Sir C. V. Raman is best known for his work in the field of light scattering. Raman was intrigued by the blue colour of glaciers and the Mediterranean Sea and wanted to unravel the mystery as to why water, a colourless liquid, appeared blue to the eyes.
Thus, he began a series of experiments on the scattering of light which ultimately led to what came to be known as the ‘Raman Effect’. Raman also discovered that when light interacts with a molecule, the light can donate a small amount of energy to te molecule. As a result of this, the light changes its colour and the molecule vibrates.
The change of colour can act as a ‘fingerprint’ for the molecule. Today, Raman spectroscopy, which relies on these ‘fingerprints,’ is used in laboratories all over the world to identify molecules and to detect disease such as cancer.
Sir C. V. Raman received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1930. He was the first Indian to win the Nobel Prize for Physics, and is considered to be a scientist par excellence.