India will celebrate National Science Day on Monday, February 28 — the day scientist CV Raman invented his game-changing Raman Effect in 1928. Raman won the Nobel Prize in physics for the historic discovery in 1930.
The National Council for Science and Technology Communication approached the Centre in 1986 to designate February 28 as National Science Day. The government accepted the proposal with the first National Science Day being celebrated on February 28, 1987.
The purpose of National Science Day is to encourage Indian youth to develop interest in science and understand its importance. On the day, students from across the country demonstrate science projects and innovations at state- and national-levels competitions.
The Centre also felicitates scientists who contributed to the field of science.
This year, the National Science Day 2022 will have ‘Integrated Approach in Science and Technology for Sustainable Future’ as its theme.
Raman Scattering or Raman Effect is a spectroscopy phenomenon discovered by Raman while working at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science laboratory in Kolkata. Raman Effect describes how the wavelength of light scatters when deflected on a particular object.
Raman first observed the phenomenon in 1921 during a trip to Europe. Noticing the blue colour of the Mediterranean Sea and icebergs, he wanted to understand the reason behind the striking phenomenon. He began conducting experiments with transparent ice blocks and the light of a mercury arc lamp. He recorded the change in wavelength after shining the light through ice cubes.
Although not the first person to observe the phenomenon, Raman was the first to publish the observations in 1928. Russian physicists Grigory Landsberg and Leonid Mandelstam first observed the effect just a week before Raman. However, they published their results months after Raman.
This was an important discovery that paved the way for several future scientific developments. National Science Day pays tribute to the iconic physicist and calls on the Indian youth to follow in his footsteps.
