What Happened
- India observed National Science Day on February 28, 2026, commemorating the 98th anniversary of C.V. Raman's announcement of the Raman Effect.
- The day marks the discovery made on February 28, 1928, when Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman officially announced the phenomenon of inelastic light scattering, later named the Raman Effect.
- National Science Day has been observed annually since 1986, when the Government of India designated February 28 in Raman's honour.
- Raman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930 for this discovery — the first Asian and first non-white person to receive a Nobel Prize in the sciences.
- Articles and retrospectives this year highlighted Raman's life, scientific method, and enduring contributions.
Static Topic Bridges
The Raman Effect — The Science
When light passes through a transparent medium (gas, liquid, or solid), most of it undergoes elastic (Rayleigh) scattering — the scattered photons have the same energy (wavelength) as the incident light. However, a small fraction of photons interact inelastically with the molecules of the medium, exchanging energy and emerging with a different wavelength. This shift in wavelength — indicative of the molecular vibrational and rotational energy states — is called the Raman Effect (or Raman Scattering). C.V. Raman and his student K.S. Krishnan discovered this phenomenon in 1928 using sunlight and a spectrograph.
- Discovery date: February 28, 1928 (officially announced); experimental work done in early 1928.
- Nobel Prize: 1930, Physics — "for his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the effect named after him."
- Stokes lines: scattered photons with lower energy (longer wavelength) than incident photons.
- Anti-Stokes lines: scattered photons with higher energy (shorter wavelength) than incident photons.
- The Raman Effect is distinct from fluorescence and standard reflection/refraction.
- Collaborator: K.S. Krishnan (later became a prominent physicist and Director of the National Physical Laboratory, India).
Connection to this news: National Science Day celebrates not just the discovery but the demonstration that first-rate fundamental science can be done in India with modest instruments — Raman used a focused beam of sunlight and filters in his Calcutta laboratory.
C.V. Raman — Life and Scientific Contributions
Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (1888–1970) was born in Thiruvanaikoil, Tamil Nadu. He was an Indian Administrative Service officer's son who graduated from Presidency College, Madras at age 16 with a Gold Medal in Physics. Despite pressure to join the civil services (ICS), he pursued physics. He worked at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS), Calcutta while holding a government position, conducting research voluntarily. He later became the first Indian Director of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore (1933), and founded the Raman Research Institute (RRI), Bangalore in 1948.
- Birth: November 7, 1888, Thiruvanaikoil (now Tiruchirappalli), Tamil Nadu.
- Education: Presidency College, Madras (B.A. Physics, 1904; M.A., 1907 — both with Gold Medals).
- Early career: Deputy Accountant General, Calcutta (1907), while conducting research at IACS.
- Nobel Prize: 1930 Physics — first Asian Nobel laureate in sciences.
- Other honours: Bharat Ratna (1954); Padma Vibhushan (1954); Lenin Peace Prize (1957); Fellow of Royal Society (FRS), 1924.
- Founded: Raman Research Institute (RRI), Bangalore (1948).
- Raman was also the first Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC) in 1948.
Connection to this news: Raman's life illustrates the tension between colonial-era institutional constraints and scientific ambition — he built a Nobel-Prize-winning research programme within a colonial government job, at an independent scientific society (IACS), before India's independence-era institutions were even established.
Applications of Raman Spectroscopy Today
The Raman Effect is the basis of Raman Spectroscopy, one of the most widely used analytical techniques in science and industry today. By measuring the wavelength shift of scattered light, researchers can identify the molecular composition of a substance without destroying it.
- Pharmaceutical industry: Non-destructive identification of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), detection of counterfeit drugs through sealed packaging without opening samples.
- Forensic science: Identification of explosives, narcotics, and controlled substances in the field; analysis of trace evidence at crime scenes.
- Gemology: Distinguishing natural from synthetic gemstones.
- Medical diagnostics: Raman spectroscopy is being explored for non-invasive cancer tissue detection and blood analysis.
- Materials science: Characterisation of carbon nanotubes, graphene, semiconductors.
- Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS): Enhances the signal by orders of magnitude for trace-level detection.
Connection to this news: A discovery made with 19th-century optics and sunlight now underpins cutting-edge pharmaceutical quality control, anti-narcotics enforcement, and cancer diagnostics — illustrating how fundamental physics translates into applied technology over decades.
National Science Day and India's Scientific Institutions
The Government of India designated February 28 as National Science Day in 1986, on the recommendation of the National Science and Technology Communication Council. The day is observed with science fairs, lectures, debates, and exhibitions across schools, colleges, and research institutions. Since 2009, each National Science Day has a specific theme announced by the Department of Science and Technology (DST).
- Designated by: National Science and Technology Communication Council, 1986.
- Administered by: Department of Science and Technology (DST), Ministry of Science and Technology.
- Key scientific institutions linked to Raman's legacy: IACS Calcutta (founded 1876, where Raman worked), IISc Bangalore (founded 1909, where Raman was Director), Raman Research Institute Bangalore (founded 1948 by Raman).
- India's first Nobel Prize in Sciences: C.V. Raman (1930 Physics).
- Other Indian Nobel laureates in sciences: Amartya Sen (Economics, 1998 — social sciences); Har Gobind Khorana (Chemistry, 1968 — US citizen of Indian origin); Venki Ramakrishnan (Chemistry, 2009 — British-Indian).
Connection to this news: National Science Day is an annual reminder that India's tradition of fundamental scientific inquiry predates independence — and that institutional support for basic research (as embodied by IACS, IISc, and later CSIR and DST) is essential for producing scientific breakthroughs.
Key Facts & Data
- Raman Effect discovered and announced: February 28, 1928
- Nobel Prize in Physics: 1930 (first Asian Nobel laureate in sciences)
- C.V. Raman born: November 7, 1888, Thiruvanaikoil, Tamil Nadu
- National Science Day designated: 1986 (by National Science and Technology Communication Council)
- Key institution: Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS), Calcutta — where the discovery was made
- Other major institutions Raman founded/led: Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore (Director, 1933); Raman Research Institute (RRI), Bangalore (1948)
- Bharat Ratna awarded: 1954
- Raman spectroscopy sectors: pharmaceuticals, forensics, materials science, medical diagnostics, gemology
- K.S. Krishnan: co-discoverer/collaborator who later became Director of National Physical Laboratory (NPL), India