He joined the M.A. class in the same college and chose Physics (study of matter and energy) as the main subject of study.
The works of the German scientist Helmhotlz (1821 - 1891) and the English scientist Lord Raleigh (1842 - 1919) on acoustics (the study of sound) influenced Raman. He took immense interest in the study of sound.
one day his friend Appa rao found the experiment he was doing did not come through as expected . As he could not understand the reason for this , he reported the matter to his professor Mr Jones. The professor did not take any interest to answer. But C.V. Raman analysed the experiment and not only found out the reason for the experiment going wrong but also found out a method to do it in a correct way. He also wrote an article on that and gave it to the profeesor, requesting him to correct if there are any mistakes as he wanted to publish it in a journal. Mr jones kept the paper aside. After some days Raman himself got his paper back from the professor and sent it to to the editor of a famous scientific journal at London. The editor published it in the Joutnal. When Raman showed the journal in which his article has been published, though at first the professor showed some displeasure, he praised Raman .
When he was eighteen years of age, one of his research papers was -published in the 'Philosophical Magazine' of England. Later another paper was published in the scientific journal 'Nature'.
While Raman was studying for M.A. Mr. Jones was making arrangement to senfd him to England for higher studies. but unfortunately it did not come through as the doctors who tested Raman said Raman's Physical condition is not robust enough to cope with the climatic condition of England.
Mean while he sat for the I.A.A.S competitive examination. The day before this examination, the results of the M.A. examination were published. He had passed in first class recording the highest marks in Madras University up to that time. He stood first in the I.A.A.S. examination also.
Raman was appointed as Deputy accountant General. He is the first to hold that post at the age 19 years. He served in Governent from 1907 to 1917 and also promoted to the post of Accountant General.
On May 6, 1907, Raman married Lokasundari Ammal.
Though he joined as the Accountant General in Finance department in Kolkatta, his interest in Physics did not die down.One evening Raman was returning from his office in a tramcar. He saw the name plate of the 'Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science' at 210, Bow Bazaar Street. Immediately he got off the tram and went in. Dr. Amritlal Sircar was the Honarary Secretary of the Association. There were spacious rooms and old scientific instruments, which could be used for demonstration of experiments.
Raman asked whether he could conduct research there in his spare time. Sircar gladly agreed. Raman took up a house adjoining the Association. A door was provided between his house and the laboratory. During the daytime he would attend his office and carry out his duties. His mornings and nights were devoted to research. This gave him full satisfaction. So he continued his ceaseless activities in Calcutta.
In three years Raman published many reasearch articles. In 1910, Raman was transferred to. Rangoon, the capital of Burma. When Chandrasekhara Ayyar passed away in 1910, Raman came to Madras on six months' leave.
After completing the last rites, Raman spent the rest of his leave period doing research in the Madras University laboratories. On expiry of leave Raman was transfered to Nagpur and from there to Kolkatta on promotion as Accountant General. raman's joy knew no bounds. 'Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science' also invited him.
1914 is an important year in the world history
The Science College of Calcutta University was started .
There a chair for Physics was established in memory of Taraknath Palit, a generous
man. Raman was appointed Professor. He sacrificed the powerful post in the government, which brought a good salary.
The Indian Science Congress was started in 1913. Its aim was to bring together scientists engaged in research; theyshould meet and exchange ideas. Its first session
was held in 1914. Asuthosh Mukherjee was the President. Raman was the President of the Physics section. Later he worked for many years as the Secretary of the Science Congress. He presided over its annual sessions in 1929 and 1948.
Raman was writing research articles after articles. In 1921 Kolkatta university made Raman professor
in 1924 he became Fellow of Royal Society of London. He received invitations from foriegn countries to give lectures.
he started his world tour in 1924. First he went to London and then to Canada.Robert Andrew Millican invited Raman to give lecture in his research center at pasadena.From Canada he went to United states, norway, Sweden, Germany, Denmark, France. he gave lectures in Conference of Scientist in those places. Raman received appreciation from Nobel Laureates
In 1930 Raman received Nobel Prize for hisinvention " Raman Effect"
Raman Effect
Sometimes a rainbow appears and delights our eyes. We see in it shades of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. The white ray of the sun includes all these colors. When a beam of sunlight is passed through a glass prism a patch of these *color- bands are seen. This is called the spectrum. The Spectro- meter is an apparatus used to study
the spectrum. Spectral lines in it are characteristic of the light passing through the prism. A beam of light that causes a single spectral line is said to be monochromatic.
When a beam of monochromatic light passes through a transparent substance (a
substance which allows light to pass through it), the beam is scattered. Raman spent a long time in the study of the scattered light.. On February 28, 1928, he observed two low intensity spectral line corresponding to the incident mono- chromatic light. Years of his labor had borne fruit. It was clear that though the incident light was monochromatic, the
scattered light due to it, was not monochromatic.Thus Raman's experiments discovered a phenomenon which was lying hidden in nature.
The 16th of March 1928 is a memorable day in the history of science. On that day
he announced the new phenomenon discovered by him to the world. He also acknowledged with affection the assistance given by K.S. Krishnan and Venkateshwaran, who were his students.
The Raman Effect confirmed that light was made up of particles known as 'photons'. It helped in the study of the molecular and crystal structures of different substances.
Raman received many honors from all over the world for his achievement. In 1928 the Science Society of Rome awarded the Matteucci Medal. In 1929 the British Government knighted him; thereafter Professor Raman came to be known as Professor Sir C..V. Raman. The Royal Society of London awarded the Hughes Medal in 1930.Honorary doctorate degrees were awarded by the Universities of Freiburg (Germany), Glasgow(England), Paris (France), Bombay, Benaras, Dacca, Patna, Mysore and several others. The Nobel Prize, Too
The highest award a scientist or a writer can get is the Nobel Prize. In 1930, the Swedish Academy of Sciences chose Raman to receive the Nobel Prize for Physics. No Indian and no Asian had received the Nobel Prize for Physics up to that time.Investigations making use of the Raman Effect began in many countries. During the first twelve years after its discovery, about 1800 research papers were published on various aspects of it and about 2500 chemical compounds were studied.Raman Effect was highly praised as one of the greatest discoveries of the third decade of this century.
Raman was very deeply interested in musical instruments such as the Veena, the Violin,the Mridangam and the Tabala. He began to work on them. Around 1918 he explained the complex vibrations of the strings of musical instruments. He later found out the characteristic tones emitted by the Mridangam, the Tabala etc.
Raman's research on sound became famous allover the world. 'Handbuck der Physic', a German Encyclopaedia of Physics, was published in 1927. Raman was the only foreign scientist invited to contribute an article to it.
The greatest honor the Government of India confers on an Indian is the award of 'Bharat Ratna'. Raman became a 'Bharat Ratna' in 1954.
As he was completing his 82 year Raman organized a weeklong conference of the members of the Academy in September 1970. On that occasion he invited young
scientists to present papers on different subjects.
Every year he used to deliver a popular science lecture on the Gandhi Jayanthi Day. In 1970, he spoke on the new theories about hearing and the eardrum. This was his last lecture.
A few days before his 83 birthday Raman suffered a mild heart attack.
Raman became ill and was removed to a private nursing home.He told his doctors" I do not want to survive my illness if it means anything less than 100 percent active and productive life" Since he seemed to be slightly improving, he was in accordance to his wishes,moved back to his residence in the Institute campus.Though once again in his favourite surroundings, he could no longer go out and enjoy his garden.In typical fashion he conveyed his disappointment, saying, " if I had known I am going to die here, I would have arranged for the windows to be lower" Puzzled at first those around him soon realised that Raman was complaining that he could not even look out and catch the glimpse of the trees and the flowers.The bed was then raised so that the garden came into view.
The end came in the early of saturday November 21 1970. By a special arrangemeent, his mortal remains,were cremated in the groundsof the Istitute.amidst surroundings he loved and enjoyed.According to his wishes there were religious ceremonies.Thousands of people-school children, students, colleagues, friends and others.- thronged to pay homage. Raman has passed into history. No plaque or monument marks the spot.--just a solitary tree precisely as he himself would have wished.Recently the tree bloomed for the first time""
Paarvamani
