CV Raman Birth Anniversary 2019: From scientific discoveries to awards, a look at the Nobel laureate's career

CV Raman Birth Anniversary 2019: One of most prominent scientists in India Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, who received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1930 , was born on 7 November, 1888. Today (Thursday) marks the 131st birth anniversary of the physicist. Raman became a Nobel laureate after discovering that when light traverses a transparent material, some of the deflected light changes in wavelength and amplitude. The phenomenon of scattering of light was named after him – Raman effect. He became the second Indian after Rabindranath Tagore to receive the honour. After clearing the intermediate exam at the age of 13, Raman joined the Presidency College in Madras in 1902. Five years later, he received a MSc degree in physics with the highest distinctions.

Raman was in the government service as an accountant and in 1917, he joined the Palit Chair of Physics at University of Calcutta at the age of 28. In 1933, he became a professor at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore. After his retirement in 1944, he established the Raman Research Institute in Bangalore. He served as its director and remained active there until his death. He was also became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1924 and was knighted by the British monarch in 1929. In 1954, he also received the highest civilian award in India - the Bharat Ratna. Raman wrote an article on the theory of musical instruments for the 8th Volume of the Handbuch der Physik in 1928. He published his work on the “Molecular Diffraction of Light” in 1922 which led to his ultimate discovery of the radiation effect on the 28 February, 1928 and earned him the Nobel Prize in Physics. Raman was the paternal uncle of Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, who won Nobel Prize for Physics in 1983 “for his theoretical studies of the physical processes of importance to the structure and evolution of the stars”. He breathed his last in Bangalore in 1970 at the age of 82.