CORRESPONDENCE

Resolving the confusion over J. C. Boses education in England

Many biographers18 have discussed the the examiners mentioned above14. Hence, rules of the University of London at that
education of Jagadis Chandra Bose it is clear that none of the biographers68 time, any student was allowed to sit for
(18581937). Unfortunately, none of gives us complete information. the Pass examination of the University
them gives a complete and correct picture. At that time, the examination of Tripos either from London or under special
Along with providing some previously in Natural Sciences was conducted in arrangements from elsewhere in Eng-
unknown information, we try to remove two parts. But Bose never sat for Part II land. But, a student could sit for the
some of the confusion and wrong notions of the examination13. However, accord- Honours examination only at London19.
regarding Boses education in England. ing to the rules prevalent at that time (i.e. From this, it is clear that Bose, while
Some biographers1,2,47 have noted that it was possible to award an Honours studying at Christs College also sat for
Bose received B Sc degree from the Uni- degree on the basis of passing Part I of the B Sc (Honours) examination at the
versity of London. Some4,5 also mention the Tripos examination), he was awarded University of London, which he passed
his year of passing B Sc as 1884. How- the degree for Tripos in Natural Sci- in second division.
ever, the University of London Gradu- ences16. Another notable point is that Bose
ates List9 mentions that he received the In 1896, Bose obtained his M A degree never studied higher mathematics in his
B Sc (Honours) degree in 1883. Prior to from the University of Cambridge1012. It student life. There is no clear informa-
his admission to Tripos in Natural Sci- may be noted here that during this period tion about his knowledge and training in
ences, Bose was in Christs College, the University of Cambridge used to con- higher mathematics2022. The University
Cambridge, for three terms as a non- fer M A only to the holders of the B A of London General Register18 shows that
collegiate student. He passed matricula- degree. Bose was also awarded M A he studied intermediate-level mathemat-
tion from the University of Cambridge as degree following this norm17. ics in his B Sc (Honours), which is by no
a non-collegiate affiliated student in the We do not exactly know about the sub- means a higher-level mathematics course.
Lent Term of 1881 (the second term of jects Bose studied for B Sc (Honours) Mathematics as a subject was not a part
the academic year, running from January Course9 from his existing biographies18. of Natural Sciences Tripos15,16.
to March)1012. According to the records The University of London General Reg-
at Christs College10, as mentioned in ister18 mentions the following: Basu,
Peile11, and also according to the records Jagadish Chunder (B.A. Calcutta.)-Prel. 1. Geddes, P., The Life and Work of Sir Ja-
at the University of Cambridge12, Bose Sci. and Intermed. Sc. Math. 1882, gadis C. Bose, Longmans, Green, Lon-
took admission there on 24 January 1882 Christs Camb., 2nd in 2nd Class in Bot.; don, 1920.
as a pensioner (fee-paying student) under B.Sc. 1883, Christs Camb., 2nd in 2nd 2. Saha, M. N., Obituary Not. Fellows R.
Messrs Peile and Cartmell. He was Class in Exper. Physics; D.Sc. Exper. Soc., 1940, 3, 312.
elected as a scholar of the College on 24 Physics 1896, Presidency Coll. Cal- 3. Home, A. (ed.), In Acharya Jagadis
Chandra Bose: Birth Centenary 1858
October 1883. He sat for the Natural cutta Presidency College, Calcutta.
1958, Acharya Jagadis Chandra Bose
Sciences Tripos examination in 1883. According to Bengali tradition, Bose
Birth Centenary Committee, Calcutta,
Amongst his examiners were Lord was named Jagadis Chandra Basu and 1958, pp. 153.
Rayleigh, A. Vernon Harcourt, L. the anglicized version of his name is 4. Roy, M., Bhattacharya, G., Mitra, B.,
Fletcher, J. N. Langley, R. D. Roberts, Jagadis Chunder Bose. In the records of Guha Thakurta, A. and Datta, B.,
Sydney H. Vines, Alex Hill and A. Mil- the University of London, Christs Col- Acharya Jagadischandra Basu, Basu
nes Marshall13. Bose graduated (B A) in lege and University of Cambridge, we Bijnan Mandir, Kolkata, 2008 (originally
Natural Science Tripos in 1884 with a find both names being used. In the Uni- published in two volumes in 1963 in
second class. At that time, this degree versity of London Graduates List9 and Bengali).
was officially called A B (Artium Bacca- University of London General Register18, 5. Bhattacharyya, P. and Engineer, M. H.
(eds), In Acharya J.C. Bose A Scientist
laureus)14. his surname is given as Basu. Interest-
& A Dreamer, Bose Institute, Calcutta,
There is confusion over the subjects ingly, Peile11 gives his name as Bose,
1996, pp. vxxii.
Bose studied for his Tripos in Natural Jogodish Chunder. Boses first name was 6. Lourdusamy, J., Science and National
Sciences68. Available records1012 show Jogodish in the records of Christs Col- Consciousness in Bengal (18701930),
that neither Christs College nor Univer- lege, as well10. On the other hand, the Orient Longman, New Delhi, 2004.
sity of Cambridge has precise informa- University of Cambridge gives his name 7. Dasgupta, S., Jagadish Chandra Bose
tion regarding the specific subjects Bose as Bose, Jagadis Chandra in its alumni and the Indian Response to Western Sci-
studied for Tripos examination. From database12. From this, we come to know ence, Orient Blackswan, New Delhi,
Cambridge University Examination Pa- that he studied here simultaneously with 2009.
pers15 and Ordinances of the University his Tripos in Natural Sciences at Christs 8. Sengupta, D. P., Engineer, M. H. and
Shepherd, V. A., Remembering Sir J. C.
of Cambridge16, we come to know the College.
Bose, World Scientific, Singapore and
subjects on which questions were set in Boses name is also listed in the exa-
IISc Press, Bangalore, 2009.
the Natural Sciences Tripos examination mination list of the University of London 9. University of London graduates list,
during this period. There were fixed sub- Calendar of 188586 as he received sec- available at: http://archives.ulrls.lon.ac.
jects which the students needed to study. ond class degree in experimental physics uk/resources/graduates2ocr.pdf
The list of examiners also shows that while also being a student at Christs 10. Christs College archives, Admission
these subjects match with the profiles of College19. According to the prevalent Book 18551903, Pressmark, T.1.3.

CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 104, NO. 8, 25 APRIL 2013 993

CORRESPONDENCE
11. Peile, J., Biographical Register of 16. Ordinances of the University of Cam- University of London; G. T. Martin, Keeper
Christs College 15051905, Vol. II, bridge, Cambridge University Press, of the Archives, Christs College, Cambridge;
University Press, Cambridge, 1913, p. 685. Cambridge, 1888, pp. 5696. and Jacqueline Cox, John Wells and Frank
12. Venn, J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses: A 17. Janus: University of Cambridge, avail- Bowles, Department of Manuscripts and Uni-
Biographical List of All Students, Gradu- able at http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/ versity Archives, University of Cambridge for
ates and Holders of Office at the Univer- node.xsp?id=Glossary%2FMA their help in preparing this correspondence.
sity of Cambridge, from the Earliest Times 18. University of London General Register
to 1900 (Part II: From 1752 to 1900), part 3, p. 39, available at http://archives.
University Press, Cambridge, 1940, p. 327. ulrls.lon.ac.uk/resources/general_register_ SILADITYA JANA1,*
13. The Historical Register of the University part_3.pdf SUBIR K. SEN
of Cambridge, Being a Supplement to the 19. University of London Archives, The Cal-
1
Calendar with a Record of University endar: 18851886 (two volumes), Refer- Department of Library and Information
Offices, Honours and Distinctions to the ence: UoL/UP/1/17/42, pp. 97, 135. Science,
Year 1910, Cambridge University Press, 20. Bose, S. N., Rachana Sankalan, Bangiya University of Calcutta,
Cambridge, 1917, p. 752. Bijnan Parishad, Kolkata, 1998, p. 233 Kolkata 700 073, India, and
14. Luard, H. R., comp, Graduati Can- (in Bengali).
Indian Institute of Science Education
tabrigienses sive catalogus 1800 21. Sen, S. K., Sci. Rep., 1983, 20, 652667.
and Research Kolkata,
1884, Cambridge University Press, Cam- 22. Dasgupta, B., In Byakta Abyakta (ed.
bridge, 1884, p. 58. Acharya, A.), Anustup, Kolkata, 2011, Mohanpur Campus,
15. Cambridge University Examination Papers p. 404 (in Bengali). BCKV Main Campus Office,
Michaelmas Term, 1884 to Easter Term, Mohanpur 741 252, India
1885, Cambridge University Press, Cam- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. We thank Rich- *e-mail: [email protected]

bridge, 1877, pp. 525552. ard Temple, Archivist, Senate House Library, Since deceased.

Two great historical earthquake ruptures revealed in Nepal

Earthquakes along the Himalayan arc firmed by the field evidence, which derstand the historical earthquakes and to
happen because of continentcontinent found extensive thrust surface rupture12. re-evaluate the seismic risk along the
collision, where the Indian plate is col- Therefore, the 2005 earthquake was a Himalayan front.
liding with the Eurasian plate at geo- wake-up call to scientists to rethink and
logic and geodetic convergence rates of re-evaluate the accepted consensus by
3050 mm/yr (refs 1 and 2). About using modern techniques to collect the 1. De Mets, C. et al., Geophys. Res. Lett.,
1994, 21, 21912194.
20 mm/yr of this convergence is mainly pieces of evidence left by historical rup-
2. Bettinelli, P. et al., J. Geod., 2006, 80,
absorbed by the Main Himalayan tures along the Himalayan front. Thus,
567589.
Thrust3, which thus accounts for about the long-standing consensus was finally 3. Bilham, R. et al., Nature, 1997, 386, 61
half of the total convergence rate be- challenged by Sapkota et al.13, by pro- 64.
tween the Indian and Eurasian plates2. It viding strong evidences that the Mw 8.2 4. Nakata, T., Geol. Soc. Am., 1989, 232,
is therefore an active tectonic boundary BiharNepal earthquake on 15 January 243264.
along which accumulated stress is pri- 1934 did break the surface. 5. Lave, J. and Avouac, J. P., J. Geophys.
marily released through earthquakes. It Using the extensive geomorphological Res., 2000, 105, 57355770.
reaches the surface at the Main Frontal mapping of fluvial deposits, palaeo- 6. Pandey, M. R. and Molnar, P. J., Geol.
Thrust fault4, that marks the southern seismological logging of river-cut cliffs Soc. Nepal, 1988, 5, 2244.
7. Ambraseys, N. and Bilham, R., Curr.
margin of the Himalayan range5. Thus, it and trench walls, together with model-
Sci., 2000, 79, 4550.
is not surprising that the ongoing colli- ling of calibrated 14C ages, their study
8. Ambraseys, N. and Douglas, J., Geophys.
sion has resulted69 in more than six demonstrated that the Mw 8.2 event has J. Int., 2004, 159, 165206.
major earthquakes along the Himalayan left clear traces of rupture along at least 9. Kaneda, H. et al., Bull. Seismol. Soc.
arc in the past ~100 years. 150 km of the Main Frontal Thrust fault Am., 2008, 98, 521557.
None of the historical earthquakes is in Nepal13. This is the minimum rupture 10. Kumar, S. et al., J. Geophys. Res., 2006,
reported to have produced primary sur- length, which means that the total length 111, B03304.
face rupture10 and it has generally been of the rupture could be larger. Further- 11. Avouac, J. P. et al., Earth Planet. Sci.
assumed on the basis of isoseismals and more, they found an earlier earthquake of Lett., 2006, 249, 514528.
location, that the earthquakes are the 7 June AD 1255, which has also ruptured 12. Yeats, R. S., Kausar, A. B. and Nakata,
T., EOS, 2006, 87, 115.
result of slip on the Himalayan Frontal the surface along this stretch of the
13. Sapkota, S. N. et al., Nature Geosci.,
Thrust10. However, the consensus that no mega-thrust13. This earthquake is beli-
2013, 6, 7176.
primary surface rupture is associated eved to have destroyed one-third of the
with historical earthquakes was ques- population in the Kathmandu valley13. A. A. SHAH
tioned after the 2005 Kashmir earth- The significance of this work lies in
quake, which, although was relatively the fact that the surface ruptures of other Department of Applied Geology,
small (Mw 7.6), did produce co-seismic reportedly blind great Himalayan events Curtin University, 98009 Miri,
surface faulting9,11 for a distance of might exist and thus, evidences need to Sarawak, Malaysia
80 km. This was subsequently con- be recollected. This will be useful to un- e-mail: [email protected]

994 CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 104, NO. 8, 25 APRIL 2013