Sir JC Bose Is Still In Running To Be On UK's 50 Pound Note! But Competition Is Getting Tougher

The Bank of England in the UK will be releasing a new ?50 note soon, and it's been sifting through nominations for a while now.

So it's quite heartening to, on World Radio Day, see that one of those nominations is an Indian, and the lesser-known father of Radio.

Image for representationl purposes only - Indiatimes

The Bank of England announced last year that, on it's new ?50 note, it would be putting the visage of a late eminent scientist alongside the Queen. They threw open the nominations to the public, asking for scientists in any field that had greatly contributed to Britain and the world. From 2,27,299 nominations, they finally narrowed down the list to 989. And one of those is none other than Sir Jagdish Chandra Bose.

Also Read: Sir Jagdish Chandra Bose Is The Unsung Hero Of The Tech Behind Modern Day Wi-FI

For decades, it was considered fact that Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi was the father of the modern radio. Indeed, he successfully demonstrated transatlantic radio communications for the first time back 1901. However, it later emerged that he'd met with Bose back in 1896, who was the first to demonstrate radio communication with millimetre wavelengths, between 30GHz to 300GHz.

The thing is, Bose was not interested in pursuing his development commercially, instead inviting other scientists to build upon his findings. Marconi himself, in later writings, lauded Bose for both his scientific achievements and his selflessness in distributing his acquired knowledge.

And Bose's research was critical to many later technological advancements. It's because of his that we have smartphones, WiFi, collision warning systems in cars, even radio telescopes. And, more immediately, his millimetre-wave experiments are why we're as far along developing 5G as we are now.

To their credit, the Bank of England says it's not picking a scientist for the new note depending on their popularity, but on the strength of their legacy. They want to pick someone that made great contributions to the community at large. Additionally, they say they're also considering past faces on their notes, in order to try and reflect their country's diversity in their currency.

Being both of Indian descent (of whom there are a significant number in the UK), and freaking awesome, Sir JC Bose might have a pretty good chance at making it to the new ?50 note. And if that happens, there are going to be some ecstatic Indians around the world.