Power (Calcutta, November 1954) S.N. BOSE (1894–1974)

Power (Calcutta, November 1954)
S.N. BOSE (1894–1974)

Satyendra Nath Bose was arguably India’s greatest scientist. He is best
known for his seminal contribution to quantum statistics which, after it had
been elaborated and extended by Albert Einstein, came to be known as
Bose-Einstein statistics. Particles whose behaviour is described by the Bose-
Einstein statistics are called Bosons. Bose was a charming and delightful
man of varied interests—from music to art to literature. Stories about him
are legion in the scientific and literary circles of Calcutta. ere is the
famous story about Bose and Neils Bohr, the Danish physicist. Bose was
chairing a lecture by Bohr and, to the amusement of the audience, seemed
fast asleep through it. At one point, Bohr turned to Bose for help. Bose
woke up with a start and instantly solved the problem. He worshipped
Einstein, and refused to publish a paper because his guru had expressed a
few reservations. He was also a great believer in explaining scientific ideas
to common people in layman’s language. In this speech he speaks about the
sources of energy and of their uses in the everyday lives of human beings.
His brief discussion on nuclear power for civilian purposes has powerful
contemporary resonances.

MAIN SPEECH

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I deem it a very great privilege to be able to address you on the occasion of

the birthday of Sir J.C. Bose. I am among the fortunate who were able to sit

at the feet of the great master for their first lessons in modern physics; and I

still recollect the thrill of intense delight which we all felt, when he

modestly talked about his striking discoveries on electric waves in his class.

His own life was a flaming example of devotion to science; and the fact that

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many of the students of our period had deliberately chosen science as their

calling, at a time when the facilities for such studies were rare, had been in

no small measure due to the inspiring examples of those great pioneers of

research in Bengal, Sir J.C. Bose and Sir P.C. Ray. May their memory live

long and continue to inspire successive generations of students in our land.

I have chosen ‘Power’ as the subject of today’s address; we are all interested

in quick and extensive development of our power industry by the utilization

of India’s natural resources. Our ultimate source of energy, the sun, is

apparent as an incandescent disc which subtends an angle of about 32

minutes to an observer on the earth. In reality it is an incandescent globe of

vast dimensions, 1.39 × 106 kilometres in diameter, but very far away from

us, 1.49 × 108 kilometres. Seen from the sun, the earth, our little globe, will

appear as a speck of dust in the vast space. In fact our earth collects 0.5 ×

10-9 fraction of the total energy radiated by the sun at every instant. is

small fraction nevertheless amounts to a constant reception of 1.6 × 1014

kilowatts, a tremendous amount distributed at the level of the stratosphere

or 1.35 kilowatt for every square metre at sea-level.

Ages ago, our little planet was born as the result of a cosmic upheaval.

Originally an incandescent mass had separated out of the materials thrown

out from the sun, and had gradually cooled down, through about 2,000

million years from an incandescent state to what it is now today. Deep

crusts have now formed over the once molten mass, and land rocks,

continents and oceans have been formed.

Life appeared at one stage on our planet, and thenceforth through its

various manifestations has unceasingly worked on and produced farreaching

consequences on earth.

Under its ceaseless thrusts, rocks have crumbled to soil, vegetations have

covered bare continents. We do not yet understand life but we realize that

the power necessary for such tremendous transformation has been

ultimately derived by life from the energy that the earth continuously

receives from the sun. It is the radiation from the sun, which provokes

evaporation from the sea; rain and snow reprecipitate this moisture and

water flows back ultimately to the sea, through thousands of rivers. e

sun’s heat is also the ultimate cause of atmospheric circulation. e plant

world traps the daily flow of energy by the photosynthetic process, and

stores it as food, which ultimately sustains the whole animal world and

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builds the plant body with energy-rich carbonaceous material. is process

has gone on for ages. Ever since life has appeared on this earth and though

endless generations have been born and have died, the results of life’s

photosynthetic activity has not been all lost. It subsists in the deposits of

coal and oil, which form the raw materials for the generation of power for

the present age.

ese natural processes, (1) the circulation of water from the land back to

the sea, which provides the basis of hydroelectric power, (2) the

photosynthetic process which determines the growth of plants, are however

not very efficient in the sense that only some thousandth part of the actual

energy received from the sun is utilized in these processes. Most of the

radiation that we receive is ultimately scattered back into space. ere is

thus room for speculation about means of better utilization of this abundant

power we daily receive for the ultimate good of man.

Enduring achievements can only be brought out by large concentration of

power devoted to the purpose in view. Before the age of power steam and

coal, man had relied on large scale employment of human and animal

labour. Food and comfortable surroundings were then the principal quests

and agriculture was the principal industry which engaged the attention of

man. Other needs of the human society, its garments and its shelter, were

also met then by unaided human skill. e development of the mechanical

sense however has gradually transformed the course of human efforts.

Human ingenuity had been devoted to the discovery of labour-saving

devices, and the growth of scientific knowledge had aided materially to

bring about the industrial revolution. e tempo of progress has increased

enormously with the discovery of the steam engine and later by the

understanding of electro-dynamical processes, and the manifold uses to

which electricity can be put. Modern civilization is now based on large scale

uses of natural resources and means, whereby convenient concentration can

be directed on any object, and human labour does no longer play a

preponderant role in all human efforts, especially among nations who are at

present in the vanguard of human progress.

e extent of electric power development in a country can now be regarded

as a positive index of the economic prosperity and the standard of living of

its people. As an Indian my thoughts naturally turn to my own country, and

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here I sadly note that India is still a long way behind the industrially

advanced countries.

In spite of magnificent ancient achievements and contribution to human

civilization, present day India ranks among the underdeveloped countries,

where efforts will have to be made now to utilize the natural resources that

lie buried in the land, or to utilize the natural advantages which its position

and geography have lent to this country. It is clear that the future

development must be carefully planned and a careful survey of all our

resources for the generation of electric power should be undertaken

immediately.

e three chief sources of generation of electric power are oil, coal and

water-flow. Our known mineral oil resources are not very significant. For

our consumption we have still to rely on foreign imports, and though the

recent talks about the probability of oil deposits in Bengal have encouraged

us to dream of a blissful prosperity in the near future, much yet remains to

be done and explored before we can really take oil into account in

formulating our future plans. Coal however is apparently plentiful. Proved

natural resources of coal here according to a recent government publication

is about 16,000 million tons, and probable total reserves may be still higher,

say about 60,000 million tons. Much of it however is added with

inconveniently large ash-content, or probably contains harmful ingredients

such as sulphur in its composition. We have also to remember that large

scale industrial developments will require development of extensive

metallurgical processes in this country which would principally require high

grade coal. Use of coal for transport and power development would have to

be carefully thought out in a manner which permits the most economic use

of our natural resources. is has, unfortunately, not been considered so

long and much of our valuable deposits have been thus frittered away or

wasted unnecessarily.

It is now comforting to think that recently greater care is being bestowed on

our reserves, and our future developments will try to conserve our good coal

and put our low-grade coals to increasing uses.

It is perhaps relevant to remark that other more highly industrialized

countries have thought about the uses of low-grade fuel and have evolved

methods by which they can be efficiently and conveniently utilized.

Efficient methods of combustion have been worked out and extensive

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researches have been undertaken on the problem of gasifications. One hears

of electric supply in big cities elsewhere (in Russia for example) being now

secured by utilizing combustion of peat and lignite and low-grade coals and

attention is now mainly directed towards attaining a better efficiency ratio,

by using higher pressures in boilers and more efficient generators. It is a

depressing sight in our country to see coal freely burning in open hearths,

whereby useful gases which could have been utilized in developing chemical

industries are being carelessly wasted away.

e heavy and dense smoke that hangs about now in the evenings in the

streets of Calcutta is indication of how careless we are in our daily practices

and how urgent is the necessity of intelligently tackling our common-day

problems.

Turning now from coal to water power. We hopefully observe that largescale

developments of our hydroelectric resources are on the eve of taking

place. ere have been significant developments of water power in South

and West India, where in Bombay, Travancore, Cochin, Mysore and

Madras increasing uses of our resources in water power are being made now.

We hear of Bhakra-Nangal, Hirakud and the DVC undertakings, and we

hear of Kosi and Teesta surveys being undertaken for the development of

power.

A large-scale development of hydroelectric power in our country has

evidently much to recommend itself. Here as in all other countries we have

to remember that once the costly undertakings, barrages and installations

are over, we utilize resources that nature annually gives us free and our

supplies in dams being annually replenished by precipitation are perennial

sources of power, which would not mean any progressive and quick

impoverishment in natural resources as would happen if we relied on the

burning of coal or oil reserves. Other countries have begun to think of their

coal resources, and have been seriously exploring alternative means of

generation of power, which may ultimately replace the gradual exhaustion of

their resources. Even in countries which have no plentiful water power such

as Canada or Scandinavia, people have turned their serious attention to the

quick and efficient development of water power. Indian engineers however

seem to be more cautious, and even where there is waterflow and hydraulic

head, the problem of transport of heavy machinery seems to them to be

occasionally a very deterrent factor for ultimate utilization.

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It is clear, however, that once we have fixed our plans, no difficulty need

deter us. In other countries such difficulties of transport and comparative

inaccessibility have been tackled in various ways.

We may for example think of building our units in situ, instead of having

the full-fledged units transport over long distances. In all such matters the

old adage that ‘if there is will there is a way’ still remains valid to a great

extent.

During the recent war, we heard of tremendous happenings during which

heavy war implements were transported by animal power over inaccessible

mountain-barriers and such events had happened near the eastern borders

of India. If one can achieve success by concentrated effort during war-time,

what hinders us from thinking that such intense efforts will be lacking

during peace-time when by such endeavours we will be making our

country’s future secure for once and for good? I feel that more stress should

be laid on water power development and all-out effort is needed to develop

the resources to the fullest extent possible in our country.

It is clear that all large-scale development in any one direction means very

often a simultaneous development to a high grade efficiency in other fields.

For example, our industry should be ready to furnish the raw materials that

may be needed and home industries should be equal to the task of

furnishing all steel, cement, and other metals that may be needed. Our

resources in other fields make us hope that they can be tackled, once our

mind is made up about the matter.

e next five-year plan of future development is now on the anvil. Let us

hope that an adequate and careful consideration will be given to the

problem of adequate development of water power in India.

During my recent visit to Europe as a delegate to the International

Conference on Crystallography, I had the good fortune to be able to study

how France has been tackling its problem of development of electric power.

After the war, electricity in France has been nationalized. Large-scale

hydroelectric developments have taken place after the war, and different

centres of hydroelectric projects in the Central Massif, Pyrenees, Alps and

in the Rhone Valley, have been developed to such an extent that France is

now producing approximately 50 percent of its total power output from its

hydroelectric installations.

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When we remember the area of France, which is approximately 1/6th of

India, its comparatively fewer rivers and its moderate precipitation, we have

an objective demonstration of how much can be achieved by intelligent

planning. We have also to remember that the annual power production of

France stands at 40,000 million kilowatt hours, which is approximately ten

times our present output, and 50 percent of the output gives a figure which

will exceed many times the projected output in our country by the

hydroelectric schemes during the next five years.

e industries of France are able to consume fully the power that is thus

developed. Her water power is, however, not able to tackle all the industrial

problems and a simultaneous large-scale development of thermal stations

has also taken place. I mention this only as an example of how a developed

country has tried to conserve its rather slender supply of coal and has gone

on for large-scale development in water power.

I have mentioned in the beginning how inefficiently we have been able to

utilize the constant flow of solar energy. e tempo of modern

developments has necessitated such large-scale expenditure of power that

people have begun to think of discovering other ways of utilizing the solar

energy which is now mostly scattered away. Whether solar energy can be

trapped conveniently so that it would provide a cheap source of power is

still a problem of the future. It is an enticing problem, and it may be

interesting to note that the eminent Indian physicist in whose memory this

lecture is being delivered had thought very early about the probable means

of utilization, and perhaps that was one of the reasons which turned his

attention from physics to biophysical problems. e role of chlorophyll

always fascinated him and he had thought of utilizing in some way the

entrapped energy other than the way the plant actually utilizes it. In his

diary he writes:

5th March, 1885. I have been long thinking whether the vast solar energy that is

wasted in the tropical regions can in any way be utilized. Of course trees conserve

the solar energy, but is there no other way of directly utilizing the radiant energy

of the sun?

Taking advantage of the heating effect, there have been attempts to

construct solar engines, which is merely a heat engine. We may also get

thermoelectric current by heating one of the junctions. But such

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thermoelectric batteries are practically of not much use. Great amount of

energy is also lost by the wasteful conduction.

Now, I have been thinking whether we could not directly convert the energy

of light into that of electric current.

However this problem still remains largely unsolved. ough recently news

has come through of the achievement in America, where a significant

progress in the development of photovoltaic cells has been reported. In the

absence of more detailed information, I am unable to report on the actual

achievement, though we are all eager to know the full details of the

discovery.

In the tropics where the sun shines for more than 200 days in a year, the

problem of utilization of sunshine is always a fascinating one. We utilize

energy not only for industrial purposes, but also for the enhancement of

comforts and we at once remember the problems of air-conditioning and

refrigeration, which are so important here, as in all tropical countries. It has

been reported that by means of heliostat and paraboloid mirrors this

problem of utilizing solar energy for refrigeration has been successfully

tackled in Tashkent, in the Soviet Russia in 1916.

A cement paraboloid of 80 metres (which can probably be turned to follow

the daily motion of the sun) has been covered over by small mirrors of

silvered glass, which thus concentrates the sun’s heat on a boiler which is

connected with a refrigerator, which generates the cold by the ammonia

cycle.

is news is interesting to us situated in the tropics as we are; it opens out a

prospect of so regulating our installations that we can comfortably endure

our otherwise tiring summer seasons. e National Physical Laboratory of

India has developed a few types of convenient solar cookers, water boilers,

and it is hoped that further researches there will enable us to discover better

ways of utilization of solar energy.

In France itself by means of huge paraboloid mirrors, which are skilfully

made to turn by means of photoelectric control, the tremendous

concentration of solar energy has been utilized in a rather novel fashion.

Extremely high temperatures are reported to have been obtained in solar

furnaces and extreme refractories like zirconium oxide and alumina have

been reported to be conveniently melted. ey have also been utilized for

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metallurgical purposes and high purity ingots of several metals have been

obtained.

Exciting news of photosynthetic biological activity of Chlorella have

electrified the biological world. By its rapidity of growth and by its

satisfying food-value, Chlorella promises to be a valuable aid in tackling the

difficult food problem, and demonstrate at the same time possibly a more

efficient use of solar energy.

I conclude my present discourse by reporting on the prospect of utilization

of atomic energy for peaceful purposes. We have heard that an electric

power station has already been installed in Soviet Russia and that in

England by 1970 there is a prospect of atomic power stations being

installed, which would supply power and electricity at competitive rates.

While much of the necessary technical developments still remain secret,

enough has been ventilated to show that this development is bound to occur

in the near future, in the first instance in the countries which possess a

convenient Uranium supply.

We have not as yet discovered any large source of high grade Uranium in

our country, and we may safely presume that for the next twenty-five years,

we would have to depend upon the old and conventional mode of

generation of electricity, that is, steam and water-turbines for our power

supply.

is does not mean that the atomic research in our country should be

discouraged or that there are no ways of peacefully using the moderate

sources of atomic energy that we may develop in India in the near future.

e recent conference at Delhi has examined the problem from all points of

view, and it is satisfactory to report that we are now understanding better

our limitations and our immediate problems.

I have endeavoured in this brief survey to indicate the present-day trends in

the search for sources of power. In India as elsewhere, people have become

conscious of the necessity of such development which will improve the lot

of the common man, give him valuable and cheap mechanical aid, so that it

will be easy for the society to give to each individual member sufficient

leisure for the development of those human qualities which make life worth

living on earth. Cheap power, abundantly developed and delivered at the

door of every human house-dweller, is the sine qua non for such a result. I

am an optimist and believe such a day is not too distant to dawn in India.