Research & innovation should be judged for positive impact on life: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday addressed via video conference the curtain-raiser ceremony of the commemoration of professor Satyendra Nath Bose's 125th birth anniversary at Kolkata.

The Prime Minister started his inaugural address in Bengali by extending wishes for the New Year. "We open a long year celebration of the 125th year of Satyendra Nath Bose who was born on this day in 1894. I have learnt about his accomplishment which is far ahead of his times and society. We have a lot to learn from the life and works of Acharya SN Bose. He was a self-taught scholar. He succeeded despite many constraints - including the lack of formal research education and little connectivity with global scientific community," Prime Minister Modi said.

He further said that science and technology should contribute towards building a new India.

"Anyone associated with science and technology must focus their innovation and research towards building a new India. Our country's scientists will continue to give us creative technological solutions with their out of box thinking, in order to make lives of people easier," he said.

"To promote understanding and love of science among our youth, it is vital that we promote science communication in a big way. Language should not be a barrier but a facilitator in this task."

The prime minister also asked the scientists to use their fundamental knowledge to help the general public in today's life. "It is important that final outcome of innovation and research should be judged for their positive impact on life of poor people," he said.

In the speech, Prime Minister Modi also highlighted the contribution of Bengalis in various fields and said, "It is a matter of pride for India that Bengal has given the best scientists to the world."

Physicist Satyendra Nath Bose, born on January 1, 1894, is best known for his work on quantum mechanics in the early 1920s, providing the foundation for Bose-Einstein statistics and the theory of the Bose-Einstein condensate.

The class of particles that obey Bose-Einstein statistics has been named Bosons, after Prof Bose.