As India celebrates National Science Day today, it is important to know the man whose groundbreaking theory gave birth to this day celebrated annually on February 28. Famous physicist Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman invented the Raman effect in 1928 on this day. , winning the Nobel Prize for his discovery two years later.
The aim of National Science Day is to inspire young Indians to become more interested in science and appreciate its importance. On this day, students from all over the country participate in state and national competitions to show off their science projects and knowledge.
The roots of National Science Day can be traced back to when CV Raman worked at the laboratory of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science in Kolkata. It was while here that he discovered the phenomenon of spectroscopy which later became known as the Raman effect, which describes how the wavelength of light scatters when deflected on a particular object. It all started during a trip to Europe in 1921 where the blue color of the Mediterranean Sea and the presence of icebergs intrigued him. He began experimenting with transparent ice cubes and light from a mercury arc lamp. After shining the light through ice cubes, he noted the change in wavelength.
Interestingly, Raman was not the first to observe the phenomenon. Just a week before Raman, Russian scientists Grigory Landsberg and Leonid Mandelstam discovered the phenomenon, although they published their results months after Raman in 1928. It was a major breakthrough that opened the door to a number of future scientific breakthroughs. National Science Day honors the legendary physicist and encourages young Indians to follow in his footsteps.
This year, National Science Day will be themed “An Integrated Approach to Science and Technology for a Sustainable Future”.
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