By: alexis colleen lafrese C. V. Raman By: alexis colleen lafrese

Early Life Since he was a little boy, Raman was interested in science and read the books his father had used as a student. As he got older, he would borrow math and physics books from his father’s library. When he became a teenager, he began studying material his father had bought when he had planned on getting a master’s degree in physics. In 1903, when Raman was only 14, he went to Madras to begin a Bachelor’s degree at Presidency college. He earned his degree in 1904 and won medals in physics and English.

He was not always a full time scientist Raman wanted to be a scientist, however, his brother convinced him to take the civil service exams. Civil service jobs had high income and his family had a lot of debt. For a decade, he worked as a civil servant in the Indian Finance Department in Calcutta and was quickly promoted to a top position. In his free time he researched the physics of stringed instruments and drums. He continued his science studies at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS).

Accomplishment C. V. Raman discovered that when light interacts with a molecule the light can donate a small amount of energy to the molecule. As a result of this, the light changes its color and the molecule vibrates. The change of color can act as a ‘fingerprint’ for the molecule. -Famous Scientists (The Art of Genius)

Interesting Facts C.V. Raman was the first Indian person to earn the Nobel Prize for Physics for his famous 1930 discovery now frequently referred to as the "Raman Effect". He was rewarded with the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award, in 1954 in appreciation for his instrumental influences to the field of science. In 1941, he was awarded the Franklin Medal. He was also given the Lenin Peace Prize in 1957. India celebrates National Science Day on February 28th every year to honor Raman's discovery.

Raman Effect The Raman Effect is a very weak effect; only one in a million photons exhibits the change in wavelength. This explains why the effect was not discovered earlier. In all of the early studies, the excitation source was sunlight, which Raman said was plenteous in Calcutta, but it still lacked the wanted intensity. The acquirement of a refracting telescope in 1927 by the IACS facilitated Raman in condensing the sunlight and generating a stronger light source for his studies. By 1928, mercury arc lamps were widely available, and he converted to this for an even more powerful light source.

-Scientists Information Field of Study He studied the physics of stringed instruments and Indian drums. He also worked in the field of magnetic attraction and theory of musical instruments. He worked out the theory of transverse vibration of bowed strings, because of superposition velocities. -Scientists Information

Bibliography http://www.famousscientists.org/c-v-raman/ http://www.careerindia.com/news/2013/11/07/in-memory-of-c-v-raman- contribution-to-science-and-research-007398.html https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmar ks/ramaneffect.html http://www.karnataka.com/personalities/cv-raman/ http://scientistsinformation.blogspot.com/2009/09/sir-cv-raman- chandrasekhar-venkata.html