Bhojpur boy questions mountain visibility concept of British experts

Patna: A 17-year-old class XII student, Arnav Aditya Singh of Bhojpur district, has challenged the centuries old concept of Britishers on the visibility of mountain peaks from long distances. His work has been accepted for publication in the American Journal of Physics.
During the nationwide lockdown due to Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, there were several reported sightings of Himalayan peaks from the vast Indo-Gangetic plains of north India, such as the Dhauladhar Range from Jalandhar and the eastern Himalayas from Purnea and Motihari.These reports reminded Arnav and his mentor Vijay Singh, who is also the president of Indian Association of Physics Teachers (IAPT), of similar sightings two centuries ago by orientalist and founder of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Sir William Jones.
Jones had claimed that after sunset on October 5, 1784, he had a distinct view from Bhagalpur of the peak of Mt Jomolhari in Bhutan. The horizontal distance at which it was distinctly visible must be at least 244 British miles (390km). Those days, Bhagalpur was a British stronghold some 330km northwest of Kolkata. A decade later, in the 1790s, similar sightings of Mt Jomolhari and some other Himalayan peaks were reported by Henry Colebrooke from the town of Purnea, 80km northeast of Bhagalpur and thus closer to the Himalayan range. Colebrooke had succeeded Sir Jones as the Asiatic Society of Bengal president.
Both Arnav and his mentor, also from Bihar, argued that as the earth is round, distant objects will be obstructed from view by its curvature or bulge. If one climbs atop a minaret or a hill, one can see farther. They claimed that the maximum distance one can see from the peak of 7326-metre high Mt Jomolhari is 216km. This is far short of the distance of 390km between the peak and Bhagalpur. This is surprising that the 1784 observation of Sir Jones has been quoted often and most recently in a popular book of John Keay, the ‘Great Arc’, they said.
Another factor pointed out by Arnav and Singh is the visibility problem. They held that a distant object may not be visible on account of absorption by the intervening atmosphere. As early as in 1871, great scientist Sir Maxwell had asked if the Everest was visible from Darjeeling. Both Arnav and Singh found that the earlier claim of sighting Mt Jomolhari was not true. In all probability, it was Mt Kanchenjunga which was sighted by Sir Jones and others, they claimed. Both the mountains lie in the same direction from Bhagalpur and Mt Kanchenjunga is closer (297km) and taller (8,586m), they added.
Arnav, who is studying at Kota and had won the gold medal at the International Junior Science Olympiad in Doha in 2019, said: “I want to study physics at Indian Institute of Science after completing my school education.”
Singh, when contacted, told the newspaper that Arnav has very inquisitive mind and he would do wonders as a researcher.