Dr. C. V. Raman — Profile, Specialty, Credentials & Public Visibility

Summary

Updated 2026-06-09

He proved that light bends its own rules. When C. V. Raman sent light through transparent matter, it came out changed — a different wavelength, a new color — rewriting what physicists thought possible and handing India its first Nobel in the sciences.

Biography

About

Born in Tamil Nadu in 1888, Raman tore through school, finishing his bachelor's in physics at 16 and publishing on light diffraction while still a graduate student. He joined the Indian Finance Service at 19 as an accountant in Calcutta, but spent his nights at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, running experiments in acoustics and optics on his own time. In 1917 he became the first Palit Professor of Physics at Rajabazar Science College; a sea voyage to Europe convinced him the prevailing explanation for the ocean's blue was wrong. Using a spectrograph he built, he and stu…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from C. V. Raman

C. V. Raman

said1970

I strongly believe that fundamental science cannot be driven by instructional, industrial and government or military pressures.

— His statement to his fellow scientist before his death in 1970. Quoted in**

C. V. Raman

said1945

If there is a God we must look for him in the Universe. If he is not there, he is not worth looking for. I am being looked upon in various quarters as an atheist, but I am not.

— In conversation with Mahatma Gandhi and Gilbert Rahm in 1945, from

C. V. Raman

said1934

There is no Heaven, no Swarga, no Hell, no rebirth, no reincarnation and no immortality. The only thing that is true is that a man is born, he lives and he dies.

— In a public lecture at Bangalore in 1934, from

C. V. Raman

saidundated

Look at the resplendent colours on the soap bubbles! Why is the sea blue? What makes diamond glitter! Ask the right questions, and nature will open the doors to her secrets

— Opening statement in page=xiii

C. V. Raman

saidundated