C V Raman (1888-1970)

Indian Physicist. He was the recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1930 for the discovery that when light traverses a transparent material, some of the light that is deflected changes its wavelength. This phenomenon is now called Raman scattering and is the result of the Raman effect.

Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman was born in 1888 in Tiruchirappalli. His father taught physics and mathematics in a college – so Raman had the advantage of a scientific background. As a child, Raman was considered exceptional for his age. He completed school at the age of thirteen, graduated from Madras Presidency College with physics and received a distinction in his M.A.. His creative mind was already asserting itself. Even before he got his M.A., he had his first research paper published in the prestigious Philosophical Magazine.

For all his brilliance in physics, Raman was not encouraged to take it up as a career. At his father’s insistence, he sat for the Indian Audit and Accounts Service examination, which he passed with flying colours. He then entered government service. Perhaps he would have spent his life looking after the financial affairs of the government if it were not for a posting to Calcutta in 1907, which changed his life.

In Calcutta, the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS) gave him the opportunity to do what he liked most – conducting investigation in theoretical and experimental physics. This association was the oldest research institute in India, founded by Dr Mahendra Lal Sarcar, a physician by profession. His dream was to encourage Indians to undertake studies in various branches of science. He provided them with both, a library and a laboratory with modern facilities. Raman arrived at Calcutta, as an officer in the Government Finance Department, keen on doing research in his spare time. As a member of the IACS, Raman was allowed to begin his research there.

Raman investigated the area of acoustics and experimented with the vibrations of violin strings. Only later did he take up optics as his field of study.

When Sir Asutosh Mookerjee took up the reins of administration of Calcutta University into his hands, he decided to introduce post graduate departments for various disciplines of science. For the physics department, he offered the Palit Professorship to C V Raman. Soon Calcutta University developed a thriving school of science. Even as a full-time professor there, Raman kept up his connection with the IACS.

In 1921, on a voyage from Europe, a curious thought occurred to him.  As he watched the blue waves around the ship, he wondered why their colour was blue. Did it have anything to do with the scattering of light which accounts for the blueness of the sky? The genesis of his famous work, later on known as Raman Effect, was in these musings. Lord Rayleigh, the English physicist, had already conducted some pioneering experiments on the scattering of light. Raman  expanded the scope of Rayleigh’s inquiry  and wrote a series of papers on the molecular scattering of light in liquids and on the consequent  colour of the sea.   

For seven years, Raman and his team continued their research on light in transparent media. This finally led to the discovery of Raman Effect. The discovery was not only important in itself, but it also opened up many other areas of study relating to radiation, wave theory, atomic and molecular spectra, chemistry and thermodynamics. Raman made the announcement of his discovery in Bangalore in 1928. Two years later, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for physics.

In 1933, C.V. Raman left Calcutta for Bangalore. He was appointed as the Director of Indian Institute of Science (IISc) there.  IISc did not have a department of physics at that time, and Raman set about creating one. The first few years were spent in organising the department, and it was some time before work could begin in earnest.

In 1934, C.V. Raman founded the Indian Academy of Sciences (IASc) in Bangalore. His idea was to provide scientists all over the country with a platform to meet and exchange ideas. The administrative work at the IISc was becoming too heavy coupled with financial constraints for the institute. In 1948, with his Nobel Prize money and with donations from private sources, he set up his own Raman Research Institute (RRI) in Bangalore. In this institute, he found a quiet corner to work, where he carried on his personal research until his passing in 1970.