The Raman effect :-)
Pict- CV Raman(Extreme right) and Mrs.Lokhasundari ambal Raman(Second from right)
With the new era Bangalore rocking between style bangs and IT craze, many of the youngsters tend to forget the legends who walked here. So here is to reminiscence on one of the Grand Old Man of Indian Science- India’s only physics Nobel Laurete.(Chandrashekar was a US citizen whe procured the Nobel Prize for Physics)
A large bungalow in Malleshwaram where Lokhasundari never got tired of bringing Kaapi(Coffee) after kaapi for her husband who always forgot to take a sip of it while he was engrossed in his Physics research thoughts or works. My dad grew up in Malleshwaram and was greatly inspired by this icon of genius. My dad remembers speaking to Lokhasundari Ambal and how proud she felt of Raman’s works. The inspiration my dad drew from Raman got passed onto me. As a child I stayed fascinated by Dad’s stories of Raman.
That made me walk into Indian Institue of Science, Indian Institute of Astrophysics and CV raman insitute during my summer vacations while in school and college to plunder into the waters of astrophysics in which I was interested in.
Nevertheless, I remember one of Raman’s quote on him being a teetotaller:-)
When he was offered a toast during the Nobel function: Being a strict teetotaller he responded, “Sir, you have seen the Raman effect on alcohol; please do not try to see the alcohol effect on Raman.”
Let us start revelling in the pride that our city- Bangalore feels for Raman having set up CV Raman institute here and done so much more to the science development here. Let us take a small initiative to make his dreams come alive by popularising science and physics around the city-be it by encouraging a small kid to join a science camp or generally taking a visit to research insitutes for a few talks or a lazy read of a science magazine etc.,
A must read is his NOBEL LECTURE(downloadable PDF)
Let us not let the Raman effect fade away from this city to which he did a lot :-)
My classmate used to stay in Raman’s compound (called Panchavati, I think), in the house behind the main house. I have spent many happy hours in the compound – full of trees, lots of place to play. The house especially was fascinating. Sometimes we used to beg her dad to open the doors of the house, and we used to go inside and see the chair he sat on, the desk he worked at, etc. It was immensely exciting, even though her dad used to watch over us and see that we did not touch anything!
:)
The Raman Effect theory is still a landmark theory in Physics.
BTW, ever noticed that these brilliant people always are able to produce brilliant quotes? There is a theory that it is their intelligence that enables them to be so wonderfully eloquent. You should check Wiki on Albert Einstein and his quotes. Amazing!