in 1966. The Atomic Energy Establishment in Mumbai was renamed Bhabha Atomic Research Center in Bhabha’s honour.
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