In the summer of '21, this chap was standing on the deck of a ship making its way through the serene waters of a land-locked sea, and admiring - to quote his exact words - the 'wonderful blue opalescence of the Mediterranean sea'. He was a young man in his early thirties, already a professor of his favourite field at a renowned university in his country, in the middle of a 'golden period' of his career in his own judgement, on a voyage through the Mediterranean in glorious summer weather. Like most of us in these circumstances, his mind might have wandered to the treasures held by the surrounding lands - the olives, the pyramids, the Renaissance art, the vineyards, the golden sand on the south, the rolling green hills on the north. Like most of us would in these circumstances, he was enjoying the deep bright blue hue of the water and the gentle rhythmic waves. Unlike most of us though, he was wondering if the colour was due to scattering of light and change in its wavelength by the molecules of water.
He devoted the next few years to the study of this phenomenon, and found that molecular scattering of light in gases, liquids and crystalline solids was due to local fluctuations in the optical density caused by thermal agitations. He and his colleagues even managed to correct Einstein's calculations in this area, and found formulae which agreed with observation better.
He found something else too, and much more remarkable than the classical scattering effect. He found - for the first time experimentally - that a very small fraction of photons being scattered do so 'inelastically', meaning their wavelength is different after scattering. He also found that the change in wavelength of a photon is solely a property of the matter which causes the scattering. This was a huge huge step towards gaining more and deeper knowledge about the structure and nature of matter, and was considered landmark research for which he got a Nobel - his country's first in science.
One can realise the scale of his work by the fact that he lived and worked in a country and culture that was very unscientific, even more so in those years, and yet he got recognised at the world stage bang in the middle of a period of time which saw arguably the biggest breakthroughs in physics. It was the era of the Einsteins, Heisenbergs, Bohrs, Diracs, Paulis, Schrodingers, Borns and their theoretical unraveling of nature's miracles. And yet, one experimental physicist stood tall.
"In the history of science, we often find that the study of some natural phenomenon has been the starting-point in the development of a new branch of knowledge". His words. Think the blue opalescence of the Mediterranean. Think Raman effect.
Happy 125th birthday CV Raman!
He devoted the next few years to the study of this phenomenon, and found that molecular scattering of light in gases, liquids and crystalline solids was due to local fluctuations in the optical density caused by thermal agitations. He and his colleagues even managed to correct Einstein's calculations in this area, and found formulae which agreed with observation better.
He found something else too, and much more remarkable than the classical scattering effect. He found - for the first time experimentally - that a very small fraction of photons being scattered do so 'inelastically', meaning their wavelength is different after scattering. He also found that the change in wavelength of a photon is solely a property of the matter which causes the scattering. This was a huge huge step towards gaining more and deeper knowledge about the structure and nature of matter, and was considered landmark research for which he got a Nobel - his country's first in science.
One can realise the scale of his work by the fact that he lived and worked in a country and culture that was very unscientific, even more so in those years, and yet he got recognised at the world stage bang in the middle of a period of time which saw arguably the biggest breakthroughs in physics. It was the era of the Einsteins, Heisenbergs, Bohrs, Diracs, Paulis, Schrodingers, Borns and their theoretical unraveling of nature's miracles. And yet, one experimental physicist stood tall.
"In the history of science, we often find that the study of some natural phenomenon has been the starting-point in the development of a new branch of knowledge". His words. Think the blue opalescence of the Mediterranean. Think Raman effect.
Happy 125th birthday CV Raman!
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