Sir Chandrashekhara Venkata Raman
Early Life
Venkata Raman was born on 7th of November 1888 at Trichinopoly in Madras, Southern India. His father, Chandrasekhara Ayyar, was a math schoolteacher who was very intelligent in both Physics and Mathematics. His father also had a great passion in music. Growing up in this atmosphere gives Raman a vast interest in music, Mathematics, and Science from his early life. He got first place in all his classes and talked like a genius. He joined the Presidency College in 1902 for his B.A. degree and passed the B.A. examination winning a first place and a gold medal in physics in 1904. After that, he entered the M.A class in the same college and took Physics as his major (nobel.se).
“Love of science, enthusiasm for work and the curiosity to learn new things were natural to Raman. Nature had also given him the power of concentration and intelligence.” He loved to read because it gives him more information about things than the teaching in class. He doubted the concepts by asking ‘How?’ ‘Why?’ and ‘Is it true?’ and would try to find the answers. Raman had vast interest in the study of sound. The works of the German scientist Helmhotlz and English scientist Lord Raleigh on the study of sound or acoustics influenced him a lot. He started researches, while he was student. The research was mostly about acoustics, which later became his entire career. His first research paper was published when he was eighteen in the ‘Philosophical Magazine’ of England. Another paper was published later in scientific journal (Bhatt).
Science career did not offer the best possibilities at his time. Therefore, he decided to join the Indian Audit and Accounts Service, the Finance Department in India, with his brother, after passing the M.A exam with a first class recording the highest mark in Madras University. He took the I.A.A.S. examination and got first in that too (Bhatt). He married Lokasundari Ammal and moved to Culcutta where he got a job in Finance Department (JEC).
Even though he was very busy with his office work, he found time to continue his ‘experimental research’. He found the laboratory of ‘Indian Association for Cultivation of Science’ and bought a house near the laboratory. He did his office work and duties on the daytime and spent his mornings and nights at the lab (Bhatt). While he was working in the Finance Department, he published 30 papers in eight years (JEC).
When the Science College of Calcutta University started in 1915, he got an offer to be a professor in the Physics Department. “He sacrificed the powerful post in government, which brought a good salary” for his passion in Physics. With all these going on, job, house duties, and research, he also found time to be an active member in several associations, especially science related. He was the President of the Physics section in Science Congress, established in 1913 to bring together scientists engaged in research. Later, he became the Secretary of this association (Bhatt). He was also an active member in the “Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science” and became an “Honorary Secretary” in 1919 (nobel.se).
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The Molecular Scattering of Light
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Helful Websites:
Bhatt, Krishna: Dr. C. V. Raman
Nobel e-Museum: Venkata Raman- Biography
Journal of Chemical Education: Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman