C. V. RAMAN - NOBEL LAUREATE

G. Sankara Bhanu

28th February is a great day in the history of science. It was on this day in 1928 that Prof. C. V. Raman’s experiments in Optics led him to discover a new phenomenon, which was aptly named after him. “Raman Effect” was not the result of an accident but was the culmination of seven years of systematic and sustained study. The equipment was cheap but the devotion and experimental skills of Raman and his band of students were highly valuable, Raman effect opened new routes to the knowledge of structure of matter. Scientists all over the world were tremendously impressed by the experimental demonstrations of Raman Effect. Raman was awarded Nobel Prize for Physics in 1930.

Venkata Raman was born on November 17th, 18-88 at Thiruvanaikkal near Trichinopoly. His father was Sri Chandrasekhara Iyer. By tradition, father’s name prefixes the name of the son. Hence his full name is Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman. He was the second among the eight children. The family had artistic inclinations and most of them learnt playing on violin, including Raman.

In 1892 Sri Chandrasekhar Iyer was appointed as lecturer in Mrs. A.V.N. College Visakhapatnam, where Raman studied up to and passed F. A. examination (1902). (Later, in 1956 Sir C.V. Raman visited A.V.N. College, where I was then working as a lecturer. His schoolmate, a retired clerk met him after the lecture and I had the pleasure of observing the Nobel Laureate chitchatting with his old pal in a happy mood.)

After passing F. A. exam, Raman won a scholarship and joined Presidency College Madras where he studied B.A. and then M.A. (physics). In every examination, Raman used to secure the first rank. He won gold medals in English and Physics. Research in modem sciences was quite unknown in India in those days, but young Raman, while doing a routine class experiment in optics discovered unsymmetrical diffraction bands and he lost no time to prepare a paper for publication in Philosophical Magazine, a prestigious journal from London. Raman was then only 16 years old. Professors in Presidency College complimented young Raman for his proficiency in English and for his strong and intellectual grasp in Physics. It was clear from the beginning that Raman was cut out for independent thinking.

Raman was highly intellectual but physically weak. He was averse to go abroad. Indian Civil Service (ICS) and Financial Civil Service (FCS) were the two careers open in those days for bright students and Raman opted for FCS and passed the examination in 1907, securing the first rank.

Lokasundari, daughter of S. Krishnaswami, an officer of Customs, was proposed to Raman. He went along with his elders to see the bride. She displayed her skills on Veena and Raman, being a great lover of music, readily accepted her. The marriage was celebrated in 1907.

Raman joined the Finance Department as an Assistant Accountant General in Calcutta. As luck would have it, the Ramans rented a house in an area, which happened to be very near to the Indian Association for Cultivation of Science founded by late Dr. Mahindra Lal Sircar. The Association building had considerable facilities for aspirants to pursue Science. It was the fortune of India that Raman knocked at the doors of the Association, full of joy. Amritlal Sircar, son of late Dr. Mahindra Lal Sircar who was waiting for an aspirant like Raman embraced him and exclaimed that the prophetic wish of his father was fulfilled.

From 1907 to 1917, Raman spent all his leisure time, which meant the evenings and very late into the night daily, conducting experiments in Acoustics and Optics in the Association. His devotion and dedication and the high standard of research attracted many a brilliant student. The Association became a centre of beehive activity. Raman and his students started publishing their findings in Acoustics and Optics in foreign journals and in the bulletins of the Association.

Sir Austosh Mukherjee, the then Vice Chancellor of Calcutta University was highly impressed with Raman’s work and his scholarship. He offered him Palit Professorship in the University. Raman readily gave up the lucrative job in FCS and accepted Professorship for far less emoluments. Austosh’s vision and Raman’s zeal for knowledge paved the way for the development of Science in India. Raman used to work 18 hours a day and published many papers attracting the attention of all leading physicists in the world. In 1921, Raman attended the ‘Congress of Universities’ held in U.K. His lecture on his latest researches in Optics and Acoustics was highly appreciated by the scientific world. Raman was a good speaker. His speeches were highly captivating.

Raman was a great lover of Nature. While retuning from England Raman became fascinated by the deep blue colour of the Mediterranean Sea. Lord Rayleigh, a great scientist had explained that the blue colour of the sea was due to the reflection of the sky blue by the ocean’s surface. Raman was not convinced. During that voyage, he examined the color of the sea from the ship using simple equipment eliminating the sky light reflection. He noticed that the blue of the sea persisted much richer than the blue of the sky. Immediately after returning to Calcutta, Raman made several critical experiments and proved that the blue colour of the sea was due to the scattering of the incident sunlight by the molecules of water. He published a paper on “The Molecular Scattering of Light in Water and the Colour of The Sea” in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of London (1921). Thenceforth ‘light scattering’ became the main field of research for Raman’s school.

Raman’s better half, Smt. Lokasundari stood by him devotedly. With great tact and love, she took care of him and the home affairs. She was aware that science was his first love and she too endeared herself to his way of life.

In 1924, the Royal Society of London conferred on Raman F.R.S. in recognition of his outstanding researches. Raman was invited to inaugurate the seminar on ‘The Scattering of Light’ held in Toronto, Canada. After the seminar, several universities and institutes in Canada and America invited him. Newspapers paid rich compliments for his clarity and eloquence. He won the admiration of all great scientists of the day.

Prof. A. H. Compton was awarded Nobel Prize in Physics in 1927 for his discovery of ‘Compton Effect’ in X-rays. It acted as a great impetus to Raman to seek an optical analogue. He set his research team to work on it. K.S. Krishnan, S. Bhagavantam, K. Ramanathan, L.A. Ramadas, S. Venkateswaran, B.N. Srinivasayya and a few more (later they became scientists of international fame) ably assisted him.

On Tuesday, 28 February 1928, Raman observed the wonderful phenomenon of light scattering. Raman himself later described the experimental observations of that day, “When monochromatic light was passed through a dust-free liquid, the spectrum of the scattered light showed new lines. These lines were not present in the incident light but formed due to the interaction with the molecules of the liquid.” Raman’s student, Ramadas called the phenomenon the “RAMAN EFFECT”.

The Associated Press was immediately informed of the discovery and a note was sent to Nature, a leading journal of science. Raman addressed the ‘South Indian Science Association’, at Bangalore and the reprints of the address were posted to scientists all over the world. Similar experiments were at the same time conducted in France and Russia but Raman had clearly established his priority. Besides a number of experiments were done in support of Raman Effect. In the words of Rutherford, a stalwart in Modem Physics, “The RAMAN EFFECT ranks among the best in Experimental Physics.”

Seven years of systematic and sustained work carried out by Raman and his students led to the great discovery and Raman was awarded Nobel Prize for Physics in 1930. It was in this ceremony that when wine was served to all, Raman (lifting a glass of water) humorously commented, “Raman Effect on alcohol is known, but alcohol effect on Raman is unknown”. He was a teetotaler all his life.

Raman possessed an indomitable spirit and an abiding love of Science. Through personal example of the highest dedication and through his success as teacher in training generations of physicists who in turn created great schools of research, Raman tremendously influenced the progress of Science in India. The awards and honours that Raman received during his lifetime were numerous.

India honoured C. V. Raman by awarding Bharat Ratna in 1954. However, the greater honour will be when the nation, particularly Educational Institutes and Institutes of Science observe 28th February by organizing exhibitions, conducting seminars and remembering the great seekers of knowledge to inspire the youth to tread in their footsteps

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Sathyendra Bose applied for a job in Tata Research Institute. He did not have a Ph. D from any university but told them that he was doing research on an important subject and gave them the papers. He asked them to get the papers examined by any nuclear scientist. When they asked him to name a scientist, he said that he was inspired by Albert Einstein. They sent them to Einstein himself. Einstein found in them the clue to a problem about which he was deeply thinking for a solution at that time! Bose worked with Einstein who later on named one of his inventions BOSANS.

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