‘No radio without Bose’

A century-long debate over who invented the radio may have come to an end. Marconi has given Jagadish Chandra Bose due credit for his pioneering contribution in the field of wireless communication.

However, this Marconi is not Guglielmo Marconi — the man credited with the invention of the radio — but his grandson Francesco Paresce Marconi, a well-known astrophysicist who has been closely associated with NASA.

On a five-day visit to Kolkata, Francesco Marconi kicked off year-long celebrations to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of the eminent Bengali scientist.

Indian scientists are of the view that it was actually Bose who invented the radio, while Marconi lifted Bose’s concept and was awarded the Nobel Prize. Bose missed out because he never patented his work.

Francesco said, “There’s no conflict about the fact that Bose made some remarkable discoveries and without his work, Marconi would not have been able to work. We must keep in mind that Bose was a scientist while Marconi was a technocrat who worked on scientific research to develop a technology.”