Who was the first Indian scientist to win a Nobel Prize?

Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman was an Indian physicist born in the former Madras Province in India, who carried out ground-breaking work in the field of light scattering, which earned him the 1930 Nobel Prize for Physics. He discovered that when light traverses a transparent material, some of the deflected light changes in wavelength. This phenomenon, subsequently known as Raman scattering, results from the Raman effect.

Raman noticed the blue colour of glaciers and the Mediterranean sea. He was motivated to discover the reason for the blue colour. Raman carried out experiments regarding the scattering of light by water and transparent blocks of ice which explained the phenomenon.

Raman employed monochromatic light from a mercury arc lamp which penetrated transparent material and was allowed to fall on a spectrograph to record its spectrum. He detected lines in the spectrum which he later called Raman lines.

More Info: en.wikipedia.org

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15 Comments

Bill Coe

If you read the question again, you will see that it asks for the first SCIENTIST to win. Tagore does not fit.

William Laughlin

Janet Ortiz, Lynn Beasley, Robert Saffian, The answer is correct. Rabindranath Tagore was a poet, musician and artist; NOT a scientist. The question specifically asks for the first "Indian SCIENTIST to win a Nobel Prize." Reading for comprehension matters.

William Laughlin

Ed Prusak, You are confusing Raman with ramen. There is a difference.

catmom

William Laughlin, lol.😂

James Parrillo, with Christine

First&Formost, I think I understand only that when light rays pass through a clear object, they change in wavelength, which also alters the color. Thank you, Christine, James' wife

First&Formost

I have no idea what the explanation means

Fern Russell

Majority vote let me down…sigh. At least I learned something.

Lupe Hernandez

Janet Ortiz, The question referred to "scientist" not literature. And it is not spelled literalature.

Johnny Rock

Interesting learning.

Fred Zeb Fudpucker

Jim Rivera, you'd have to do it in Manhattan at high noon!

Joseph A. Robitaille

I miss the question. I figured it was the same calling physicist a scientist I know it was an error on my part.

Chandran David

C V Raman returned the “ SIR “ title conferred on him by the then British Government , protesting against the barbaric and brutal murder of innocent and unarmed gathering of Indian freedom fighters at Jallianwala Baghdad in Punjab .