Unit II Biography Sir C V Raman by Shubasree Desikan

Unit II Biography Sir C V Raman by Shubasree Desikan:

 

Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (1888-1970), Indian physicist is best known for his research on the molecular scattering of light. For his discovery of this effect, known as the Raman Effect, he was awarded the 1930 Nobel Prize for Physics.

                                                          Raman with students

Summary:
Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (1888-1970), internationally reputed Indian physicist, is best known for his research on the molecular scattering of light. For his discovery of this phenomenon, known as the Raman Effect, he was awarded the 1930 Nobel Prize for Physics.
Raman was born in Trichinopoly (now Tiruchirapalli) to Chandra Shekar Iyer and Parvati Ammal. Raman was an avid reader right from his childhood. Three books among the great many books that he read as a child had a lasting impression on Raman’s young mind. These three books were “Light of Asia”, “The Elements of Euclid”, and “The Sensations of Tone”. The last of these books was about sound waves. Later on, when he grew up and got an opportunity to conduct research in IACS (Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science), he chose to study musical instruments. He also published a book on the mechanical theory of the musical instruments. Thus, as Raman himself humbly admitted later, what he read in his school days paved the way for his future interests.
Raman was a precocious child – he completed his schooling when he was just eleven and joined Presidency College at thirteen for his graduation. There he failed to impress his teachers because he was not athletic like his father and looked too young to be a college student. So, when he went to attend his first English class the professor asked him if he really belonged to the junior B.A. class. But, very soon Raman proved all his teachers wrong by asserting his presence and standing first in his class. His teachers were so impressed with his brilliance that they forced Raman to sit for the ICS examinations.
The Civil Surgeon of Madras declared Raman physically unfit to travel abroad for appearing for the Indian Civil Services examination. Raman did not get disappointed because he was not at all interested in any career other than scientific research. Raman forever remained grateful to this “great man” – the Civil Surgeon of Madras! He considered this a blessing in disguise and continued his higher education choosing his favorite subject Physics for his M.A. He made most of the liberal attitude of his teachers in Presidency College and ventured into research on light waves. He achieved great heights of glory in his chosen field and became the first student from the college to publish a paper in the prestigious Philosophical Magazine. He also emerged as the top ranker in the university.
He got married to Lokasundari in 1907. Soon after, he was forced to sit for the IFS (Indian Financial Service) examination because he was not in a position to pursue research in his favorite subject due to financial difficulties. He was appointed as the Assistant Accountant General in Calcutta. There, he came across the IACS – Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science which offered laboratory facilities for the research enthusiasts. The day when Raman walked into the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science was a historic moment because it was going to be the lab of this Association where he and his team performed the legendary experiments on light, which the world knows today as “The Raman Effect”. When Raman got the first chance to study and experiment at IACS, he decided to study musical instruments. He explained the working of ektara, a simple musical instrument. Raman also studied the physical nature of musical sounds and the mechanics of various musical instruments. He made a scientific study of the functions of violin and even designed an innovative mechanical violin. He later studied the functioning of various musical instruments and published many papers on the research findings.
He was appointed as the Professor of Physics at the University of Calcutta in 1917 by Ahutosh Mookerjee, the Vice Chancellor and a philanthropist. During his voyage across the Mediterranean Sea while coming back from his European trip after participating in a conference, Raman discovered that water molecules could scatter light just like air molecules. It led him to the discovery of his famous “Raman effect”. Raman continued as a professor till 1933 and after that he was appointed head of the department of physics of the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. In 1947 he became director of the Raman Research Institute, also in Bangalore. He was knighted in 1929 and was named president of the Indian Academy of Sciences in 1934.

Raman Effect:
Raman Effect, a change in frequency observed when light is scattered in a transparent material. This phenomenon was discovered by the Indian physicist Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman in 1928. When monochromatic light, such as that obtained from a laser, is passed through a transparent gas, liquid, or solid and is observed with the spectroscope, the spectral line ordinarily produced by the light has associated with it lines of longer and of shorter wavelength, called the Raman spectrum. These lines are caused by photons losing or gaining energy by elastic collisions with the molecules of the transparent substance. The Raman spectrum of a particular spectral line varies with the nature of the material that scatters the light. The Raman Effect has practical importance in spectrographic chemical analysis and in the determination of the structure of molecules.

Raman Research Institute:
Raman Research Institute, institution of higher education in the city of Bangalore. The institute was founded in 1948 by Chandrasekhara Ventaka Raman, and until 1970 was run from his personal resources. On his death, the institute was reorganized, and is now mainly funded by the Indian government’s Department of Science and Technology.
The Institute has active collaboration programmes with several research institutes and universities both nationally and internationally. The institute’s library has holdings of some 18,850 volumes and 22,000 periodicals. Raman’s principal scientific interests in optics, spectroscopy, and vision are reflected in the institute’s main current research specializations, which embrace astronomy and astrophysics, condensed matter, optics, and theoretical physics.