Chandrasekhar Venkata Raman was born on 8th November 1888 at Trichinopoly in Madras. Raman was a brilliant and exceptional student right from his childhood. He then joined Presidency College, Madras. He passed his B.A. in 1904 and M.A. in physics in 1907. While he was a student, he modified Melde’s theory on sound. He also worked on diffraction of light and published the first paper in 1906, in the philosophical magazine of London.

In 1907, he was appointed as Deputy Accountant General in Kolkata. In 1915, he met Sir Asutosh Mukherjee, the secretary of Indian Association of Science and joined the association as a member. He began to spend his spare time doing his research on acoustics and optics. He published his  results in well known journals like “Nature”, the philosophical magazine and the physical Review. In 1917, Sir Asutosh Mukherjee  appointed  Raman as the palit professor in Kolkata University.

During a sea voyage to Europe in 1921, he was moved by the brilliant blue colour of the Mediterranean. After returning to India he experimented on the topic and could explain it successfully. With the help of a cheap hand made instrument, he was able to discover a new phenomena called “Raman Effect” in 1928 for which he was rewarded Noble prize in 1930. The celebrated paper was published on 28th February, 1928. The British government honoured him with the title “Sir”.

He also worked on the field of magnetic attraction and theory of musical instruments. In 1933, he became the Director of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. In 1949, the Raman Research Institute was set up by him. He was the recipient of Lenin peace prize form Soviet Union. He was a recipient of “Bharat Ratna”.

Raman got no training in foreign laboratories or universities. He did not have a posh laboratory and modern ready made equipment to work with. He did every thing from what he got in India and what his assistants fabricated yet he earned many laurels.

Raman Effect: - In ordinary scattering (known as Rayligh Scattering) by molecules the scattered light (a fixed colour or frequency) is the same as the incident light. In the Raman effect the scattered light is different from the incident light. This change is a characteristic of the molecule and it remains the same even if the incident light is changed.

Raman’s life and work, his courage, his faith in young men and his useless guest for truth shall always remain as an inspiration for the young people of our country on 21st November, 1970, he passed away at his dwelling at the Raman Research Institute. Government of India observe 28th February as National Science Day in recognition of his achievement.