by a Thinker, Sailor, Blogger, Irreverent Guy from Madras

The Raman Effect through a Google Doodle


One of India’s most prolific scientist has been honoured by Google with a Doodle.  Today is 125th birth anniversary of Sir C.V. Raman, known throughout for his Raman Effect and the first non-white to win a Nobel in the sciences.

Born in Thiruvanaikaval, Trichinopoly, of the then Madras Presidency to R. Chandrasekhara Iyer and Parvati Ammal on 7 November 1888, the lifelong scientist retired from the Indian Institute of Science in 1944 and founded the Raman Research Institute in Bangalore, Karnataka.  He died on 21 November 1970, in Bangalore, at the age of 82.

Sir C.V. Raman won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930 "for his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the Raman effect".  Raman was the first Asian and first non-White to receive any Nobel Prize in the sciences.  He was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1954, and India celebrates 28 February as the National Science Day, in honour of the discovery of Raman Effect in 1928.

The Google doodle looks like postage stamp like graphic with Sir CV Raman's portrait forming the stamp, and the glass slides of a disassembled prism showcasing the Raman effect, and the word Google.

cv-ramans-125th-birthday-5688529564729344-hp

Which brings up 3 questions in my mind.



Of all the guys (and gals) who have been knighted, only Raman is still referred to as Sir C.V. Raman (at least back home in India / TN).  AFAIK, every Knight of the Realm should be referred to only with his given or first name - like Sir Vivian (Richards) or Sir Geoffrey (Boycott).  So why is he always referred to as Sir C.V. Raman, instead of Sir Raman?

The only other Indian (Indian-American) Nobel Laureate in science is Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar of Chandrasekhar Limit fame.  So when are we going to see a Doodle in his honour? 

Incidentally, S. Chandrasekhar is a nephew of Sir C.V. Raman.  Since NASA has had Chandra X-Ray Observatory - a space telescope in his honour, will we ever see a Rama space telescope?
:-D


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