Dr.C.V.Raman

 Dr.C.V.Raman

MANY MORE HAPPY RETURNS OF THE DAY

Dr.C.V. Raman full name Candrasekhara Venkata Raman was born at Tiruchirappalli in Southern India on November 7th, 1888. His father was a lecturer in mathematics and physics so that from the first he was immersed in an academic atmosphere.

He studied in  Presidency College, Madras, in 1902, and in 1904 passed his B.A. examination, winning the first place and the gold medal in physics; in 1907 he gained his M.A. degree, obtaining the highest distinctions.

Raman joined the Indian Finance Department in 1907, became an accountant in the finance department of the Indian government and then Raman became Chair of physics at the University of Calcutta in 1917. Later on he found opportunities in Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science at Calcutta. Some of Raman’s early memoirs appeared as Bulletins of the Indian Associationfor the Cultivation of Science (Bull. 6 and 11, dealing with the “Maintenance of Vibrations”; Bull. 15, 1918, dealing with the theory of the musical instruments of the violin family). He  became Honorary Secretary in 1919.

He published an article on the theory of musical instruments to the 8th Volume of the Handbuch der Physik, 1928. In 1922 he published his work on the “Molecular Diffraction of Light”, the first of a series of investigations with his collaborators which ultimately led to his discovery, on the 28th of February, 1928, of the radiation effect which bears his name (“A new radiation”, Indian J. Phys., 2 (1928) 387), and which gained him the 1930 Nobel Prize in Physics.

After that he be come a Editor in Indian Journal  of Physic in 1929 and he worked as a President in Indian Academy Science. Raman has been honoured with a large number of honorary doctorates and memberships of scientific societies. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society early in his career (1924), and was knighted in 1929. After 15 years at Calcutta he became Professor at the Indian Institute of Science at Bangalore (1933-1948) and also acted as a President in 1948. In 1947 he was named director of the Raman Research Institute.

Other investigations like diffraction of light by acoustic waves of ultrasonic and hypersonic frequencies published 1934-1942 and those on the effects produced by X-rays on infrared vibrations in crystals exposed to ordinary light. In 1948 Raman studying the spectroscopic behavior of crystals and fundamental problems of crystal dynamics like properties of diamond  and iridescent substances (labradorite, pearly felspar, agate, opal, and pearls).

In 1948, he founded the Raman Research Institute and gifted movable and immovable assets for the benefit of the institute and served as its director until his death in 21 nov 1970. In 1954, he was awarded Bharat Ratna by the Government of India.