Sir C. V.

Raman
By
Nimmi Ouseph
C.V.Raman
The Nobel laureate in physics
 Childhood & Family
details….
 Story begins in a village
near Tiruchirapalli
 Born on 8 Nov.1888
 Second child of
R.Chandrasekhara Iyer
& Parvathi Ammal
Family moved to Vishakhapatnam when he was
4 years old.
 About Raman’s
father….
Father was a lecturer in
Mrs.A.V.Narasimha Rao
College,Visakhapatanam.
He taught Physics,
Mathematics & physical
geography
Father was athletic man &
took active interest in
sports
Raman – A
 Voracious reader
great reader
 He felt the books were like old friends

 He was mainly influenced by 3 books

 Light of Asia by Edwin Arnold

 The Elements of Euclid by Helmholtz
 The Sensations of Tone by Helmholtz
Raman’s primary
education….
Completed schooling by 11 years

Spent two years of studying in his

father’s college.
Raman’s education at
Presidency college
Encourage by
 Teachers suggested him
teachers….
 Unfortunately he was
to prepare for ICS exam. disqualified by Civil
surgeon of Madras as he
 ICS was a prestigious was unfit to travel to
England.
exam in those days to
Indian students.  This was only exam he
failed in his career
 He attended a medical
examination before the  He felt grateful to the man
qualifying exam who (Civil surgeon of
Madras) disqualified him
 IACS….
 Raman spotted IACS(Indian Association
for the Cultivation of Science) sign board
and joined.

Performed the legendary

experiments on light.
 Research begins….
He was communicated with physicists
around the world
His papers published in international
journals
Gave lectures in Calcutta on his
experiments
He was Introduced live demonstrations in
Science.
 Raman @ waves and sound
He was fascinated by
waves and sound, and
seem to have carried in
his mind the memory of
reading Helmholtz’s
book in his school days.
He was decisive to study
musical instruments.
Explained the working of
Ektara
Acoustics - Waves …..
Raman’s Ektara…
A Scientist thought on violin
player…
Mechanical violin player did not resemble the
instrument which we know
It had all the essential features of the violin
Stretched string-resonant box-the bow-stroke length
by adjusting the mechanical wheel.
This was first mechanical violin for research
He brought all essential parts from a cycle shop to
make mechanical violin.
Research on acoustics
continue…..
He continued his research on acoustics
Besides the violin, he studied the Veena,
Tambura, Mridangam, Tabla and others…

Veena Tambur Mridangam Tabla

a
Raman @ around 1917 ….
Problem he had to overcome
 Got chance to move into a  “A person who is
full-fledged career in applying must have foreign
physics around 1917 experience”
 Ashutosh Mookerjee(Vice –  The rule was dismissed
chancellor of Calcutta university)
offered him as a Palit
Professor of physics.  Became an active member in
 Raman had to give up his
university activities
job and higher income
Raman with his
scholars……
University Congress at Oxford
In 1921 he was given 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 from the deck of his ship.
Struck by its colour
Raman’s discovery….
Water molecule could
scatter light just like air
molecules
His thought was a radical
in those days.
In 1922 he wrote a brilliant
essay ‘The Molecular
Diffraction of Light’
He said light may exist in
quanta, that is, as mass
less particles of energy.
K.R.Ramanathan finding the phenomenon
in 1923
 Raman’s hunch  Raman’s hunch was
 His direction towards proved right
finding evidence for the  K.R.Ramanathan spotted
corpuscular theory of the phenomenon.
light.  They named the
 Discovery of the phenomenon as ‘feeble
Compton effect in 1923 fluorescence’.
Raman @ Nobel
 Raman effect took his  The date is celebrated as
team 4 more years National Science Day
 They were confident in  Booked tickets to Europe
1927  He had to wait 2 years
 Discovery on 28th  Received Nobel Prize for
February…. Physics in 1930
 The famous Raman  When he thought of India
effect….the light can as a British colony he
undergo a scattering wept.
through a liquid
resulting in a change in
its frequency….
Raman @IIS
Took up directorship of Nurtured many good
Indian Institute of students
Science@ Bangalore Never had a temptation
He stayed there until he leaving the country for a
retired in 1948 better life…….
Equal time to research
and organisational work
Raman from 1946 to 1970…..
Devoted final years to Died on 21
set up of the Raman November,1970
Research Institute in Funeral at the institute
Bangalore….. campus itself.
Running of the Indian A solitary tree is
Academy of Science. located……
Edited Current Science
& proceedings of the
Academy journals…
THANK YOU 