New Delhi: Every year on February 28, National Science Day is celebrated in India. The day marks the discovery of the Raman effect by Indian physicist Sir CV Raman on February 28, 1928. In 1930, Raman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery. His full name is Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman and is known for his work regarding light scattering.
Born on November 7, 1888, in Tiruchirappalli in the Madras Presidency of British India, Raman was the second of eight siblings. While his father, a high school teacher earned a modest income, it never made Raman complacent in any way. Rather, his focus and dedication towards science always remained steadfast.
A child prodigy
CV Raman was a child prodigy who completed his secondary and higher secondary education when he was just 11 and 13, respectively. When he was 16, he completed his honours in physics from then-Presidency College. When he was still a graduate student, Raman published his first research paper. At the age of 19, he joined the Indian Finance Service in Kolkata as Assistant Accountant General.
Motivated by Mediterranean Sea
While going to Europe for the first time, Raman saw the Mediterranean Sea and it motivated him to realize that the prevailing explanation for the blue colour of the sea at the time, the reflected Rayleigh-scattered light from the sky, was wrong. It pushed him to work in the field of light scattering.
Disappointment and confidence
Raman was extremely confident of his Nobel Prize win, but it went to Owen Richardson in 1928 and to Louis de Broglie in 1929, he was appointed. In 1930, his confidence came back with renewed vigour, so much that he booked tickets in July, despite the announcement being scheduled for November. Every day, he would scan the newspaper for announcement of the prize.
The Nobel Prize, first Asian
Raman developed a spectrograph and with the help of his student KS Krishnan, he discovered that when light traverses a transparent material, the deflected light changes its wavelength. It is known as the Raman effect or Raman scattering and in 1930, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics for this discovery. Notably, he was the first Asian and the first non-White to receive a Nobel Prize in science.
The Raman Research Institute
In 1926, Rama established the Indian Journal of Physics and was the Indian Institute of Science’s first Indian director. In 1933, he established the Indian Academy of Sciences and in 1948, he founded the Raman Research Institute.
National Science Day, celebrated annually on February 28, commemorates Sir CV Raman’s discovery of the Raman effect in 1928. This groundbreaking work in light scattering earned him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930, making him the first Asian and first non-white to receive the award. knowledge Knowledge News, Photos and Videos on General Knowledge
