Learning of the Raman Effect

In Episode 52 of the Sky High column, Kakabhushundi travels through time to witness C.V. Raman's groundbreaking research on the scattering of light.

After meeting Sage Lomasa, Kakabhushundi entered the wormhole to go back to the time he saw Rama. He was thinking about the sage’s words about the purpose of his life being knowledge transfer. At the coordinate point of the time-travelling wormhole, Kakabhushundi got pulled into the future because he wanted to meet a Rama who was famous for his scientific knowledge.

Imagine his surprise when he landed in a physics conference in 1922 where a scientist called Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman was talking about his research on the scattering of light.

C.V. Raman: In 1921, while on a ship to England, I noticed something amazing. The colour of the Mediterranean Sea was a dark blue. I began to wonder why that was so.

A scientist: Didn’t you know that the scientist Raleigh said that the ocean reflects the colour of the sky?

C.V. Raman: Yes, I am also a fan of Raleigh’s work on light optics, but I think there is something more here. If the waters were reflecting the colour of the sky, why was the sea dark blue and not sky blue?

Though none of the scientists had an answer to this question, they did not like the fact that Raman had questioned Raleigh’s work. Some even started questioning Raman’s knowledge. Kakabhushundi, sitting outside the room, listened to the heated debate.

C.V. Raman: The reason for the colour of the Mediterranean Sea is not just reflection of light but also scattering of light. I wrote to the science journals about this phenomenon as soon as the ship docked at the next port.