Dr. C. V. Raman: Part 10

He came to Bangalore as the Director of the Tata Institute (the Indian Institute of Science) in 1933. The Tata Institute soon became famous for the study of crystals. The diffraction of light (the very slight bending of light around corners) by ultrasonic waves (high frequency sound waves which we cannot hear) in a liquid was elegantly explained by Raman and Nagendranath. This became known as the 'Raman-Nath Theory'.

 

Raman was an early riser and used to take morning walks regularly. The sight of tall

trees against the sky at dawn delighted him. By six in the morning he would be in the chamber where he worked. Up to 9 a.m. he would devote his time to discussion with students who were experimenting and to the study of research papers. At 10 o'clock he would be in the Directors office. He would complete the office work and return to the laboratory. He would be immersed in research till 8.30 p.m. He used to arrange two or three seminars every week. At these seminars all the workers would come together to discuss various problems of their research.

 

Whenever students showed new results, Raman was delighted. He would guide them to do further work. If they appeared to be depressed he would inspire them to fresh efforts.

 

A student was once experimenting with an X-ray tube of one-kilowatt power. He learnt that a scientist in England was experi- menting on the same problem with a five-kilowatt X-ray tube, and grew depressed. When Raman, who was on his rounds, came to know of this, he said with a smile, "There is a very simple solution; use a 1 0-kilowatt brain on the problem."

 

Raman possessed supreme self- confidence and he generated -it in his students also. Raman used to enquire about his students even after they left his Institute. If they had any difficulty he would help them as best he could.

 

Raman had his own method of judging the merit of a student. Once he set a question concerning the vibrations of theMridangam at the Post-Graduate Examination of the Allahabad University. This was different from the other questions based on textbooks. Only one student answered it and he had spent all the allotted time on this one answer. Raman was pleased with his talent and personally congratulated him.