Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman

Science and Raman's informative contribution

1. C. V. Raman
C. V. Raman
(SCIENCE)
~ERKAM DOĞAN~

2. C.V. RAMAN
Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (7 November 1888 –
21 November 1970) was an Indian physicist. He was the
first Indian scientist to win the Nobel Prize for Physics in
1930 for his outstanding research on the discovery that as
light traverses a transparent material, some of the
deflected light changes in wavelength. This phenomenon
was then termed as the Raman scattering and the result
came to be known as the Raman effect. He was the first
Indian Asian non white to receive the the Noble Prize for
Physics. Even before the stipulated period of 6 months of
the award could expire, he delivered a lecture on 11
December 1930 under the title “The Molecular Scattering
of Light” explaining his discovery.
Albert Einstein on Ramana quoted from:
“C.V. Raman was the first to recognize and demonstrate
that the energy of photon can undergo partial
transformation within matter. I still recall vividly the deep
impression that this discovery made on all of us…."

3. Raman Spectroscopy

7. Raman Effect
When photons are scattered from an atom or
molecule, most of them are elastically
scattered (Rayleigh scattering), such that the
scattered photons have the same energy
(frequency and wavelength) as the incident
photons. A small fraction of the scattered
photons (approximately 1 in 10 million) are
scattered inelastically by an excitation, with
the scattered photons having a frequency and
energy different from, and usually lower than,
those of the incident photons.The effect had
been predicted theoretically by Adolf Smekal
in 1923.
Raman scattering is the inelastic scattering of
a photon by molecules which are excited to
higher vibrational or rotational energy levels.

10. Raman Effect
A glass of water has no color. But a deep sea with the same water is a brilliant blue. Why is this so?
This was the question that C.V. Raman asked himself in 1921 on seeing the color of the Mediterranean sea from
a ship. He immediately began to conduct experiments on board the ship using some simple instruments he had
with him. At that time, scientists believed the sea was blue because it reflected the color of the sky, but Raman
found that it was the water itself that caused blue light to scatter more than other colors in light.
At that time Raman was a professor at the University of Calcutta. He returned from his visit of England and
Europe and started experiments to study how light behaved when it passed through various substances. On
February 28, 1928, one of the experiments gave a clear result. Light of only one color was passed through a
liquid, but the light that emerged had small traces of another color. This meant that the molecules in the liquid
were changing the color of some of the light passing through it. The discovery created a sensation around the
world and was named the Raman Effect. In 1930, C.V. Raman became the first person from Asia to be awarded
a Nobel prize in any field of science. The date of the discovery, February 28, is now celebrated as National
Science Day in India.
The Raman effect has been very useful in many areas of science. It was found that when light was passed
through a substance, a series of colors were seen that could be thought of as a fingerprint of the substance.
This idea has been used in chemistry, medicine, biology and many other areas of science to find out what a
substance is made of. Recently, people have used the idea to make a device called a Raman Scanner. It can be
pointed at a substance to tell what it is. Police have begun to use this scanner to find out if people are
carrying any banned substances.
His discovery placed India on the world Science map. He was the first person from Asia to be awarded a Nobel
prize in any field of science.