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	{{Short description\|Indian politician}}		{{Short description\|Indian astrophysicist and politician (1893–1956)}}
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	\| office = [[Member of parliament (India)\|Member of Parliament]], [[Lok Sabha]]		\| office = [[Member of parliament (India)\|Member of Parliament]], [[Lok Sabha]]
	\| termstart = 3 April 1952		\| termstart = 3 April 1952
	\| termend = 16 February ~~1957~~		\| termend = 16 February 1956
	\| constituency = [[Calcutta North West (Lok Sabha constituency)\|Calcutta North West]]		\| constituency = [[Calcutta North West (Lok Sabha constituency)\|Calcutta North West]]
	\| predecessor = ''Formed''		\| predecessor = ''Formed''

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Reverted edits by 119.30.39.183 (talk) to last version by Ebbedlila

New page

{{Short description|Indian politician}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Meghnad Saha
| honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FRS}}
| image = Dr-Meghnad-Saha.jpg
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1893|10|6|df=y}}
| birth_place = Shaoratoli, [[Dhaka District|Dhaka]], [[Bengal Presidency]], [[British India]] (modern-day [[Bangladesh]])
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1956|2|16|1893|10|6|df=y}}
| death_place = [[New Delhi]], India
| nationality = [[India|Indian]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Calcutta]] [[Presidency University, Kolkata|Presidency University]] [[Rajabazar Science College]]
| known_for = [[Thermal ionisation]] [[Saha ionization equation]]
| spouse = Radha Rani Saha
| awards =
| footnotes =
| fields = [[Physics]], [[Astrophysics]]
| work_institution = [[Allahabad University]] [[Rajabazar Science College]] [[University of Calcutta]] [[Imperial College London]] [[Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science]]
| academic_advisors = [[Jagdish Chandra Bose]] [[Prafulla Chandra Ray]]
| doctoral_students = [[Samarendra Kumar Mitra]] [[Daulat Singh Kothari]]
| signature = Meghnad-Saha signature.svg
| module = {{Infobox officeholder
|embed = yes
| office = [[Member of parliament (India)|Member of Parliament]], [[Lok Sabha]]
| termstart = 3 April 1952
| termend = 16 February 1957
| constituency = [[Calcutta North West (Lok Sabha constituency)|Calcutta North West]]
| predecessor = ''Formed''
| successor = [[Ashoke Kumar Sen]]
}}
}}

'''Meghnad Saha''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRS}}<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kothari|first=D. S.|date=1960-02-01|title=Meghnad Saha, 1893-1956|url=https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbm.1960.0017|journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society|volume=5|pages=216–236|doi=10.1098/rsbm.1960.0017|doi-access=free}}</ref> (6 October 1893 – 16 February 1956) was an Indian [[astrophysicist]] who developed the [[Saha ionization equation]], used to describe chemical and physical conditions in stars.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Banerjee|first=Somaditya|date=1 August 2016|title=Meghnad Saha: Physicist and nationalist|journal=Physics Today|language=en|volume=69|issue=8|pages=38–44|doi=10.1063/PT.3.3267|issn=0031-9228|bibcode = 2016PhT....69h..38B |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Meghnad-N-Saha|title=Meghnad N. Saha {{!}} Indian astrophysicist|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|access-date=23 November 2016|archive-date=26 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226090454/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Meghnad-N-Saha|url-status=live}}</ref> His work allowed astronomers to accurately relate the [[Stellar classification|spectral classes]] of [[star]]s to their actual temperatures.<ref name="Distillations"/> He was elected to the [[Parliament of India]] in 1952.<ref name="Distillations">{{cite journal|last1=Kean|first1=Sam|title=A forgotten star|journal=Distillations|date=2017|volume=3|issue=1|pages=4–5|url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/magazine/a-forgotten-star|access-date=22 March 2018|archive-date=23 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180323154731/https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/magazine/a-forgotten-star|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Biography==
Meghnad Saha was born in 1893 in Shaoratoli, a village near [[Dhaka]], in the former [[Bengal Presidency]] of [[British India]] (in present-day Bangladesh). Son of Jagannath Saha (a grocer) and Smt. Bhubneshwari Devi, Meghnad struggled to rise in life. During his early schooling he was forced to leave [[Dhaka Collegiate School]] because he participated in the [[Swadeshi movement]].<ref name=Banglapedia>{{citation |author=Madhumita Mazumdar and Masud Hasan Chowdhury |chapter=Saha, Meghnad |chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Saha,_Meghnad |title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh |editor=Sirajul Islam and Ahmed A. Jamal |publisher=[[Asiatic Society of Bangladesh]] |year=2012 |edition=Second |access-date=6 February 2016 |archive-date=10 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170110232853/http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Saha,_Meghnad |url-status=live }}</ref> He earned his [[Indian School Certificate]] from [[Dhaka College]].<ref name=Banglapedia/> He was also a student at the [[Presidency College, Kolkata]] and [[Rajabazar Science College]] CU; a professor at [[Allahabad University]] from 1923 to 1938, and thereafter a professor and Dean of the Faculty of Science at the [[University of Calcutta]] until his death in 1956. He became [[Fellow]] of the [[Royal Society]] in 1927. He was president of the 21st session of the [[Indian Science Congress Association#Indian Science Congress|Indian Science Congress]] in 1934.<ref name="Murty">{{cite book|last1=Murty|first1=K. Krishna|title=50 timeless scientists|date=2008|publisher=[[Pustak Mahal]]|location=Delhi|isbn=9788122310306|pages=97–100|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WX9r7TAaWgEC&pg=PT51|access-date=28 July 2017|archive-date=26 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226090453/https://books.google.com/books?id=WX9r7TAaWgEC&pg=PT51|url-status=live}}</ref>

Amongst Saha's classmates were [[Satyendra Nath Bose]], [[Jnan Chandra Ghosh|Jnan Ghosh]] and [[Jnanendra Nath Mukherjee]]. In his later life he was close to [[Amiya Charan Banerjee]].<ref name="Bose">{{cite journal|last1=Bose|first1=D.M.|title=Meghnad Saha Memorial Lecture, 1965|journal=Proceedings of the Indian National Science Academy|date=1967|volume=33A|pages=111–132|url=http://www.insa.nic.in/writereaddata/UpLoadedFiles/PINSA/Vol33A_1967_3and4_Art01.pdf|access-date=28 July 2017|archive-date=28 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170728215150/http://www.insa.nic.in/writereaddata/UpLoadedFiles/PINSA/Vol33A_1967_3and4_Art01.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Wali">{{cite book|last1=Wali|first1=Kameshar C.|title=Satyendra Nath Bose : his life and times|date=2009|publisher=[[World Scientific]]|location=Singapore|isbn=978-9812790712|page=462|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z2FhDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA462|access-date=28 July 2017|archive-date=26 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226090450/https://books.google.com/books?id=Z2FhDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA462|url-status=live}}</ref> Saha was an [[atheist]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Meghnad Saha, scientist with a vision|date=1984|publisher=National Book Trust, India|author-first1=Santimay|author-last1= Chatterjee|author-first2=Enakshi|author-last2= Chatterjee|page=5|quote=Even though he later came to be known as an atheist, Saha was well-versed in all religious texts— though his interest in them was purely academic.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Nucleus and Nation: Scientists, International Networks, and Power in India|date=2010|publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]]|isbn=9780226019758|author=Robert S. Anderson|page=602|quote=a self-described atheist, saha loved swimming in the river and his devout wife loved the sanctity of the spot. swimming and walking were among the few things they could do together.}}</ref>

Saha died on 16 February 1956 of a [[cardiac arrest]] in New Delhi. He was on his way to the office of the [[Planning Commission (India)|Planning Commission]] in [[Rashtrapati Bhavan]], when he collapsed a few yards away from there. He died on the way to hospital, at 10:15 a.m. ([[Indian Standard Time|IST]]). It was reported, that he had been suffering from [[hypertension]] for ten months prior to his death.<ref>{{cite news|title=Nation Mourns Meghnad Saha|newspaper=The Indian Express|date=17 February 1956|pages=1, 7}}</ref> His remains were [[cremated]] at the [[Keoratola crematorium]] in Kolkata the following day.<ref>{{cite news|title=Saha's Remains Cremated|newspaper=The Indian Express|date=18 February 1956}}</ref>[[File:M N Saha, J C Bose, J C Ghosh, Snehamoy Dutt, S N Bose, D M Bose, N R Sen, J N Mukherjee, N C Nag.jpg|thumbnail|Saha with other scientists at Calcutta University]]

==Career==
Saha's study of the [[thermal ionisation]] of [[chemical element|elements]] led him to formulate what is known as the [[Saha ionization equation|Saha equation]]. This equation is one of the basic tools for interpretation of the spectra of stars in astrophysics. By studying the spectra of various stars, one can find their temperature and from that, using Saha's equation, determine the ionisation state of the various elements making up the star. This work was soon extended by [[Ralph H. Fowler]] and [[Edward Arthur Milne]]. Saha had previously reached the following conclusion on the subject.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hearnshaw |first=John B. |year=2014 |title=The Analysis of Starlight: Two Centuries of Astronomical Spectroscopy |edition=2nd |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=136 |isbn=978-1-107-03174-6}}</ref>

{{quote|text=It will be admitted from what has gone before that the temperature plays the leading role in determining the nature of the stellar spectrum. Too much importance must not be attached to the figures given, for the theory is only a first attempt for quantitatively estimating the physical processes taking place at high temperature. We have practically no laboratory data to guide us, but the stellar spectra may be regarded as unfolding to us, in an unbroken sequence, the physical processes succeeding each other as the temperature is continually varied from 3000 K to 40,000 K.}}

Saha also invented an instrument to measure the weight and pressure of solar rays and helped to build several scientific institutions, such as the Physics Department in [[University of Allahabad|Allahabad University]] and the [[Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics|Institute of Nuclear Physics]] in Calcutta. He founded the journal ''Science and Culture'' and was the editor until his death.<ref>Eminent scientists published by Scholastic India pvt. Ltd.</ref> He was the leading spirit in organizing several scientific societies, such as the National Academy of Science (1930), the [[Indian Physical Society]] (1934), [[Indian Institute of Science]] (1935). He was the Director at [[Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science]] during 1953–1956. The [[Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics]], founded in 1943 in [[Kolkata]], is named after him.<ref name="Anderson">{{cite book|last1=Anderson|first1=Robert S.|title=Nucleus and Nation Scientists, International Networks, and Power in India|date=2010|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago|isbn=9780226019772}}</ref>

To actively participate in the planning of education, industrialization, health, and river valley development ,Saha stood as a candidate in the constituency of North-West Calcutta in the 1951 Loksabha election. He ran on the ticket of Union of Socialists and Progressives<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://164.100.47.194/loksabha/writereaddata/biodata_1_12/981.htm|title=Members Bioprofile|website=164.100.47.194|access-date=5 March 2018|archive-date=6 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180306083652/http://164.100.47.194/loksabha/writereaddata/biodata_1_12/981.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.indiapress.org/election/archives/lok01/state/01lswb.php|title=Biographical Sketch of First Lok Sabha (State wise)|website=www.indiapress.org|access-date=5 March 2018|archive-date=6 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180306083659/http://www.indiapress.org/election/archives/lok01/state/01lswb.php|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://loksabha.nic.in/members/partyardetail.aspx?party_code=125&lsno=1|title=Members : Lok Sabha|website=loksabha.nic.in|access-date=5 March 2018|archive-date=6 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180306142321/http://loksabha.nic.in/members/partyardetail.aspx?party_code=125&lsno=1|url-status=live}}</ref> but Saha always maintained his independence. He was pitted against a powerful and well-funded candidate from Congress, Mr. Prabhu Dayal Himatsingka. Saha was not well funded for his campaign and wrote to his publisher in November 1951 to ask for a Rs 5,000 advance against the sale of his textbook, ''Treatise on Heat'', "because I am standing for election in the house of the people from NW Calcutta". Saha won the contest by a margin of 16%.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/LS_1951/VOL_1_51_LS.PDF|title=Statistical Report on General Elections, 1951 to the First Lok Sabha|access-date=5 March 2018|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304120817/http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/LS_1951/VOL_1_51_LS.PDF|url-status=live}}</ref>

Saha actively participated in the parliament in the areas of Education, Refugee and Rehabilitation, Atomic Energy, Multipurpose River Projects and Flood Control and long term planning. In the book "Meghnad Saha in Parliament" Saha is described as "Never unduly critical, Saha was so forthright, so incisive, so thorough in pointing out lapses that the treasury bench was constantly on the defensive. This is brought out by the way he was accused of leaving his laboratory and straying into a territory not his own. But the reason why he was slowly drifting towards this public role (he was never a politician in the correct sense of the term) was the gradually widening gulf between his dream and the reality—between his vision of an industrialised India and the Government implementation of the plan."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.181906|title=Meghnad Saha In Parliament|last=Gupta|first=Jyotirmoy|date=1993}}</ref>

Saha was the chief architect of river planning in [[India]] and prepared the original plan for the [[Damodar Valley Project]]. His own observation with respect to his transition into government projects and political affairs is as follows:

{{quote|text=Scientists are often accused of living in the "Ivory Tower" and not troubling their mind with realities and apart from my association with political movements in my juvenile years, I had lived in ivory tower up to 1930. But science and technology are as important for administration now-a-days as law and order. I have gradually glided into politics because I wanted to be of some use to the country in my own humble way.<ref>{{cite web | title = Meghnad Saha | url = http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/scientists/saha/sahanew.htm | access-date = 31 May 2008 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150223073932/http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/scientists/saha/sahanew.htm | archive-date = 23 February 2015 | df = dmy-all }}</ref>}}
[[File:Meghnad_Saha_with_his_assistant.jpg|thumb|Meghnad Saha]]

==Tributes to Saha==
[[File:MNSaha.jpg|thumb|Bust of Saha at {{W|Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science}}.]]
[[File:Statue of Meghnad Saha.jpg|thumb|Statue of Saha, {{W|University College of Science, Technology & Agriculture}}.]]
[[File:Meghnad Saha bust BITM.JPG|thumb|Bust of Saha in {{W|Birla Industrial & Technological Museum}}.]]
* "Meghnad Saha's ionization equation (c. 1920), which opened the door to stellar astrophysics was one of the top ten achievements of 20th century Indian science [and] could be considered in the Nobel Prize class." — [[Jayant Narlikar]]<ref>{{cite book | author = Narlikar, Jayant | title = The Scientific Edge | date = 2003 | publisher = [[Penguin Books]] | page = 127}}</ref>
* "The impetus given to astrophysics by Saha's work can scarcely be overestimated, as nearly all later progress in this field has been influenced by it and much of the subsequent work has the character of refinements of Saha’s ideas." — [[Svein Rosseland]]<ref>{{cite book | author = Rosseland, S. | title = Theoretical Astrophysics | publisher = [[Oxford University Press]] | location = Oxford | date = 1939 | url = http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/scientists/saha/sahanew.htm | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150223073932/http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/scientists/saha/sahanew.htm | archive-date = 23 February 2015 | df = dmy-all }}</ref>
* "He (Saha) was extremely simple, almost austere, in his habits and personal needs. Outwardly, he sometimes gave an impression of being remote, matter of fact, and even harsh, but once the outer shell was broken, one invariably found in him a person of extreme warmth, deep humanity, sympathy and understanding; and though almost altogether unmindful of his own personal comforts, he was extremely solicitous in the case of others. It was not in his nature to placate others. He was a man of undaunted spirit, resolute determination, untiring energy and dedication." — [[Daulat Singh Kothari]]<ref>{{cite book | author = Kothari, D. S. | title = Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the National Institute of Sciences of India | volume = 2 | location = New Delhi | date = 1970 | url = http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/scientists/saha/sahanew.htm | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150223073932/http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/scientists/saha/sahanew.htm | archive-date = 23 February 2015 | df = dmy-all }}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal|title=Stars, Peripheral Scientists, and Equations: The Case of M. N. Saha|author=Dasgupta, Deepanwita|year=2015| journal=Physics in Perspective|volume=17|issue=2|doi=10.1007/s00016-015-0159-7|pages=83–106|bibcode = 2015PhP....17...83D |s2cid=118224210}}
* [http://adsabs.harvard.edu//full/seri/Obs../0076//0000040.000.html Obituary - ''The Observatory'' '''76''' (1956) 40]
* [http://adsabs.harvard.edu//full/seri/PASP./0068//0000282.000.html Obituary - ''Proceedings of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific'' '''68''' (1956) 282]
* {{cite book|last1=Venkataraman|first1=Ganeshan|author-link1=Ganeshan Venkataraman|title=Saha and His Formula|date=1995|publisher=University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TCbjwQmaXawC|isbn=9788173710179}}
* Jibamitra Ganguly: ''Meghnad Saha : his science and persona through letters and writings''. Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi 2019.
* Collected works of Meghnad Saha. ed. by Santimay Chatterjee. Calcutta [u.a.]: Institute of Nuclear Physics [u.a.], 1982.

==External links==
{{commons category}}
* {{Internet Archive author|name=Meghnad Saha}}
* [https://www.britannica.com/biography/Meghnad-N-Saha Meghnad N. Saha] at the ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''
* {{cite web | title = Meghnad Saha | url = http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/scientists/saha/sahanew.htm | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150223073932/http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/scientists/saha/sahanew.htm | archive-date = 23 February 2015 | df = dmy-all }}
* {{cite web|title=Meghnad Saha biography|url=http://www.calcuttaweb.com/people/msaha.shtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010627220307/http://www.calcuttaweb.com/people/msaha.shtml|archive-date=27 June 2001|access-date=22 December 2007|url-status=dead}}
* {{cite web|title=Chitra Roy pens her reminiscences of Professor Meghnad Saha|url=http://www.lifestylemac.com/life-with-meghnad-saha|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713204440/http://www.lifestylemac.com/life-with-meghnad-saha|archive-date=13 July 2011}}
* {{cite web|title=Saha Equation|url=http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/physics/SahaEquation.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060503040640/http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/physics/SahaEquation.html|archive-date=3 May 2006|access-date=17 July 2004|url-status=live}}
* {{YouTube|7z9NUV_YrOo|The Quantum Indians: film on Meghnad Saha, Bose and Raman}} by [[Raja Choudhury]] and produced by PSBT and [[Indian Public Diplomacy]].

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Meghnad Saha - Revision history

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CleanupBot II: Removed empty portal template using script

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imported>Yamaguchi先生: Reverted edits by 119.30.39.183 (talk) to last version by Ebbedlila