In memoriam

Abstract

Dr. Meghnad Saha, F.A.S., D.Sc., F.N.I., F.R.S., was born at Dacca 1893. His parents were not in affluent circumstances and the cost of his education throughout his school, college and University career he met himself from the scholarships and stipends he won by his brilliant examination results. Saha took his M.Sc. degree in Applied Mathematics from Calcutta University in 1915 and got his D.Sc. from the same University in 1918. He was one of the bund of young workers who, on the invitation of tho late Sir Asutosh Mookerjee, joined the newly founded University College of Science in 1916 as a Lecturer. In 1921 he was appointed Khaira Professor of Physics, but left Calcutta University in 1923 to join the· University of Allahabad as Professor and Head of the Department of Physics. He stayed in Allahabad for fifteen years, returning to Calcutta in 1938 as Palit Professor of Physics. This post he held till 1952 when he was appointed Director of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science. It was while serving in this capacity that Saha breathed his last on 16th February, 1956. Dr. Saha was first and foremost a scientist, and that of a very high caliber. He was also an author and a writer, a great organizer, a philanthropist and reformer and last, but not the least, an ardent patriot.