National Science Day is celebrated on February 28 to commemorate the discovery of the ‘Raman Effect’ by physicist Dr CV Raman in 1930
The theme for this year’s National Science Day is ‘Global Science for Global Wellbeing’
The National Council for Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC) proposed that National Science Day should be observed on February 28. The government accepted this proposal and the first National Science Day was celebrated on February 28, 1987
Raman Effect occurs when molecules deflect light beams, causing a change in wavelength. When a light beam travels through a dust-free, transparent sample of a chemical compound, a small fraction of light emerges in directions opposite to the incoming beam.
Most scattered light is of unchanged wavelength. However, there is a small portion that has wavelengths different from those of the incoming light due to the Raman Effect
CV Raman was born in Tiruchirappalli or Trichy in Tamil Nadu in 1888. He enrolled in Presidency College, Madras in 1902 and passed the BA examination in 1904 with a gold medal in physics. Raman gained an MA degree in 1907 with the highest distinction
The Indian government awarded CV Raman the country’s highest civilian award Bharat Ratna in 1954 along with former Governor-General of India C Rajagopalachari and former PM S Radhakrishnan
Raman has been conferred with honorary doctorates and memberships of scientific societies. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1924 and knighted in 1929