Today's Google Doodle sums up scientist CV Raman's biggest achievement

A scientific theory is hard enough to sum up in one word - summing it up in the word ‘Google’ was probably an even more difficult task.

But the art department at Google Inc was clearly up for the challenge. On today’s date - 7 November,the 125th birth anniversary of CV Raman, one of India’s most prominent scientists with a prolific list of achievements - Google has explained one of his scientific legacies, the Raman effect, on their homepage doodle.

[caption id=“attachment_1215853” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The CV Raman Google Doodle. Image courtesy Google[/caption]

The style of the Google Doodle, with its perforated edges and pale pink colour might remind you of a postage stamp. CV Raman looks out benignly from behind the ‘G’ of the logo, and the rest of the letters explain the Raman effect.

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It was in 1928 that the scientist discovered the phenomenon now called Raman scattering that is the result of the Raman effect.

According to Britannica.com:

“Raman effect is thechange in thewavelengthoflightthat occurs when a light beam is deflected by molecules.When a beam of light traverses a dust-free, transparent sample of a chemical compound, a small fraction of the light emerges in directions other than that of the incident (incoming) beam. Most of this scattered light is of unchanged wavelength. A small part, however, has wavelengths different from that of the incident light; its presence is a result of the Raman effect.”

Raman was the recipient of theNobel Prize for Physicsin 1930 for this discovery.