The Raman eFact

Here are some facts along with a short biography about Chandrashekara Venkata Raman or C.V Raman, the Physics Pioneer and the reason why we celebrate Science Day:



C.V RAMAN (1888-1970)

1. He was born to R. Chandrashekara Iyer in Trchipally, Tamil Nadu on 7^th November 1888 and grew up in an academic atmosphere as his father was a lecturer in Mathematics and Physics. He entered the famous Presidency College in Chennai in 1902 and in 1904 and 1907 he gained his B.Sc and M.Sc.
2. His earliest researches in optics and acoustics - the two fields of investigation to which he has dedicated his entire career - were carried out while he was a student.
3. In 1917 he was offered the newly endowed Palit Chair of Physics at Calcutta University, and decided to accept it. He remained in Calcutta for the next 15 years, this period being the period which gave him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930.
4. In 1922, he published his work on the "Molecular Diffraction of Light," the first of a series of investigations with his collaborators which ultimately led to his discovery of the Radiation Effect which bears his name. The Raman Effect was first reported by C.V Raman and S. Krishnan.
5. The National Science Day is celebrated every year on 28 February to mark the discovery of his Raman Effect. The first National Science Day was celebrated in 1986.
6. Since his important discovery of the Raman Effect which is the Inelastic Scattering of a photon, he was very confident of getting the Nobel Prize in physics in the same year. But he was disappointed when the Nobel Prize went to Richardson in 1928 and to De Broglie in 1929. He was so confident of winning the prize in 1930 that he booked tickets in July, even though the awards were to be announced in November, and would scan each day's newspaper for announcement of the prize, tossing it away if it did not carry the news. He eventually won it in 1930 and was the first Asian and first non-white to get any Nobel Prize in the sciences. He was also the first scientist of India or Indian Origin to get the Nobel Prize whilst fully working in India.
7. In 1934 Raman became the director of the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, where two years later he continued as a professor of physics. Other investigations carried out by Raman were experimental and theoretical studies on the diffraction of light by acoustic waves of ultrasonic and hypersonic frequencies and those on the effects produced by X-rays on infrared vibrations in crystals exposed to ordinary light. In 1948 Raman, through studying the spectroscopic behavior of crystals, approached in a new manner fundamental problems of crystal dynamics. He dealt with the structure and properties of diamond, the structure and optical behavior of numerous iridescent substances.
8. The Indian Government marked a postage stamp in honour of C.V Raman on 12 November 1971. He died at the age of 82 on 21 November 1970.
9. He was bestowed many honorary doctorates and memberships and was also elected a Fellow of the Royal Society early in his career in 1924 and Knighted in 1929. In 1930 he won the Nobel Prize in Physics. In 1954 he was awarded the inaugural Bharat Ratna along with Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Chakaravarti Rajagopalachari. He was also awarded the Lenin Peace Prize in 1957.

These facts are to commemorate the 24^th National Science day that is today. These facts may be known to a large audience, and they may feel that these facts are repetitive. But the fact of the matter is that these facts appear repetitive only because the fame and aura of this one man C.V Raman has reached all corners of the world and he is known as the Father of Indian Physics.