MONDAY MUSE (28 February 2011) RAMAN EFFECT
India celebrates February 28, as Science Day. On this day in 1928, C.V. Raman, through his experiments on the scattering of light, discovered what is termed as the Raman Effect. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1930 for his work essentially inspired by his observation of the deep blue of Mediterranean Sea from the deck of his ship. Before Raman put forward his theory it was believed that the sea was blue because it reflected the blue of the sky. Raman observed that the Mediterranean appeared blue even when the sky was dull gray. After far-reaching research, he found that the color of the sea changes because of a phenomenon called inelastic scattering of light. It is pertinent to note that his path breaking finding happened in his humble laboratory in India with no sophisticated instruments or technology that was available to the western scientist of his times. In fact he did not have the money to buy a light source, so conducted his experiments using sunlight. Raman said “The essence of science is independent thinking and hard work, not equipment” The Raman Effect journey started with an observation that generated questioning and unleashed a thinking process backed by testing work. Our attitude of thought is our vital resource. The aids of technology and support of equipment is secondary. Hence we must emulate Raman and be better at unconstrained thinking and dedicated pursuit of the logical actions that arise from that thinking. May we BE BETTER at unfettered thinking... To find the solutions which lie scattering! - Pravin K. Sabnis
