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Childhood: Chandrasekhar Venkata Raman, Indian scientist and the first winner of the Nobel Prize for science in Asia, was born on November 7th 1888, in Thruvanaikkaval village, Tiruchchirappalli district in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. His father is Chandra shekhara Iyer graduated with Physics and become lecturer. Since childhood he was slightly built but excelled in studies. From a young age he won many prizes and scholarships.

Education: At the age of 11, he passed matriculation examination with first rank; two years later he cleared the university inter examination with a first class, 1st paving the way for the scholarship. He completed his graduation from Presidency College at Chennai, with principal subjects as English & Physics. In 1904, Raman stood first in BA examination, in Presidency College.

After completing his BA he was to be sent to England for further studies, but due to his weak constitution, he cannot with stand the harsh climate of England, which was told by a civil surgeon in Chennai. Thus, he decided to study MA Physics from the same college. Due to the liberal professor in Physics, Raman has carried out many experiments with out any guidance. He carried out research in the diffraction of light. He gave his research papers to the Physics Professor, but due to the busy schedule, he was unable to reed it till 3months. So, Raman finally sent his research papers to London’s Philosophical Magazine, and was published in 1906. It was his unique achievement. In 1907, he bagged all medals and prizes, along with MA Physics.

Raman’s life: Since his ill health did not permit him to go to abroad, he decided to join the Government service. He appeared for the financial civil services examination and stood first. Raman was married to Loksundari. At that time Calcutta was the financial capital of India and Raman was appointed as the Deputy Accountant General there. One day while going to office, he came across a board bearing the name Indian association for cultivation of science. He visited the place and got all the information, came to know that late Dr Mahindra Lal Sircar has set up this organization to popularize Science among the masses.

Fortunately Raman got permission to carry out experiments. Before and after his working hours Raman use to stay there and continue his research. Thus his interest in research revived and begins to bloom thereafter. Here he had to do all the work for himself. Ashubabu the only servant of the organization would help him all the times. 3decades after the organization Raman’s 1st paper was published in ‘Proceedings of Royal Society’, London. Mean while on the basis of his research papers, he was awarded the Wood burn Research Medal. This was the 1st honor he received outside the country. This way the ‘Indian Association for Cultivation of Science’ too received recognition from abroad. The Chemistry and Biology departments also got activated. Raman also started the quarterly Magazine for the organization.

IN 1916, England’s Science Magazine ‘Nature’ praised this institute and Raman’s research work in a detailed article. Raman had totally dedicated himself to the Science and research work here. Mean while he was called to teach Physics in Kolkata University. He left his job of Rs.1,100 of Government and joined Rs 600 in the University. . In 1917, Raman resigned from finance department and joined as professor of Physics in Kolkata University. Now Raman’s timings changed from morning to evening at the association and at afternoon he worked for the improvement of Physics department and research at the University. In 1919, with the death of Amrut Lal Sircar, the honorary secretary of the association, Raman was elected as the new secretary. In 1921, Kolkata University honored him with an honorary doctorate and from then he was called as Dr.C.V.Raman.

Raman was selected to represent Kolkata University at the University congress held at Oxford in England. Here he got an opportunity to meet so many scientists like Sir Ernest Rutherford, Sir J J Thomson and exchange their ideas. Here he also got a facility to conduct some experiments. During the Mediterranean Sea voyage, the blue color baffled him and it led to the discovery known as “Raman effect”. Ramanathan is the first student to get a PhD degree under Raman, and is the person who witnessed a phenomenon called ‘Feeble Fluorescence’. In 1924, he was elected fellow of the Royal society of London, the same year he undertook the second foreign trip to Europe, America, and Canada. At the California Institute of Technology he lectured for 4 months as a guest faculty. There his work become more systematic and his approach to work had also improved. His research focused on the scattering of light, and also came to understand ‘feeble fluorescence’. In February 1928, he announced the discovery of the historic Raman Effect.

Raman Effect: When light falls on any object the incident light is partly absorbed, reflected or passed through the object. It also scatters light at times. Due to this new discovery, there was a surge of curiosity at the Indian association laboratory in Kolkata. Visitors from India and abroad came to congratulate Raman for his discovery, for which he was awarded the Noble prize for Physics in 1930. The British Government in the country honored him with the title “Sir”. It was the highest honors given to the scientist, not only in India but also in Asia. He now came to be known as Sir. C.V.Raman, and was at the peak of his career.

Achievements: In 1932 Raman left Kolkata and joined in Indian Institute of Science as director, Bangalore. In 1938, he resigned from this post and continued to work as Physics professor. Today IIs is one of the leading institutes for higher learning and research. During his life time, Raman conducted research on scattering of light , sound, color, the Physics of minerals, diamonds, crystal, besides research on color of flowers, vision etc. Of his 465 publications, three were published from Chennai, 177 from Kolkata, and the remaining from Bangalore. In 1988, the Indian Institute of Science brought out all the writings of Raman, subject wise in 6 volumes.

Demise: On November 21, 1970, he passed away at his dwelling at the Raman Research Institute, in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. The plants and trees that Raman himself had grown were now silent, probably in a state of shock. His last rites were performed there.

Notable awards:
Knight Bachelor (1929)
Nobel Prize in Physics (1930)
Bharat Ratna
Lenin Peace Prize