NAME: K.AKHILABRANCH: ECE 1ROLL NO. :418

SUBJECT: ENJOYING EVERY DAY ENGLISH

SLC’S INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING

AND TECHNOLOGY

BIOGRAPHY

Sir C. V. Raman

By

SUBHASHREE DESIKAN

C.V.Raman

Born7 November 1888(1888-11-07)Thiruvanaikoil, Tiruchirappalli, Madras Presidency, British India

Died21 November 1970(1970-11-21) (aged 82)Bangalore, Karnataka, India

Nationality Indian

Fields Physics

InstitutionsIndian Finance DepartmentIndian Association for the Cultivation of ScienceIndian Institute of Science

Alma mater Presidency College

Doctoral students G. N. Ramachandran

Known for Raman effect

Notable awards

Knight Bachelor (1929)Nobel Prize in Physics (1930)Bharat Ratna (1954)Lenin Peace Prize (1957)

Franklin medal(1941)

Knight bachelor(1929)

Molecular diffraction of light(1922)

Director of RRI(1947) named sir (1929)

Childhood & Family details….

• Story begins in a village

near Tiruchirapalli

• Born on 8 Nov.1888

• Second child of

R.Chandrasekhara Iyer

& Parvathi Ammal

Tiruchirapalli….

Raman’s father….

• Family moved to vishakhapatnam when he was 4

• Father was a lecturer in Mrs.A.V.Narasimha Rao College

• Taught Physics, Mathematics & physical geography

Raman…an intelligent

• Father was athletic man & took active interest in sports

• Raman was not physically strong

• But was very intelligent

• Preferred to read books

Raman – A great reader

• Voracious reader

• Books were like old friends

• He was mainly influenced by 3 books

Light of Asia by Edwin Arnold

The Elements of Euclid

The Sensations of Tone

Raman’s Education….

• Completed schooling by 11 years

• Spent two years in his father’s college

• Went to Madras when he was 13

• Joined B.A. in Presidency College.

• Youngest in his class

• Unimpressive in appearance

• In his first English class Professor E.H.Eliot enquiry

• Stunned all sceptics• Stood university first

in B.A.exams

E.H.Eliot…

Education

• Teachers asked him to prepare for ICS

• Very prestigious exam

• Undergo a medical examination before the qualifying exam

• Civil surgeon declared him unfit to travel to England

• The only exam he failed

• He felt grateful to the man who disqualified him

Presidency college

B.A. to M.A……

• Joined M.A. physics

• Teachers freedom

• Attended only one lecture during the whole 2 years

• Original thinking developed

• Work on light waves

• Papers in philosophical Magazine

Light diffraction

Light diffraction

Expenditure on light

Philosophical Magazine

Education @ Marriage @ Job

• Passed M.A. in January 1907

• Stood first in the university

• Married Lokasundari• Decided to write FCS-

forerunner of IAAS• Topped the exam • Went to Calcutta to

work as AAG

FCS @ IAAS

IACS….

• Raman spotted IACS sign board

• Walked in to the building

• Historic moment• Performed the

legendary experiment on light

IACS ASSOCIATION

Raman’s double life…..

• Worked as a finance officer all day

• Moved to IACS and did research until night

• Papers in international journals

• Communication with physicists around world

• Gave lectures in Calcutta

• Introduced giving live demonstrations

Raman @ waves and sound

• Fascinated by waves and sound

• Carried the memory of Helmholtz’s book

• Chose to study musical instruments

• Explained the working of Ektara

Waves &Sound…..

Raman’s Ektara…

Musical instruments…..

Ektara to Violin….

• Took up violin for study

• First time a scientific understanding was established

• Raman’s studies on the violin were extensive

• Published a book

Mechanical violin player…

• Its working were assembled from parts brought from a cycle shop

• Did not resemble the instrument we know

• It had all the essential features of the violin

• Stretched string-resonant box-the bow-stroke length

• First mechanical violin for research

Acoustics to Optics…

• Until 1920 acoustics continued to interest him• Besides the violin, he studied the veena,

tambura, mridangam, tabla…• Interested in optics which led for discoveries…

Raman @ Calcutta University..

• Got chance to move into physics career around 1917

• Ashutosh Mookerjee offer as a Palit Professor of physics.

• Raman had to give up his job and higher income

• Problem he had to overcome

• A person who is applying must have foreign experience

• The rule was changed• Important role in

university activities

Calcutta University..

Ashutosh Mookerjee…

Ramanathan,K.S.Krishnan& Suri Bhagavantam @brilliant students

University Congress at Oxford

• In 1921 he got honorary doctorate from Calcutta University

• Went overseas for the first time

• Visit to University Congress at Oxford

• During his voyage back to India he spent hours watching the sea

• Struck by its colour

• Lord Rayleigh statement

Lord Rayleigh @ blue sky @ Mediterranean sea

Raman’s discovery….

• Water molecule could scatter light just like air molecules

• Important for Raman effect

• In 1922 he wrote a brilliant essay ‘The Molecular Diffraction of Light’

• He said light may exist in quanta as massless particles of energy.

K.R.Ramanathan finding the phenomenon in 1923

• Raman’s hunch• His direction towards

finding evidence for the corpuscular theory

• Discovery of the Compton effect in 1923

• Raman’s hunch was proved right

• K.R.Ramanathan spotted the phenomenon

• They named the phenomenon ‘feeble fluorescence’.

Raman’s research….

Raman @ Nobel

• It took his team 4 more years

• They were confident in 1927

• Discovery on 28th February….

• The famous Raman effect….the light can undergo a scattering through a liquid resulting in a change in its frequency….

• The date is celebrated as national science day

• Booked tickets to Europe• He had to wait 2 years• Received Nobel prize for

physics in 1930• His thought of India as a

British colony• His break down

Noble prize for physics in 1930

Raman @IIS

• Took up directorship of Indian Institute of Science@ Bangalore

• He stayed there until he retired in 1948

• Equal time to research and organisational work

• Nurtured many good students

• Never had a temptation leaving the country for a better life…….

IIS DIRECTOR…

Raman from 1946 to 1970…..

• Devoted final years to set up of the Raman Research Institute in Bangalore…..

• Running of the Indian Academy of Science.

• Edited Current Science & proceedings of the Academy journals…

• Died on 21 November,1970

• Funeral at the institute campus itself.

• A solitary tree is located……

• The tree planted on the site at the campus of Raman Research Institue where Raman was cremated

Raman Research Institute….

Indian Academy of Sciences…

Raman @ Inspiration……

• Raman. brilliant• Raman original

thinker• Raman hardworking• Raman disciplined• Deserves to be

admired for more than these qualities

• In his youth…

– India was not free country

– No institutions

– No libraries

Raman the great….

• Contributed to Indian science with his deep and genuine passion for physics

• He improvisation from scratch….

• His determination, spirit and contributions will remain special in the practice of science in India…….