Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, FRS
(7 November 1888 – 21 November 1970)
was an Indian physicist and Nobel laureate in physics recognised for his work on the molecular scattering of light and for the discovery of the Raman effect, which is named after him.
Chandrashekhara Venkata Raman was born to a Hindu Brahmin family in Tiruchirapalli,Tamil Nadu . At an early age Raman moved to the city of Vishakapatanam,Andhra Pradesh.His father was a lecturer in mathematics and physics, so he grew up in an academic atmosphere.
In 1904 gained his B.Sc, winning the first place and the gold medal in physics from Madras Presidency College. In 1907 he gained his M.Sc, obtaining the highest distinctions. He joined the Indian Finance Department as an Assistant Accountant General in Kolkata.
Career
In 1917 Raman resigned from his government service and took up the newly created Palit Professorship in Physics at the University of Calcutta. At the same time, he continued doing research at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Calcutta, where he became the Honorary Secretary. Raman used to refer to this period as the golden era of his career. Many talented students gathered around him at the IACS and the University of Calcutta
On February 28, 1928, through his experiments on the scattering of light, he discovered the Raman effect . It was instantly clear that this discovery was an important one. It gave further proof of the quantum nature of light. Raman spectroscopy came to be based on this phenomenon, andEarnest Rutherford referred to it in his presidential address to theRoyal Society in 1929. Raman was president of the 16th session of theIndian Science Congress in 1929. He was conferred aknighthood , and medals and honorary doctorates by various universities. Raman was confident of winning the Nobel Prize in Physics as well, and was disappointed when the Nobel Prize went toRichardson 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 did eventually win the 1930 Nobel Prize in Physics"for his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the effect named after him".
Raman also worked on the acoustics of musical instruments. He worked out the theory of transverse vibration of bowed strings, on the basis of superposition velocities. He was also the first to investigate the harmonic nature of the sound of the Indian drums such as the tabla and the mridangam.
In 1934 Raman became the director of the Indian Institute of Science in Banglore , 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 ofultrasonic and hypersonic frequencies (published 1934-1942), and those on the effects produced by X-rays on infrared vibrations in crystals exposed to ordinary light.
He also started a company called Travancore Chemical and Manufacturing Co. Ltd. in 1943 along with Dr. Krishnamurthy. The Company during its 60 year history, established four factories in Southern India. In 1947, he was appointed as the first National Professor by the new government of Independent India .
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 numerousiridescent substances (labradorite , pearly feldspar,agate ,opal, and pearls). Among his other interests were the optics of colloids , electrical and magnetic anisotropy , and the physiology of human vision.
Personal life
Raman retired from the Indian Institute of Science in 1948 and established the Raman Research Institute in Banglore,Karnataka a year later. He served as its director and remained active there until his death in 1970, in Bangalore, at the age of 82. He was married on 6 May 1907 to Lokasundari Ammal with whom he had one son, Radhakrishnan.
Honours and awards
Raman was honoured with a large number of honorary doctorates and memberships of scientific societies. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society early in his career (1924) and knighted in 1929. In 1930 he won the Nobel Prize in Physics. In 1954 he was awarded theBharat Ratna . He was also awarded the Lenin Peace Prize in 1957.
When the first President of IndiaDr. Rajendra Prasad wrote a letter to C.V Raman to visit India to receive India's Highest Civilian Honor Bharat Ratna in 1954,C.V Raman replied like this:
“Dear Mr President, I thank you for giving me such a great honour, but I have a problem. I am guiding a scholar and he is submitting his thesis in December-January. I have to sign the thesis and won’t be able to accept the invitation.” The Bharat Ratna, of course, was awarded to Dr Raman in absentia. This shows his attitude and his commitment for work.
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