“The whole edifice of modern physics is built up on the fundamental hypothesis of the atomic or molecular constitution of matter.”

In the history of science, we often find that the study of some natural phenomenon has been the starting point in the development of a new branch of knowledge.

It is generally believed that it is the students who derive benefit by working under the guidance of a professor.

When we consider the fact that nearly three-quarters of the surface of the globe is covered by oceanic water.

When I got my Nobel Prize, I had spent hardly 200 rupees on my equipment.

In reality, the professor benefits equally by his association with gifted students working under him.

From Calcutta has gone forth a living stream of knowledge in many branches of study. It is inspiring to think of the long succession of scholars, both Indian and European, who have lived in this city, made it their own, and given it of their best.

The sunlit face of the earth would appear to shine by the light diffused back into space from the land and water-covered areas.

I feel it is unnatural and immoral to try to teach science to children in a foreign language They will know facts, but they will miss the spirit.

It is not often that idealism of student days finds adequate opportunity for expression in the later life of manhood.

It will soon be 25 years from the date of publication of my first research work. That the scientific aspirations kindled by that early work did not suffer extinction has been due entirely to the opportunities provided for me by the great city of Calcutta.

It has been invariably my experience that I could count on his cooperation and sympathy in every matter concerning my scientific work.

We need a spirit of victory, a spirit that will carry us to our rightful place under the sun, a spirit which can recognize that we, as inheritors of a proud civilization, are entitled to our rightful place on this planet. If that indomitable spirit were to arise, nothing can hold us from achieving our rightful destiny.

We have, I think, developed an inferiority complex.

The essence of science is independent thinking, hard work, and not equipment.

It will not be an activity in which all people can participate.

A voyage to Europe in the summer of 1921 gave me the first opportunity of observing the wonderful blue opalescence of the Mediterranean Sea.

Then, they had insisted that only empirical criteria matter and that they actually did not believe in the reality of sub-atomic entities.

The profoundly ‘atomic’ character of the universe is visible in everyday experience, in raindrops and grains of sand, in the hosts of the living, and the multitude of stars; even in the ashes of the dead.

In Germany, an effort one thousandth the scale of the American was applied to the problem of producing atomic energy that would drive engines.

If we made atomic bombs, we would bring about a terrible change in the world. Who knows what would happen from this?

In America, it was decided to attempt the production of atomic bombs with an effort that would constitute a large part of the collective American war effort.

The 20th century was a test bed for big ideas – fascism, communism, the atomic bomb.

Young Baby Boomers were forced to play duck-and-cover in school, in hopes that a desk would protect them from an atomic explosion. It was all bullshit, and they knew it.