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
great
reader
 Voracious 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….
 Teachers suggested him
 Unfortunately he was
to prepare for ICS exam.
 ICS was a prestigious
exam in those days to
Indian students.
 He attended a medical
examination before the
qualifying exam
disqualified by Civil
surgeon of Madras as he
was unfit to travel to
England.
 This was only exam he
failed in his career
 He felt grateful to the man
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
Tambura
Mridangam
Tabla
Raman @ around 1917….
 Got chance to move into a
full-fledged career in
physics around 1917
 Ashutosh Mookerjee(Vice –
 Problem he had to overcome

“A person who is
applying must have foreign
experience”
 The rule was dismissed
chancellor of Calcutta university)
offered him as a Palit
Professor of physics.
 Raman had to give up his
job and higher income
 Became an active member in
university activities
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
 K.R.Ramanathan spotted
the phenomenon.
 They named the
phenomenon as ‘feeble
fluorescence’.
finding evidence for the
corpuscular theory of
light.
 Discovery of the
Compton effect in 1923
Raman @ Nobel
 Raman effect took his
 The date is celebrated as
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….
National Science Day
 Booked tickets to Europe
 He had to wait 2 years
 Received Nobel Prize for
Physics in 1930
 When he thought of India
as a British colony he wept.
Raman @IIS
 Took up directorship of
 Nurtured many good
Indian Institute of
Science@ Bangalore
 He stayed there until he
retired in 1948
 Equal time to research
and organisational work
students
 Never had a temptation
leaving the country for a
better life…….
Raman from 1946 to 1970…..
 Devoted final years to set
 Died on 21
up of the Raman
Research Institute in
Bangalore…..
 Running of the Indian
Academy of Science.
 Edited Current Science
& proceedings of the
Academy journals…
November,1970
 Funeral at the institute
campus itself.
 A solitary tree is
located……
THANK YOU 