India observes February 28 as National Science Day. It commemorates C V Raman’s discovery of the scattering of light, later named as the Raman effect after him.
For this he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930, the first Asian to win it in science. We may remember that the first Asian to be awarded any Nobel Prize was also an Indian, Rabindranath Tagore, who won it for Literature in 1913.
Born in Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu in 1888, Raman showed signs of precocity and genius from childhood. He passed his matriculation at the age of 11, graduated from Presidency College, Madras, at 16, obtained his Masters in another two years, and, in 1917, before he was 30, became the first Palit Professor of Physics at the Rajabazar Science College, University of Calcutta.
Stroke of genius
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February 23, 2021 02:51 IST
Ninety-three years ago, on February 28, a brilliant discovery put India on the map of world science a day we celebrate as National Science Day.
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Illustration: J.A. Premkumar
Ninety-three years ago, on February 28, a brilliant discovery put India on the map of world science a day we celebrate as National Science Day.
A curious question or a sudden stroke of inspiration sometimes this is all it takes to spark a path-breaking discovery. For the first Asian (and Indian) recipient of a Nobel Prize in science, it was a long journey by sea.