Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman was an Indian physicist known for his work in the field of light scattering. CV Raman was India's first physicist to win a Nobel Physics Prize in 1930 “for his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the effect named after him".
Nobel Prize-winning Sir CV. Raman is known for his pioneering work in Physics. India celebrates National Science Day on February 28 each year to mark the discovery of the Raman Effect on the day in 1928.
Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, also known as C.V. Raman, was a pioneering physicist. Born on November 7, 1888, he was a precocious child, who excelled in Physics during his student days at Presidency College, and later, at the University of Madras. He is best known for his discovery of the Raman Effect, which is a phenomenon of scattering of light that occurs when light passes through a transparent medium. This discovery revolutionised the field of spectroscopy and earned him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930.
Raman was born in Tiruchirapalli in Tamil Nadu. He showed an early aptitude for mathematics and science. He graduated from Presidency College in Madras with a degree in Physics and went on to work at the Indian Finance Service. However, he soon realised that his true passion was in Physics and left his job to pursue a career in research at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science. It was here that he was given an opportunity to mentor research scholars from several universities, including the University of Calcutta.
He was appointed as Director (first Indian) of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, in 1933. In 1947, he was appointed the first National Professor of independent India. He retired from the Indian Institute in 1948. About a year later, he established the Raman Research Institute in Bangalore.
Raman was not only a brilliant scientist, but also a visionary. He believed that science should be accessible to all people, regardless of their background or social status. He was instrumental in the founding of several science institutions. His aim was to encourage the study of science in India.
In addition to the Nobel Prize, Raman received many other honours and awards throughout his career. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in London in 1924 and was conferred the knighthood by the British government in 1929. He also received numerous awards and honours from the Indian government, including the Bharat Ratna in 1954. India celebrates National Science Day on February 28 each year to mark the discovery of the Raman Effect on the day in 1928.
Raman passed away on November 21, 1970, at the age of 82. He is remembered as one of India's greatest scientists and is still widely celebrated as a pioneer in the field of physics. His legacy continues to inspire young scientists and researchers, who continue to build on his work to expand our understanding of the world around us.
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