Category Scientist & Invensions

            Sir C.V. Raman was one of the greatest scientists of India who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1930 for his outstanding discovery in Physics. It was named after him and is known as ‘The Raman Effect’.

            Chandrasekhar Venkata Raman was born on 7th November, 1888 at Tiruchirappally in Tamil Nadu. Raman was a very brilliant student right from his childhood. After passing his matriculation at the age of 12, he was admitted to the Presidency College, Madras. From there he passed his B.Sc. in 1904 and M.Sc. in Physics in 1907 with the first position in the University. While he was a student in the Presidency College, he modified Melde’s theory on sound.

            In 1907 after passing a civil service competitive examination, he became the Deputy Accountant General in Calcutta. In 1915, he met Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee, the Secretary of the Indian Science Association. Raman joined this Association as a member, and started his research work. In the year 1917, he resigned from his post and became the Professor of Physics at Calcutta University. 

            During a sea voyage to Europe in 1921, he observed with wonder, the brilliant blue colour of the Mediterranean, and later the blue colour of glaciers. After returning to India, he experimented on the diffusion of sunlight during its passage through water, transparent blocks of ice and other materials. He then explained the reason for the blue colour of the ocean. His studies on scattering of light led him to the discovery of ‘Raman Effect’ in 1928. ‘Rama Effect’ describes the change in the frequency of light passing through transparent mediums. He used monochromatic light from a mercury arc and the spectroscope to study the nature of diffused radiations emerging from the material under examination. For this discovery, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1930.

            In 1933, he became the Director of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He held this post for 10 years. In 1934, he sponsored the foundation of the Indian Academy of Sciences, of which he became President. In 1943, the Raman Research Institute was set up by him. Then he conducted research work for the rest of his life. He died on 21st November, 1970 at Bangalore.

            Milking machine is a device used for milking the cows. The first milking machine was patented by an American engineer I.O. Colvin in 1860. It had four rubber teat cups which were connected to a vacuum chamber attached to the side of a pail. The chamber was similar in appearance to a bellows and a vacuum was created by pumping the handle after the cow’s teats had been placed in the rubber cups. It was gradually realized that continuous suction caused pain to the cow and often caused internal bleeding which contaminated the milk.

            In 1889 William Marchland of Kilmarnock, Scotland patented an elaborate suction milking machine. It also had some problems. Its improved version was produced by Dr. Alexander Shields of Glasgow in 1895. This model was very costly for the farmers. This was further improved in the early 20th century by several firms in Scotland.

            The modern carousel milking machine consists of a large slow-moving platform, powered by an electric motor, with places for several cows. As the cows approach the platform, they are placed at their own feeders and a milking machine is attached to each cow. The milk produced is collected in glass containers.

            Since the late 1960s the animal feeding methods in milking parlours have advanced dramatically. Many of the parlours are computerized and some include electronic sensors which pickup signals from small transmitters fixed around each cow’s neck and which reveal the animal’s feeding requirements. Automatic dispensers then provide the requisite ration. 

          The great scientist Sir Humphry Davy was once asked by a friend to name his greatest discovery to which he replied ‘Michael Faraday’. Faraday was then working as his assistant. Later his contributions in the field of electromagnetism and electrochemistry led to the invention of many things including dynamo and motor.

          Born in 1791 in a poor blacksmith family, Faraday began his career at the age of thirteen as an errand boy in a bookshop and moved along the pavements of London carrying and delivering newspapers. But his curious and inquisitive mind accompanied by hard work enabled him to reach great heights. His considerate employer in the bookshop taught him the art of book production. Thus Faraday found an access to books and devoted his spare time to reading. He had always the inherent desire to achieve something great.

          One day Faraday got the opportunity to attend a lecture by Sir Humphry Davy. Faraday noted down his lectures and sent them to Sir Humphry along with suitable diagrams. In return Sir Humphry offered him the post of a laboratory assistant and Faraday served him for a long time.

          When Faraday got the opportunity to work on his own, his genius flourished. Chemistry was his first love and he invented stainless steel, liquid chlorine, new kinds of optical glasses, benzene etc. he also propounded the laws of electrolysis. He got instant fame when he ventured into the field of electricity. Oersted had earlier discovered that electricity could produce magnetic effects but Faraday started thinking of the reverse phenomenon. He thought if electricity could produce magnetic effects then there must be a way for magnetism to produce electricity. Later he invented the ‘magneto electric machine’ that had a spinning disk between the poles of a magnet which became the forerunner of a dynamo. A dynamo converts mechanical energy into electrical energy. It consists of a powerful magnet and in between the poles of it a suitable conductor (a coil) is rotated. The mechanical energy generated by rotation is thus converted into an electric current in the coil.

          Faraday could not make money out of his inventions as he never bothered for money. Though at some stage of his life he earned a lot of money, he remained poor in his later days. He was generous, charitable and deeply religious. He died in 1867. 

          Today, medical sciences have become so advanced that many limbs of the body are made artificially and replaced by the competent surgeons. This advancement has come to this stage after a long process. The first person who made the artificial limbs was a French surgeon named Ambroise Pare (1510 – 1590).

          In the 1500s, surgery was not practiced by physicians but it was one of the specialties of the hair cutting profession. As a young boy Pare had the barber’s training. In 1541 he became a barber surgeon in Army. Eventually he became surgeon to the French king Henry II and to the king’s three sons who later succeeded him.

          Ambroise Pare was a very popular surgeon largely because he introduced many improvements in the existing methods. For example, he gave up the practice of cauterizing wounds with boiling oil; instead he tied off the exposed arteries and covered the wounds with simple dressings. 

          Pare developed several artificial limbs such as arms and hands. He made an arm that could be bent of the elbow and a hand with movable fingers. Even today Pare is considered as the first person to devise artificial limbs.

          Today we have modern artificial legs and muscle activated electric arms driven by electric motors. They have become very useful for the patients who have lost their natural limbs.