Born Seoratali near Dacca, (Bangladesh), 6 October 1893
Died near New Delhi, India, 16 February 1956
Indian theoretical physicist and astrophysicist Meghnad Saha is eponymized in the Saha equation, which permits calculation of the degree of ionization in a gas that is at a well-defined temperature and density. It is of enormous importance in analyzing the spectra of stars and nebulae and permitted Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin to show that the stars consist primarily of hydrogen and helium.
Meghnad Saha was educated in local schools in Dacca – a private one after participation in a nationalist demonstration caused loss of his scholarship at a government school. He enrolled at Presidency College in 1911, with a small scholarship, awarded after Satyen Bose, a lifelong collaborator, and he applied in person. Saha received an M.Sc. in 1915, having always been an outstanding student, and was appointed as a lecturer, first in mathematics and then in physics, at the University of Calcutta in 1916....
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Varshni, Y.P. (2014). Saha, Meghnad N. In: Hockey, T., et al. Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9917-7_1209
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