The Great Indian Scientists--C V Raman

C V Raman (1888-1970)

Dr. Chandra Sekhar Venkata Raman, better known as C.V Raman, is one of the most distinguished Indian scientists of the 20th century. He was born on 7 November 1888 in a South Indian Brahmin family in the town of Tiruchirappalli in Tamilnadu. Raman's father was a school teacher. He was a scholar of physics and mathematics. He also loved arts and greatly appreciated good music. 

Raman's childhood and education

Raman's childhood was given an environment of music, traditional Sanskrit literature and modern science. He was genius right from his childhood and always came first in every class he attended. He was a child prodigy. He completed his matriculation at the age of 11. He then took admission into Presidency College , Chennai for a B.A degree course. He completed it in 1905. He not only stood first in the class but also won a gold medal. He then joined the same college to pursue Master's degree in Physics. During his B.A and M.A, Raman had displayed exemplary brilliance in scientific investigations. 

His career

At the insistence of his father, Raman took the Financial Civil Service (FCS) examination and stood first in that. He then proceeded to Calcutta to join the Indian Finance Department as Deputy Accountant General. 

Calcutta was the political capital of India at that time, and the cultural capital as well. It was the main centre where scientific action was taking place in India. This took place because of The Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science which was founded by Dr. Mahendra Lal Sircar and the University College of Science which was founded by Mr. Asutosh Mukherjee.

Raman, as he was employed, used to do his research before and after his work hours. After ten years of Government services, Raman resigned his post of Deputy Accountant General and joined Calcutta University as a Palit professor of Physics. 

His duties there were to devote himself to path-breaking research in his subject; to support research by students and to supervise the laboratory. He took 'Electricity and Magnetism' and 'Physical optics' classes. His style of teaching was involvement of the whole class which would increase the subject grasping ability of the students. The students used to feel thrilled in his classes as if they were actually making the discoveries. They used to get the excitement in his classes where the theories were livened by practical examples.

Raman published about 21 studies in the domestic journals while he had 146 publications in the foreign journals. He published work on acoustics and musical instruments, and that of a theory on bowed strings.

Awards he received

He was awarded the degree of 'Doctor of Science' in 1921 by the Calcutta University.

In 1924, he was elected to the fellowship of the Royal Society of London.

In 1929, the British Government in India conferred on him the knighthood title of 'Sir'.

He received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1930 for his 'Raman Effect'.

The Government of India honoured him with the highest civilian honour of the country 'Bharat Ratna' in 1954.

He was also awarded the Lenin Peace Prize in 1958.

The Raman Effect

On a sea voyage to Europe in 1921, Raman was amazed to notice the deep blue colour of the sea glaciers and the Mediterranean sea. He had in mind that it was light which had been playing the trick. Eventually, he carried out different types of experiments and researches on the sun rays passing through water, transparent ice blocks, and other media. The results were astonishing and he could establish the scientific explanation for the blue colour of the sea water and the sky. Raman detected some new lines in the spectrum on passing the sun rays through different substances. These lines are called 'Raman lines' and the discovery is named after him as 'Raman Effect'. He won the Nobel prize in Physics for the same in 1930. The Raman effect has proved to be very useful tool for scientists. Raman's other interests of research were the physiology of human vision, the optics of colloids and the electrical and magnetic anisotropy.

Raman and conflicts

Raman was elected the Honorary Secretary of the Indian association for the Cultivation of science after the death of Lal Sircar in 1919. He held the post till 1933.

Raman had some conflict with the administrators of the Association and eventually he left not only the institute but also Calcutta. He made Bangalore his home in 1933.  He took up the directorship of the Indian Institute of Science. He remained Director for four years. Later, he had to face some conflict.

He made several changes at the IISc. The existing staff found him so intervening and two of them resigned their jobs. There was a growing resentment in the campus. Raman was accused of favouring the physics department at the cost of other departments. 

A committee was appointed in 1935 to review the institute's affairs. The committee confirmed that the charges and accusations made against him were correct. He was also accused of not only administrative irregularities but also financial misconduct. He was asked to leave the Directorship of the institute but remained professor of Physics and continued till 1947.

In 1934, Raman founded the Indian Academy of Sciences. He invested his personal property to build this. He also has given his Nobel prize money and the Lenin Peace Prize money for its development. A museum was built to house Raman's collection of crystals, gems, minerals, rock specimens and shells. 

Later in 1943, he set up the Raman Research Institute in Bangalore. There he served as its director and remained active until his death in 1970.

Raman always took pride in being an Indian and stressed and endeavoured to have world class institutions and research in India.

Research years

From 1907 to 1917, Raman did his research at the Indian Association for Cultivation of Science. As he was employed, he did the research work in the mornings and the evenings.

After ten years of government services, Raman resigned from his post to work as a professor of physics at the Calcutta University. He worked there for 15 years.

He joined IISc and continued his research there. He founded the Indian Academy of Science in 1934. He also set up the Raman Research Institute in 1943. He continued scientific research from theses institutes until his death which was caused by a strong heart attack on 21 November 1970.

Raman's advice

Raman firmly believed that India should be self-sufficient in science. His sincere advice to aspiring scientists was--"scientific research needed independent thinking and hard work, not equipment."