Venkata RAMAN

November 7, 1888, Mr.. - November 21, 1970
. Indian physicist Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman was born in Tiruchchirappali family Chandrasekhara Aiyar, . Professor of Mathematics and Physics College of Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, . and nee Parvati Amma, . came from a family, . which gave several well-known scholars of Sanskrit,
. From 1901 to 1906. R. attended college, Mrs. A.V.N. in Vishakhapatname, and then moved to the President's College, Madras University, graduating in 1904. in the age of 16, the first in its class, with a gold medal in physics. Left in graduate school, University of Madras, P. in 1907. received a master's degree summa cum laude.
Poor health did not allow P. continue their education in Europe, but at home he stubbornly rejected all opportunities to join the Indian Academic Society. Instead, he in 1907, Mr.. entered the Indian civil service, and for ten years has moved into the highest echelon of the Ministry of Finance. R., from childhood had a passion for music, in parallel with the execution of their duties in the service conducted an experimental and theoretical study of stringed instruments and Indian drums. By 1917, Mr.. He has published about thirty articles on the results of their research in this area, performed in the laboratory of the Indian Association for the dissemination of science and culture in Calcutta.
These publications have earned R. a reputation in scientific circles, and in 1917. he was asked to assume the post of professor at the newly created Department of Physics at the University of Calcutta. He accepted this offer, and soon the Department of Physics Calcutta University has won international recognition of the high quality of research carried out by its staff under the leadership of R. Megnada Saha and Bose Shatendranata. By this time, P. interested in optics.
In 1921, Mr.. He first visited Europe, where he participated in the Congress of British universities, held in Oxford. On the way back to India on board a passenger ship, P. was struck by the deep blue sea. A year later he proved theoretically that the color of the sea is determined by the scattering of light by water molecules, just as the color of the sky due to the scattering of light by molecules of air. Observations P. marked the beginning of seven-year study of light scattering by molecules of liquids, solids and gases. Paying these studies focus, R. however, did not stop and work on the physics of musical sounds. His international reputation, achieved through this work, has increased so much that in 1924. He was elected a member of the Royal Society of London.
A year before this event, P. and his collaborators first noticed that the scattered light is accompanied by a weaker secondary radiation, whose wavelength is different from the wavelength of primary radiation. In subsequent years, P. and KS. Krishnan improved experimental procedure in an effort to isolate and measure noticed secondary radiation. They studied the scattering of light when focused beam of sunlight passing through a pure liquid or clean the air of dust. In an article published in 1928. in 'Indian physical magazine' ( 'Indian Journal of Physics'), they showed that the secondary radiation consists of light with different wavelengths, mostly longer and lower energy than the incident light. R. and Krishnan also reported that the wavelengths, arising out of such scattering depends on the nature of molecules, in which scattering occurs, and typical for a substance consisting of these molecules. The authors also noted that changing the wavelength of the illuminating light source indunitsirovannoe secondary radiation is also changing its wavelength, although the shift in energy between the primary and secondary radiation remains constant. These shifts of energies, later called Raman effect, can serve as a sensitive tool for investigating the structure of molecules. In quantum mechanics, the Raman effect is described as an exchange of energy between the molecules of matter and scattering incident light.
In 1928, Mr.. The same effect was discovered independently by P. Soviet physicists Grigory Landsberg and Leonid Mandelstam, but because of the P. and Krishnan differed more fully, the priority remained open for them. Moreover, although the interaction of molecules with light, was predicted by Adolf Smekal in 1923. and Werner Heisenberg, P. was the first who saw it.
In 1930. R. was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics "for his work on scattering of light and for the discovery of the effect named after him '. When presenting the winner Hans Pleyel, a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, said that the 'Raman effect has already led to important results in determining the chemical composition of substances ... An extremely important tool that gave us the RV in the near future to deepen our knowledge about the structure of matter '.
. Since the Raman effect for high-precision measurements requires a very intense monochromatic light sources, before the invention of lasers, ie
. before the 60-ies. he little used. With the help of lasers - ideal sources of monochromatic radiation - the scientists began to systematically analyze the structure of molecules based on the Raman effect, has remained a constant means of laboratory studies.
1933. R. became director of the Indian research institute in Bangalore. Continuing the work associated with the effect, he also began to crystallographic studies of diamonds. R. found that the luminescence of diamond, excited by ultraviolet light, is not due to impurities or defects, as it was previously thought, but the properties inherent in the very diamond. In addition, he investigated the interaction of atoms in crystals with light and sound effects and sound waves on the scattering of light.
After retirement (1948) R. was appointed Director Raman Research Institute, built by the Indian Academy of Sciences, financed by a few years earlier by the Government of Mysore. R. and his disciples, except the continuing work on optics and the structure of crystals began to also study the physiology of. In 60-ies. they tried to develop a new theory of color vision and explore the color of flowers of various plants. The museum of precious stones in the Raman Research Institute collected P. collection of diamonds have several hundred stones.
In 1907, Mr.. R. married Lokoy Sundari Amman, a talented artist, shared his interest in musical instruments. In the couple had two sons. Productive researcher with varied interests, R. served as a model for the Indian scientific community, which he helped create, and encourage interest in science among the general public. A talented teacher, who played a leading role in the cultural renaissance of India, he gained wide popularity because of its fine intuition, sense of humor and love of music. He is actively involved in scientific work until his death at the age of eighty-two years, followed on Nov. 21, 1970, Mr.. Bangalore.
In addition to the Nobel Prize, P. was awarded a gold medal Matteuchchi the Italian National Academy of Sciences (1928), . Hughes medal of the Royal Society of London (1930), . Medals Franklinovskogo Franklin Institute (1941), . International Lenin Prize, . handed to the Soviet Government (1957),
. In 1954, Mr.. Indian government honored R. one of the highest honors - the title of 'Pearl of India'. He was awarded honorary degrees by universities of Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Benares, Dacca, Mysore, Delhi, Freiburg, Glasgow and Paris. As a founding member of the Indian Academy of Sciences, P. continue as its president until his death. He was also a foreign member of the Zurich Physical Society, . Royal Society of London, . Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow, . Royal Irish Academy, . American Optical Society, . American Mineralogical Society and the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, . as well as many other scientific societies and organizations,
. In 1929, Mr.. R. received from the British government's knighthood.