Saha and the Dyon

Meghnad Saha occupies a special role in the history of Indian science, having been a pioneer in its organization already from the oppressive colonial period and having left important legacies to post-colonial India like the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics. He is famous for his research in astrophysics, and has also made important, but less well-known contributions to magnetic monopole theory. This article attempts an elementary survey of this theory and its implications with special emphasis on Saha’s work and argues that the latter has had wide ranging consequences for fundamental physics. To be published in the Commemoration Volume celebrating the Birth Centenary of Professor M.N. Saha.