February 28, 1928, was a great day for Indian science when a middle-class family student, who took education with meagre resources on Indian soil, successfully completed his research work in the field of ‘Scattering of Light’. Like a great festival, today the science scholars and student in schools, research and development institutes, universities, colleges celebrate the occasion as ‘Science Day’ remember the great scientist Chandrashekhara Venkata Raman, who with ‘tears of joy’ received the honour of ‘Nobel Prize’ in Stockholm, capital of Sweden in 1930. The field of visible electromagnetic spectrum was popularly known as ‘Raman’s Effect’.
Raman, born on November 7, 1888, Tiruchchirappalli, Madras). His father Chandrasekhara Ramanathan Iyer was a teacher of mathematics and physics and mother Pravathi Ammal was a homemaker. Second in eight brother/sisters, Raman immersed in an academic atmosphere with remarkable IQ, and at ages of just 11 and 13 years, he completed High School and FA (10+2) respectively with high distinctions in Science and English; and left for Presidency College, Madras (now Chennai) where he completed Master’s Degree in 1907 in physics.
Recognising his devotion, dedication and potential in science, the university management offered him unlimited access to the laboratory of the college to pursue his research work. Raman earned great appreciation in the scientific community during studies of his master’s degree. His first academic paper titled ‘Unsymmetrical-bands due to a Rectangular Aperture’ regarding the behaviour of light-scattering was published in ‘Philosophical Magazine’ in 1906 and subsequently another paper in 1907 in the same magazine.
His work was impressive; it encouraged him to do more qualitative research work. He received a letter from the eminent British Scientist, Lord Rayleigh (Nobel Prize Winner, 1904 in Physics for explaining why the sky is blue) addressing him as “Professor Raman,” unaware as Rayleigh was that Raman was just a teenage student. In 1922, Raman published his work on the ‘Molecular Diffraction of Light’ which was the first of a series of investigations bearing his name, the Raman Effect.
Despite Raman’s devotion and dedication for science, the family circumstances pulled him for civil services and he joined as a civil servant in the Indian Finance Department in Calcutta where he served there for almost 10 years. During free time, Raman chose to vent out his mind-boggling scientific thoughts through free scientific lectures to students. Raman’s ‘part-time’ research activities and his lectures to students were highly impressive. He was a highly talented physicist at the age of just 28 years. The University of Calcutta sought his services and offered him the Palit Chair in the Physics Department.
The University deputed Raman to Oxford to attend the Congress of Universities in 1921 where his reputation in the study of ‘optics and especially acoustics’ bestowed him a warm welcome reception by the world renowned physicists J J Thomson and Lord Rutherford and other distinguished personalities. It was the turning point where he met with distinguished scientific fraternity and discussed various aspects of light scattering, including Lord Rayleigh’s theory of light scattering.
On his return voyage to India, during experimentation on the deck, he observed that ‘sea was scattering light’, which was not in consonance with Rayleigh’s theory—that ‘sea reflects the light of the sky’s colour’. After returning to India, his intensive experimentation started. In 1927, during the course of experimenting with the pure glycerin, it was observed that blue light approaches the molecule and low energy green light leaves the molecule which is “inelastic”. The effect was very small — say, one in ten million photons — and came to be known as Raman Effect.
The event of this breakthrough was announced by Raman in a simple ceremony with his friends on the morning of February 28, 1928, making this day a landmark in Indian history, with full confidence that ‘in future the research work would be recognised throughout the world’. The research work was reported in the ‘Journal of Physics’ in 1928. In 1930 he brought honour for the whole of British India under the British Flag, becoming ‘Sir Chandrashekhara Venkata Raman’ at an age of 42 years.
In 1933, Raman had the honour of being the first Indian Director of the Indian Institute of Science (Bangalore) and became the first independent National Professor. A year in 1948, he founded Raman Research Institute and worked there for furtherance of his objectives till the curtains of his life came down at the age of 82 years, on November 21, 1970.
(The writer can be reached at dipaknewslive@gmail.com)
