Sir Chandrasekhar Venkata Raman popularly known as CV Raman was an Indian physicist who carried out ground-breaking work in the field of light scattering which earned him the 1930 Nobel Prize for Physics. Today on his death anniversary, let us remember the great mind and his contributions to science and this country.

CV Raman was born on November 7, 1888, in Tiruchirappalli, Madras Province. Raman completed his schooling at St. Aloysius Anglo-Indian High School. At the age of 11 Raman passed his matriculation examination and at the age of 13 cleared his F.A. examination with scholarship.

In 1904, Raman passed his Bachelor of Arts examination from University of Madras. He stood first and won the gold medal in physics. In 1907 he gained his Master of Sciences degree with the highest distinctions from University of Madras

In the year 1917 Raman quit his govt service when he got appointed as the 1st Palit professor of physics at the University of Calcutta. In 1933, Raman joined Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore as its first Indian director.

Achievements

CV Raman voyage to Europe in the summer of 1921 gave him the first opportunity of observing the wonderful blue opalescence of the Mediterranean Sea which motivated him to discover the reason for the blue colour. In 1932 Raman and Bhagavatam discovered the quantum photon spin further confirming the quantum nature of light.

It is he who discovered that when light traverses a transparent material some of the reflected light changes in wavelength, this phenomenon, which is now popularly known as Raman scattering. Raman also started a company called Travancore Chemical and Manufacturing Co. Ltd now known as TCM Limited. 

Honors and Awards

•    Raman was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society early in his career (1924) and knighted in 1929. He resigned from the Fellowship of the Royal Society in 1968 for unrecorded reasons, the only Indian FRS ever to do so. 
•    In 1930 he won the Nobel Prize in Physics.
•    In 1941 he was awarded the Franklin Medal. In 1954 he was awarded the Bharat Ratna. 
•    Raman was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize in 1957.
•    In 1998, the American Chemical Society and Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science recognised Raman’s discovery as an International Historic Chemical Landmark.