Dr. C.V. Raman: Part 12

Once in Paris he went shopping for diamonds and crystals. There two beautiful butterflies with blue wings in a shop window attracted him. He bought them and later collected thousands of specimens.

 

Raman loved flowers for their colors. He grew many flower plants. He used to visit

flower exhibitions to examine flowers.

 

Raman used to announce his newscientific discoveries at the annual sessions of the Academy. At the Madras session (1967) he discussed the influence of the earth's rotation on its gaseous envelope. Next year he put forward his theory of the physiology of vision.

 

Many countries and institutions continued to honor him. The membership of the

American Optical Society (1941), the National Professorship of India (1948), the

Franklin Medal of the Franklin Institute (1951), the International Lenin Prize (1957), the Membership of the Pontifical Academy of Science (1961) -these were some of the honors conferred on him.

 

The greatest honor the Government of India confers on an Indian is the award of 'Bharat Ratna'. Raman became a 'Bharat Ratna' in 1954.

 

Raman was a great lover of music. He used to say, "I should live long, because I have not heard all the music I want to hear." He was a frequent visitor to a shop selling musical instruments in Balepet, in Bangalore. He collected a variety of musical instruments like the Mridangam, the Tabla, the Veena, the Violin and the Nagaswaram.

 

'The Catgut Acoustical Society' of America is devoted exclusively to the study of violins. It elected Raman as its honorary member.