Bibha Chowdhuri

Bibha Chowdhuri (3 July 1913 – 2 June 1991 ) was an Indian particle physicist known for her investigations into cosmic rays. Working with D. M. Bose, she was the first to discover the meson and prove Hideki Yukawa's meson theory.

Early life Chowdhuri was born in Kolkata to a family of Zamindars. Her aunt, Nirmala Devi, was married to Sir Nilratan Sircar. She studied batches of Ilford half-tone plates that were exposed to cosmic rays at two different altitudes, one in Darjeeling and a higher one at Sandakphu. The particles had decreased mass at lower altitudes, suggesting that they had decayed over time. Chowdhuri joined the laboratory of Patrick Blackett for her doctoral studies, working on cosmic rays at the University of Manchester. Her examiner was Lajos Jánossy. It is unclear how much of her work contributed to Blackett's Nobel Prize.

Career and research

Chowdhuri demonstrated that the density of penetrating events is proportional to the total particle density of an extensive air shower. Bibha temporarily left TIFR in 1953 and subsequently joined cosmic ray physicist L. Leprince Ringuet’s lab under the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (Paris). She studied and identified many new K mesons in cloud chambers on the Alps, publishing the research in the Nuovo Cimento in 1957. In 1954, she was a visiting researcher at the University of Michigan. She was appointed because Homi Bhabha was still establishing the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, and contacted her thesis examiners for advice on outstanding graduate students. She joined the Physical Research Laboratory and became involved with the Kolar Gold Fields experiments. She moved to Kolkata to work at the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics. und Bibha Chowdhuri, eine indische Hochenergiephysikerin, als "Star" am Himmel. She was described by The Statesman as a forgotten legend. She continued to publish until she died in 1991.

Publications

Bose, D.M.; Chowdhry, Biva (1940). Photographic Plates as Detectors of Mesotron Showers. Nature. 145: 894–895. https://doi.org/10.1038/145894a0. Bose, D.M.; Chowdhey, Biva (1941a). Origin and Nature of Heavy Ionisation Particles Detected on Photographic Plates Exposed to Cosmic Rays. Nature. 147: 240–241. https://doi.org/10.1038/147240a0. Bose, D.M.; Choudhuri, Biva (1941b). A PHOTOGRAPHIC METHOD OF ESTIMATING THE MASS OF THE MESOTRON. Nature. 148: 259–260. https://doi.org/10.1038/148259a0. Bose, D.M.; Choudhuri, Bibha (1942). A Photographic Method of Estimating the Mass of the Mesotron. Nature. 149: 302. https://doi.org/10.1038/149302a0. Chowdhuri, B (1949). Extensive air showers associated with penetrating particles. (PhD thesis). Manchester: University of Manchester. OCLC 643572452. Chowdhuri, B.; Saxena, R.C.; Subramanian, A. (1952). On the penetrating component in air showers. Indian Academy of Sciences. 36: 457. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03172244. Chowdhuri, B.; Saxena, Y.C. (1973). Large underground showers and multiple muons in association with E.A.S, Indian Academy of Sciences. 77: 212–225. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03050804