SIR C.V. RAMAN

SIR C.V. RAMAN

Gist

C.V. Raman’s story begins in a village near Tiruchirapalli in southern India. He was born on 8 November 1888. Raman was a voracious reader and pored eagerly over all the books written by great scientists of his father’s collection. Three books determined the Raman’s chosen path, those were Edwin’s Arnold’s Light of Asia, which is the story of Gauthama Buddha, The Elements of Euclid, a treatise on classical geometry, and The Sensations of Tone, by German scientist Helmholtz, on the properties of sound waves.

Raman completed his school when he was just eleven years old. He joined in the BA course at the age of thirteen only. He was suggested by his teachers to prepare for the Indian Civil Services (ICS) examination. But he could not qualify the medical examination to travel to England. This was the only examination that Raman failed.

Raman joined the MA physics in Presidency College, Madras, During this time he became famous for his experiments with light waves. Raman wondered what would happen if the light shone straight, not from an angle on the screen. Raman not only studied this variant problem and published in a paper in the Philosophical Magazine, a British journal. He was the first student of Presidency College to publish a research paper.

Raman passed the MA examination in January 1907, coming first in the university. He has taken the Financial Civil Services (FCS) examination due to lack of facilities to pursue his research in India. Later Raman started his research at ‘Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science ‘ (IACS).

Raman was fascinated by waves and sound. He remembered the reading of Helmholtz’s book in his school days. He explained the working of the ektara. He took up a violin for study and developed a way of characterising the quality of the instrument. Raman’s studies on the violin published as book. Until 1920, acoustics continued to interest him he also studied the veena, tambura, mridangam, tabla and others.

Around 1917 Raman was offered the position of Palit Professor of Physics at the university. In 1921, the University of Calcutta conferred on him an honorary doctorate. He attended University Congress at Oxford, during the voyage back Raman watched the sea and did the experiments to capture the colour of the sea. Raman set his team members to work on his idea on light scattering. In 1927 of 28^th February the famous Raman effect was discovered, and the date now celebrated as National Science Day. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for physics in 1930. Raman devoted his final years from 1946 to 1970 to the setting up of the Raman Research Institute in Bangalore.

C.V. died on 21 November 1970. By a special arrangement his mortal remains were consigned to flames in the institute campus itself, amidst the surroundings he loved without any religious ceremonies. Raman was a brilliant student, a very original thinker and a hardworking, disciplined person. Further, when he faced with a lack of infrastructure, he always improvised and built up. His determination, spirit and contributions will indeed remain special within the context of the practice of science in India.

Questions with Answers :

a. How were the great men who Raman read about as a child reflected in the work he did later in life ?

As a child Raman read, The Sensations of Tone by German scientist Helmholtz, on the properties of sound waves. Raman was fascinated by waves and sound, and seems to have carried in his mind the memory of reading Helmholtz’s book in his school days. Then he got the chance to study and experiment in the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS). He has chosen musical instruments to study like violin, veena, tambura, mridangam, tabla and others. Raman’s studies on the violin were extensive and were later published as a book entitled On the Mechanical Theory of Vibrations of Musical Instruments of the Violin Family with Experimental Results: Part I.

b. Why did Raman fail to impress his teachers when he joined Presidency College ?

Raman completed school when he was just eleven years old. He joined the BA course at Presidency College, when he was only thirteen years old. Being young for his class Raman failed to impress his teachers with his appearance. In the first English class that he had attended, Professor E.H. Eliot asked if he really belonged to the junior BA class.

c. What made Raman say of the Civil Surgeon of Madras, ‘I shall ever be grateful to this man’ ?

Raman was suggested to prepare for the Indian Civil Services (ICS) examination by his teachers. Raman had to undergo a medical examination to take the ICS test. But the Civil Surgeon of Madras declared him medically unfit to travel to England. This was the only exam Raman failed, and he would later remark in his characteristic style about the man who disqualified him because at that time, he simply put the attempt behind and went on to study physics.

d. Why was the day when Raman walked into the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science a historic moment ?

The day when Raman walked into the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science a historic moment because the building that became the laboratory where he and his team performed the legendary experiments on light.

e. Outline the subject of the first research Raman conducted in the IACS ?

The first research Raman has chosen was studying musical instruments. He explained the working of the ektara. He developed several idea that he called, ‘remarkable resonances’. He took up a violin for study and developed a way of characterizing the quality of the instrument. This was the first time a scientific understanding was established, and it is used even today.

f. What discovery did Raman make during his voyage across the Mediterranean and how did it prove to be important ?

Raman discovered that water molecules could scatter light like air molecules, during his voyage across the Mediterranean. It set him on the track to discovering the famous Raman effect. In 1922, he wrote a brilliant essay entitled ‘The Molecular Diffraction of Light,’ in which he speculated that light may exist in quanta, that is, as massless particles of energy.

Bits:

1. Chandrasekhar Venkata Raman shortly as C. V. Raman
2. C.V. Raman was born on 8 November 1888
3. Raman was the second child of R. Chandrasekhar Iyer and Parvathi Ammal
4. As a child, Raman was an avid (voracious) reader
5. Light of Asia is written by Edwin Arnold – the story of Gautama Buddha
6. The Elements of Euclid, treatise on classical geometry
7. The Sensations of Tone by German scientist Helmholtz on the properties of sound waves
8. Raman completed school when he was just eleven years old
9. Raman joined the BA course at Presidency College, Madras, when he was thirteen years old
10. ICS stands for Indian Civil Services
11. The only exam Raman failed was a medical examination to travel to England to take ICS test
12. Raman joined the MA physics class in Presidency College, Madras
13. Raman studied on light and published a paper in the Philosophical Magazine, a British Journal
14. Raman was in teens and the first student of Presidency College to publish a research paper
15. Raman passed the MA examination in January 1907 coming first in the university
16. Raman married Lokasundari, who belonged to Madurai
17. FCS stands for Financial Civil Services - a forerunner of the Indian Administrative and Audit Services (IAACS)
18. IACS stands for Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science
19. Raman’s papers appeared in international journals such as Nature and the Philosophical Magazine, published in England
20. The Physical Review, published in the USA
21. Raman was fascinated by waves and sound
22. At IACS Raman has chosen to study musical instruments first
23. Raman has explained the working of the ektara
24. Raman studied the violin and later published a book entitled On the Mechanical Theory of Vibrations of Musical Instruments of the Violin Family with Experimental Results: Part I
25. To study on violin Raman assembled the parts from a cycle shop and other odds and ends found in the lab
26. Besides violin, Raman studied the veena, tambura, mridangam, tabla and others
27. Raman became interested in optics
28. Sir Ashutosh Mookerjee, appointed as Vice-Chancellor of Calcutta University.
29. Around 1917 Raman was offered the position of Palit Professor at the university
30. Some of the well-known names among Raman’s brilliant students are K.R. Ramanathan, K.S.Krishnan and Suri Bhagavantam
31. Raman was conferred an honorary doctorate by the University of Calcutta in 1921
32. Raman attended the University Congress at Oxford
33. Lord Rayleigh, who had explained the blue colour of the sky
34. Lord Rayleigh, explained ‘The dark blue of deep sea has nothing to do with the colour of water but is simply the blue of the sky seen in reflection.’
35. Raman’s experiments on the colour of sea were explained and published to the journal Nature
36. Raman’s discovery started during the voyage across the Mediterranean Sea
37. Raman said that water molecules could scatter light just like air molecules, which set him to discover the famous Raman effect
38. In 1922 Raman wrote a brilliant essay entitled ‘The Molecular Diffraction of Light’
39. The Compton effect was discovered in 1923
40. Raman set his team members to work on his idea of light scattering
41. Raman’s students K.R. Ramanathan, first spotted the light scattering phenomenon in 1923
42. Many of Raman’s other students were able to reproduce this effect and ‘feeble fluorescence’
43. In 1927 it was said that the effect was not ‘a type of fluorescence’ but a ‘modified scattering’
44. On 28 February of 1927 the famous Raman effect was discovered
45. 28 February is now celebrated as National Science Day
46. Raman has received Nobel Prize for physics in 1930
47. Raman took up the directorship of Indian Institute of Science until he retired in 1948
48. Raman devoted his final years, from 1946 to 1970 to the setting up of the Raman Research Institute in Bangalore and the running the Indian Academy of Science
49. Raman edited the journals Current Science and the Proceedings of the Academy
50. C.V. Raman died on 21 November 1970