Issued by India

Issued on Mar 31, 2005

Issued for : Department of Posts is happy to issue a definitive stamp on International Year of Physics under the 9^th Definitive Series.

Credit :
Stamp & FDC : Kamleshwar Singh
Cancellation : Alka sharma

Type : Stamp, Postal Used

Colour : Multi Colour

Denomination : 500 Paise

Printing Process : Photogravure

Printer : India Security Press, Nashik

About : 

• The year 1905 marked a turning point in Physics with the publication of five papers on three major subjects by Albert Einstein, Special Theory of Relativity, Photoelectric Effect and Brownian Motion. These papers, published a century ago, changed our fundamental understanding of nature so much that 1905 is often referred to as the ‘Miracle Year’. In celebration of the centenary of these papers the year 2005 has been declared as the World or International Year of Physics.
• Special Theory of Relativity: Newton’s laws state that the velocity of light must change when someone moves while according to the theory of the origin of light (called electromagnetic theory) it should remain constant. Einstein assumed that the velocity of light was fundamental and could not be changed. He worked out how Newton’s laws must be changed to fit this basic fact. He showed that when objects move at a speed close to the speed of light (c), they behave very differently. Since the velocity of light is very large (about 3 lakh km per second), in our daily experiences, the difference is not noticeable. Einstein showed that if you move at velocities close to velocity of light, time appears to move slowly and distances appear to shrink. As one approaches the velocity of light, the extra energy given to increase its momentum (mass x velocity) does not increase its velocity, but increases its mass (inertia). This leads to the famous equation describing the relation between energy and mass, E = mc², where E is energy, m is the mass and c is the speed of light in free space (vacuum). This theory is critical to the working of a lot of physics at very high energy. This explains, for example why a moving clock appears to go slower than a stationary clock. Eleven years later, Einstein generalised this work into an even more profound theory called General Theory of Relativity. These physical laws are critical to the working of satellites used in navigation. It also explains why Newton’s theory cannot fully explain the path of planets around the Sun or why the light coming from stars is bent from its path when it comes close to the Sun.
• Photoelectric Effect: In this Nobel Prize winning work, Einstein studied how light can eject electrons from material. He showed that this can be understood only if we assume that light comes in small packets called photons. He showed that for photons to eject electrons from a material, they must have energy proportional to their frequency. Hence, even a large number of low energy photons will not eject electrons but a single high energy photon can eject an electron. This theory correctly explained the photoelectric effect. It also laid the basis for the Quantum Theory which revolutionised our understanding of nature. This physics is now routinely used in laser and several other applications like solar cells.
• Brownian Motion: This was the third subject that Einstein tackled in 1905. When he did this work, there was a lot of confusion about the nature of matter in the smallest scale. He investigated the observations of restless movement of pollen particles in water which had been first noted by a botanist Robert Brown. Einstein showed that this movement can be understood only as a continuous collision between water molecules and the pollens. It conclusively established that material is made of molecules and atoms. The theory of Brownian Motion is now routinely used to understand natural processes including the manner in which liquid and solid particles mix with each other. Understanding Brownian Motion is vital to everything from cell function to traffic flow, from models of ecologies to stock market.
• These three great pieces of work radically changed our views about the working of Nature. Together they established the existence of atoms, of photons as packets of energy and proved that Newton’s mechanics is only an approximation on the working of Nature. If we increase the energy of particles to the extent that they begin to move at velocities closer to the velocity of light, the Newton’s laws change so much that matter and energy become synonymous. The total effect of these pieces of work subsequently led to the quantum theory that explained how matter is stable. They also led to other great works of S Chandrasekhar who established the existence of Neutron Stars and Black holes. It also led S.N. Bose and Einstein to develop the Bose Einstein Statistics that fundamentally altered our view on how atoms interact with each other.
• In one single year i.e. 1905, Einstein changed our understanding of the fundamental laws of nature completely and even a hundred years later, we are still striving to grasp all the deep meanings of his work.
• Text : Based on the material provided by the proponent.

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Issued by India

Issued on Nov 8, 1995

Issued for : The Department of Post today issues a stamp in honour of Roentgen to commemorate the 100^th years of his discovery. The FDC shows the world’s first – “official” X-Ray taken by Roentgen.

Courtesy : V.C. Nadkarni‘s report on the Indian Radiological & Imaging Association‘s Annual Congress at Bombay, published in the Sunday Review 29.1.95; Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Bombay.
Stamp Design : Suresh Kumar
Cancellation : Alka Sharma

Type : Stamp, Postal Used

Colour : Multi Colour

Denomination : 600 Paise

Overall size : 3.91 x 2.90 cms.

Printing size : 3.55 x 2.54 cms.

Perforation : 13 x 13

Paper : Imported un w/m Adhesive Gravure Coated Stamp Paper in sheets of size 53.5 x 50.8 cms.

Number of stamps Printed : 0.6 Million

Number per issue sheet : 35

Printing Process : Photogravure

Printer : India Security Press, Nasik

Name : Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen

Born on Mar 27, 1845 at Lennep, Rhine Province, German Confederation

Died on Feb 10, 1923 at Munich, Bavaria, Germany

About : 

• Wilhelm Conrad Von Roentgen was born on March 27, 1845, at Lennep, a village in Rhine district in Germany. The story of his life is an interesting study. A man who became a celebrity as a physicist, a prolific mathematics research scholar and a teacher of eminence was dismissed from the High School for a foolish prank and was refused permission to the University of Utrecht. He had to migrate to Switzerland for completing his university studies from Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich.
• He made the momentous discovery of “X-rays“ of Roentgen rays in November 1895, publishing his observations in an obscure local journal of Warzburg in January 1896. Thomas Alva Edison confirmed his findings shortly after the announcement adding prophetically :“Professor Roentgen probably does not draw one dollar profit from his discovery. He belongs to those pure scientists who study for pleasure and love to delve into the secrets of nature. After they have discovered something wonderful, someone else must come to look at it from the commercial point of view. This will also be the case with Roentgen’s discovery.“
• Radiology began with the static radiograph or X-ray discovered by Roentgen. It went on to derive knowledge from space exploration and war defence technology. It moved from vacuum tubes to transistors, printed circuits on silicon chips. Miniaturisation, telecommunication & fine detail television screens assisted its development.
• Today the field has opened up remarkably. Computerised tomography or CT-Scans have been developed independently by Nobel prize winning South African physicist Allan M. Cormack and British engineer, Sir George Hounsfield. Positron Emission Tomography (PET), Ultrasound and magnetic resonance imagery (MRI) have added startling facets to radiology.
• What Roentgen discovered a hundred years ago has gone from strength to strength. Following the first paper “On a new kind of Rays (Preliminary Communication)“, he published two more papers on the subject. In April 1900 Roentgen was appointed Professor of Physics and Director of the Physical Institute at the Ludwigo Maximilians University in Munich. In 1901 he received the first Nobel prize in Physics. He retired in 1920, and soon thereafter he breathed his last on February 10, 1921.

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Issued by India

Issued on Mar 14, 1979

Issued for : The P & T Department feels privileged to bring out a commemorative postage stamp on the birth centenary of this great scientist.

Description of Design : The design of the stamp is horizontal and depicts a portrait of the personality.

Type : Stamp, Postal Used

Colour : Blue Black

Denomination : 100 Paise

Overall size : 3.91 X 2.90 cms.

Printing size : 3.55 X 2.54 cms.

Perforation : 13 X 13

Watermark : Printed on unwatermarked stamp paper

Number printed : 20,00,000

Number per issue sheet : 35

Printing process : Photogravure

Designed and Printed at : India Security Press

Name : Albert Einstein

Born on Mar 14, 1879 at Ulm, Kingdom of Württemberg, German Empire

Died on Apr 18, 1955 at Princeton, New Jersey, United States

About : 

• Physicist, mathematician, humanitarian, Albert Einstein is one of the greatest scientists of all times. His theories established a new concept of the physical world and led to such advances as harnessing atomic energy.
• In 1905, when barely 25, Einstein published his famous theory of relativity. It included his revolutionary expression of the relation between mass and energy. This he stated in a brief, but highly profound, equation, E = mc².
• The generalised theory of gravitation or non-symmetric unified field theory was independently developed by Einstein in 1945.
• A Nobel Prize winner in 1921, Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany on March 14, 1879. By 1913 his fame was so great that the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute named him its director and in 1914 he was elected a member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences. He went to the United States in 1932 and eventually settled in Princeton, New Jersey, at the Institute for Advanced Studies. He became a U.S. citizen in 1940.
• Albert Einstein was skilled in many fields of endeavour, but he was dedicated to his work in science. “What is really beautiful is science!“ he once said. “It is a great gift if one is permitted to work in science for his whole life.“
• Einstein died on April 18, 1955, at the age of 76.

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Issued by India

Issued on Dec 12, 1974

Issued for : The Indian P & T Department deems it a great privilege to bring out a commemorative stamp in honour of this great Italian scientist whose epoch-making invention has revolutionised the world of communications.

Description of Design : The design of the stamp is vertical and depicts the portrait of Marconi.

Type : Stamp, Postal Used

Colour : Grey

Denomination : Rs.2

Overall Size : 3.91 X 2.90 cms.

Printing Size : 3.56 X 2.54 cms.

Perforation : 13 x 13

Watermark : Unwatermarked paper

Number Printed : 20,00,000

Number per issue sheet : 35

Printing Process : Photogravure

Designed and Printed at : India Security Press

Name : Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi

Born on Apr 25, 1874 at Palazzo Marescalchi, Bologna, Italy

Died on Jul 20, 1937 at Rome, Italy

About : 

• Guglielmo Marconi was born in the Italian town of Bologna on April 25, 1874. He had his early schooling in Bologna and Florence. Later he went to the technical school of Leghorn, where he studied Physics under Vincenzo Rosa and had the opportunity of investigating electromagnetic (or Hertzian) waves, following the earlier mathematical work of Maxwell and the experimental work of Hertz, Lodge and others.
• After conceiving the idea of using electro-magnetic waves for telegraphy, he carried out various experiments and finally in 1895 succeeded in transmitting signals over a distance of a few metres. Later, he was able to transmit Morse signals over distances of more than three kilo-metres. The following year he went to England to file his first patent in Wireless Telegraphy. A letter of introduction to William Preece, Engineer-in-Chief of the General Post Office, led to a series of demonstrations culminating in 1897 in a record transmission across 14 Kms. of the Bristol Channel.
• By the end of the century wireless communication had been adopted by the British and Italian Navies. Its value as a life saver was also quickly recognised by the merchant navy. Thanks to wireless, a number of lives were saved during the “Titanic” disaster in 1912.
• The year 1901 was a landmark in Marconi‘s life. Apart from the establishment of a wireless school (today’s Marconi College) and communicating over a distance of 319 Kms. between Isle of Wight and Lizard, he succeeded in his famous trans-Atlantic experiments conducted with the assistance of such noted persons as Dr. Fleming (inventor of the radio valve), George Kemp, P.W. Paget and others. He was able to receive signals sent from Poldhu Cornwall, across the Atlantic Ocean at St. John’s, New Foundland.
• Wireless soon became popular and was adapted to aeroplanes during the First World War. A further stride in wireless communications was made in 1919, when a Marconi engineer made the first east to west transatlantic telephony transmission, and the concept of broadcasting took shape at Marconi‘s Works in Chelmsford. In 1922, the British Broadcasting Company (which later became the British Broadcasting Corporation) was formed by Marconi‘s Works and five other manufacturers. In 1924, the British Government awarded a contract to Marconi for the formation of a wireless telecommunication network connecting countries in the British Empire, using shortwave directional transmission developed by him.
• In 1929, Marconi returned to Italy because of ill-health, but continued his work, as a result of which he installed the first microwave telephone link in 1932 and also demonstrated the principles of Radar in 1935. The Marconi EMI Ltd., in England had, in the meantime, introduced the world’s first high definition television service.
• The Nobel Prize for Physics awarded to Marconi in 1909 was one of the many honours he received during his life time. After the First World War during which he served in the Italian Army, he did intensive diplomatic work as a plenipotentiary delegate to the Paris Peace Conference. The great pioneer and inventor died in Rome on July 20, 1937. A fitting tribute was paid to him when wireless transmission all over the world was stopped for two minutes.

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Issued by India

Issued on Nov 21, 1971

Issued for : The P & T Department are privileged to honour this illustrious son of India who helped put India on the scientific map of the modern world. The commemorative stamp which is being brought out on the occasion of his first death anniversary shows a portrait of Shri C. V. Raman with a diamond in the foreground. The First Day Cover being brought out on the occasion shows the Raman Research Institute at Bangalore.

Description of Design : The design of the stamp is horizontal and depicts a portrait of Dr. C. V. Raman.

Type : Stamp, Mint Condition

Colour : Orange & Dark Brown

Denomination : 20 Paise

Overall Size : 3.91 X 2.90 cms.

Printing Size : 3.56 X 2.54 cms.

Perforation : 13 x 13

Watermark : Printed on unwatermarked adhesive stamp paper

Number Printed : 30,00,000

Number per issue sheet : 35

Printing Process : Photogravure

Designed and Printed at : India Security Press

Name : Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman 

Born on Nov 7, 1888 at Thiruvanaikoil, Tiruchirappalli, Madras Presidency, British India

Died on Nov 21, 1970 at Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

About : 

• Shri Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman was born at Tiruchirapalli, in South India, on 7^th November, 1888. When he was 4 years old, his father accepted an appointment as a lecturer in Physics in a college at Visakhapatnam where Raman completed his High School education. In 1903, Raman joined the Presidency College, Madras, where he took his B.A. and M.A. degrees, winning the highest distinctions. Even as a student at the Presidency College, young Raman took considerable interest in scientific research which was then almost unknown in India and had also published the results of his work in well-known international journals. It was very obvious even at that time, that he was cut out for a distinguished scientific career. In 1907, Shri Raman was appointed as Assistant Accountant General at Calcutta, having secured the first place in the competitive examination held by the Indian Finance Department. For a time, Shri Raman was associated with the P & T Department when he was the Deputy Accountant-General for P & T at Calcutta. For nearly a decade, Shri Raman, while serving in the Indian Finance Department, also found time to keep alive his interest in science and for contributing papers in different branches of Physics. When the Palit Chair of Physics was endowed at Calcutta University, Shri Raman accepted the appointment in 1917, even though he was financially a loser in resigning from a lucrative appointment under the Government of India.
• The period from 1917 to 1932 was one of intense scientific activity for Shri Raman. Many youngmen gathered around Shri Raman and many of his notable achievements in the realms of acoustics and optics pertained to this era. As a natural sequel to his studies on the scattering of light, Shri Raman discovered in early 1928 a new phenomenon, now named after him as “Raman Effect.” In 1930, Shri Raman was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for this discovery which found innumerable uses in unravelling the molecular structure of very many complicated compounds.
• Honours came to Shri Raman from far and wide. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1924 and was knighted in 1929. Shri Raman established the Indian Academy of Sciences with Headquarters at Bangalore in the year 1934 and continued his association with this Academy till his death. In 1933, Shri Raman was appointed as Director of the Indian Institute of Science at Bangalore. Since 1948 till his death he had been Director of the newly founded Raman Research Institute, Bangalore, to which he himself made substantial gifts of money securities and real estate. The Institute boasts of an impressive collection of minerals, diamonds, etc., which Shri Raman assiduously collected from all over the world. The later day research of Shri Raman on the structure of diamonds and other gem stones was carried out at this Institute.
• Besides being an outstanding genius in science, Shri Raman was also a good public speaker and his lectures always attracted popular attention. His very simple and unassuming manners, his delicate sense of humour and his love of music gathered around him a number of friends from different walks of life.
• Shri Raman died after a brief illness in the early hours of the morning of Saturday, the 21^st November, 1970. His mortal remains were cremated in the premises of the Institute which he founded and nursed assiduously in his later life.

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Issued by India

Issued on Nov 6, 1968

Issued for : Science knows no national barriers. The entire world is celebrating the birth centenary of Madame Curie. The Indian P&T Department is happy to join in these celebrations by issuing a commemorative stamp in her honour.

Description of Design : The design of the stamp is horizontal. It depicts at left side a block in which a patient is shown being given a Radium treatment. A portrait of Madame Marie Curie is at the right side portion of the Stamp.

Type : Stamp, Mint Condition

Colour : Purple 

Denomination : 20 Paise

Overall Size : 4.06 X 2.28 cms.

Printing Size : 3.80 X 2.00 cms.

Perforation : 14 x 14½

Watermark : Printed on unwatermarked paper

Number Printed : 20,00,000

Number per issue Sheet : 50

Printing Process : Photogravure

Designed and Printed at : India Security Press

Name : Maria Salomea Skłodowska

Born on Nov 7, 1867 at Warsaw, Poland

Died on Jul 4, 1934 at Passy, Haute-Savoie, France

About : 

• While Madame Curie occupies an eminent position amongst the great scientists of the world, it was her spirit of dedication to her life’s mission which was something unique. To her fell the rare honour of being twice awarded the Nobel Prize once in 1903 jointly with her husband and again in 1911. As the co-discoverer of radium and radio-activity she was one of the precursors of the atomic age.
• Marie Sklodowska was born in Poland on November 7, 1867. She was the daughter of a professor of Physics at Warsaw. After finishing school, she was keen to go to France for higher studies. This she was ultimately able to do. Her means were poor and her student days in Paris were full of privations. But unmindful of her austere day-to-day life, she was immersed in her pursuit of knowledge. She found a companion and co-worker in the person of the young physicist Pierre Curie. The two were drawn to each other not only by their common scientific interest, but also by their simplicity and lofty ideals. Their friendship found its culmination in their marriage in 1895.
• Their most important scientific work was the isolation of the radio-active elements polonium and radium from the mineral pitch-blende. The process was long and arduous and was carried on with improvised tools in their backyard. A ton of ore had to be gradually broken up, boiled and treated over a period of several months before tiny amounts of the new substances could be obtained. Despite the risk and labour involved, the Curies did not fail or falter.
• The death of her husband Pierre Curie in an accident in 1906 might have broken a lesser soul. He had not only been her husband. He was her partner in a research venture which was the very breath of their joint lives. Madame Curie was now offered the physics Chair at Paris, a position held by her late husband. Her scientific pursuits thus went on almost uninterrupted by this severe blow.
• Her daughter Irene and her husband Joliot continued the family tradition. They made the remarkable discovery of artificial radio-activity for which they were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1934. Madame Curie lived to see her family thus honoured for the third time in her life. Shortly thereafter, she passed away.

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