Raman Effect. Why do we celebrate National Science Day to commemorate it ?
In case you don’t know 28th of February is celebrated as the National Science Day in India each year. This is typically the time when research institutes across the nation organizes Open- Houses, Exhibition and arranges popular science lectures for temperamental enhancement and popularization of Science. Even schools across India hold science exhibitions and activities to showcase the achievements of their students. It has a become a one of a kind festival of science that is celebrated across the Nation.
Each year of the National Science day also revolves around a particular theme aimed at focusing the thrust,in key areas of science that are needed for immediate benefit of the society or to raise awareness about benefits of using scientific approach in key area of daily life and society. This years theme also revolves around similar ideology and is
“Science for the People and People for Science”.
This idea aims to shatter the concept that the study of science belongs to an academic elite, and show that just like Indian Democracy where everyone is free to participate and contribute, science itself is for everyone and inclusive. It also undertones the societal benefits science has brought to the people in general.
Historical Significance and a renewal of Renaissance
Indian Society had seen a multi-faceted decline in its global role post the colonization by the British. India herself had lost its dominance in global trade as well as in a culture of producing free thinking and wise individuals. Part of it is to be blamed due to the baseless, imposed superiority of the colonial masters and the waning self-respect of the Indian Society in general.
With the dawn of the 20th century all this was fast changing. Establishment of Tata Steel and similar industries meant a resurgent India in a global trade front, which had missed the Industrial revolution completely.
Gandhi and the other member of the congress were successful in showing that Indians were as good as others in a socio-political environment. They steadfastly moved to secure equal and impartial treatment to all the Indians.
Sir CV Raman’s Noble Prize winning discovery also had a similar effect in the realm of science. Sir Raman was the first Asian and non-white to win the Noble prize in Sciences. It was a proclamation to the world that the society, which had given major Mathematical and Astronomical advancement to the world is once again ready to contribute for a better world in the realm of Science.
It is important to note that this was just the beginning for sir CV Raman. He went ahead to establish and run many scientific organizations in the country from the Indian Institute of Science, The Raman Research Institute, Setting up Sciences at the BHU( Banaras Hindu University) and establishing the Indian Current science society that publishes the current science magazine.
The Raman Effect
A detailed analysis of light can be done by studying the constituents colors it is made up of. We know that when light is shone on an object we perceive the color of the object as the object absorbs all the colors except the one which we see itself to be.
In a way the light after interacting with matter usually gets modified in a way that it carries a signature of the material it interacted with earlier. Such a light can be studied by minutely observing its constituent colors and their strength.
When we see the sky we know that it is blue because the light scattered from the sky is predominantly blue. Studying the spectra of light or the constituent colors of such a light would also reveal the same thing.
Sir CV Raman observed that when light having just a single color was made to fall on a substance and the scattered light then analyzed for constituent colors, more shades of color were found in the light than what it initially had.
This was an indication that the light had interacted with the matter in a manner previously unknown. Sir Raman not only discovered this phenomenon but was able to successfully explain its occurrence. How far apart these newly appeared colors are in the spectrum also tells a lot about the internal structure of the molecules and atoms of the matter it was scattered from.
This phenomenon is exploited very well to study various molecules and also has developed as tool that as various applications in the society.
Applications of the Raman Effect
The Raman Effect is extensively used to study the material properties and is known as Raman Spectroscopy. Many more tools have been developed based on the Raman Effect like Raman Microscopes and Raman Lasers all which have found unique applications in the fields of research. There is an entire journal dedicated to Raman Spectroscopy that publishes the advances based on Raman effect.
Many unique applications are also coming up in the field of medical sciences where Raman Scattering of light by small cancer cells make it possible for the first time to detect very small cancer cell manifestations in human bodies.
Raman Effect is also exploited in creation of Qbits which are the basis of the next generation of computing technology known as Quantum Computing. Quantum Computing promises to increase the capacity of computers by several orders. It is truly the applications and their profound impact on the society that makes Raman effect so pivotal that it is the reason for celebration of the National Science Day.
The usefulness of the Raman Effect also fits well with the theme of National Science Day this year, Science for the people, and people for science.
It is truly a discovery for the greatest good of the mankind.
