Homi Jehangir Bhabha (1909–1966) was an Indian nuclear theoretical physicist and institution builder, widely recognized as the "father of the Indian nuclear programme". The concept of Homi Bhabha is intrinsically linked to the foundation of India's scientific self-reliance, particularly in atomic energy.
Bhabha was born on October 30, 1909, in Bombay and received his PhD in 1935 from Cambridge. His career in India began in 1940 at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, after being unable to return to Cambridge due to World War II. He foresaw the potential of nuclear energy for power generation and, with support from J.R.D. Tata, established the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) in 1945 in Bombay to focus on fundamental research.
His vision led to the establishment of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) in August 1948, with Bhabha as its first chairman, and the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) in 1954, where he served as secretary under the direct authority of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. The core mechanism of his strategy is the three-stage nuclear power programme, formally adopted by the Indian government in 1958. This plan was designed to ensure energy security by utilizing India's vast thorium reserves, which constitute nearly a quarter of the world's supply, rather than its limited uranium. The first stage uses Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) to produce plutonium, which fuels the second stage's Fast Breeder Reactors (FBRs), ultimately leading to the third stage's thorium-based reactors.
The Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay (AEET), which Bhabha founded in 1954, was renamed the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in his honor after his death in 1966. Bhabha's work also connects to the birth of the Indian space programme, as the AEC initially funded space science projects. His theoretical contributions include the development of a quantum theory explaining electron-positron scattering, now known as Bhabha scattering.