Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (1888-1970) was an Indian physicist bom in Tiruchirappalli. In 1904, he stood first and won the gold medal in physics in the Bachelor of Arts examination of University of Madras. He carried out groundbreaking work in the field of light scattering, which earned him the 1930 Nobel Prize for Physics. He discovered changes in wavelength of some of the deflected light when light traverses a transparent material. This phenomenon, subsequently known as Raman Scattering, results from the Raman effect. To commemorate it, February 28th is celebrated as the National Science Day. In 1954, India honoured him with its highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna.
