C,V.Raman by Uma Parameswaran ; Published by Penguin; Pages 274 ; Price Rs.350 /-

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                                            Uma Parameswaran, the author of the book under review, is a member of the Raman family. Her most recent novel, A Cycle of the Moon, was nominated for the Manitoba Book of the Year award.  She retired from the University of Winnipeg where she was Professor of English. This book is a simple “attempt to record his life” and is a comprehensive biography of the great scientist Sir.C.V. Raman  and a stirring account of his journey to glory.

                                            Raman’s career can be seen in slots of ten years. The years 1910-19 were spent mainly on acoustics, 1920-29 on optics and light scattering and 1930-39 mainly on ultrasonic diffraction and the application of Raman scattering to crystals. During the decade 1940-49, Raman focused on diamond and vibration of crystals lattices. In the 1960s Raman came full circle to his first fascination on the physiology of the eye.

                                            Raman’s  unparalleled galaxy of scientific achievements, institutions and students is faithfully  recorded as also his bitter controversies with some  peers. He had to quit two leadership positions, in  IACS  in Kolkata and

the IISc in Bangalore. His last two decades were spent in an Institute he named after himself where he worked practically till he breathed his last in 1970.

                                            The formative years are very charmingly captured with reconstructed dialogues between a young Raman and his grandmother and older brother Subrahmanya Iyer, Raman’s elder brother—father of eminent astrophysicist Nobel Laureate--S.Chandrasekhar. Raman’s elder brother  took up a large share of the responsibility for the extended family. Raman helped financially but pursued physics even as he moved up the hierarchy in the Accountant- General’s Office. Raman’s wife Lokasundari comes across as a remarkably determined woman with a husband pursuing his aims with extraordinary zeal. She was not an appendage of a great man but highly resourceful in her own right.

                                We learn that his most celebrated research sprang from  his reaction to nature — its colours, shapes and sounds — and that he was fired by a spirit of scientific inquiry combined by the view of a man with a sublime vision.

Raman, who moved to the city on posting in the finance department and devoted all his evenings to research, resolutely denied himself any leisure. Calcutta , became Raman’s scientific habitat for the years to come, till he was driven out of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS), the very institution he had lovingly fostered. He later took the reins of the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, before retiring to build his own Raman Research Institute. In his last years he gave grand tours to students culminating in a display of his famous collection of diamonds.

                                           Raman’s work on the scattering of light by liquids, inspired by the blue of the Mediterranean Sea, came to be known as the Raman Effect and won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930. His fascination with colours lasted a lifetime, and he quickly went from admiring the plumage of birds to studying the luminescence of diamonds. He was noted for his furious pace of work and his penchant for promptly publishing results of his experiments.

                                                     Raman worshipped Gandhi, had a love-hate relationship with Nehru — once he is reported to have shattered a bust of Nehru at his home in Bangalore — and did not care for the government. We also get a rare glimpse into his vanity: Sir Raman, as he liked to be addressed, was prone to poetic flourish, famous for his extemporaneous speeches and loved being garlanded. We can surmise Raman was obsessed with the Nobel. In 1924, when congratulated on being made FRS and asked ‘What next?’, he is said to have replied, “The Nobel Prize, of course.”

                                            Raman was famous for his ready wit. When offered a glass of champagne on one of his travels abroad, Raman purportedly replied, “Sir, you have seen the Raman Effect on alcohol; please do not try to see the Alcohol Effect on Raman.” When someone asked Raman why he wore a turban, he said, “Oh !, If I did not wear one, my head will swell. You all praise me so much. So I need a turban to contain my ego.”

                                           This book is an excellent introduction to Raman but not a scientific account of the great man’s achievements. It is a splendid introduction to a splendid man.

P.P.Ramachandran,

9-03-2012