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C. V. Raman and the Discovery of the Raman Effect

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In 1928 the Indian physicist C. V. Raman (1888-1970) discovered the effect named after him virtually simultaneously with the Russian physicists G. S. Landsberg (1890-1957) and L. I. Mandelstam (1879-1944). I first provide a biographical sketch of Raman through his years in Calcutta (1907-1932) and Bangalore (after 1932). I then discuss his scientific work in acoustics, astronomy, and optics up to 1928, including his views on Albert Einstein's light-quantum hypothesis and on Arthur Holly Compton's discovery of the Compton effect, with particular reference to Compton's debate on it with William Duane in Toronto in 1924, which Raman witnessed. I then examine Raman's discovery of the Raman effect and its reception among physicists. Finally, I suggest reasons why Landsberg and Mandelstam did not share the Nobel Prize in Physics for 1930 with Raman.

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ID="*"Rajinder Singh is a Diplom-Physiker who is currently working on his doctoral thesis on C. V. Raman and the discovery of the Raman effect in the Department of Higher Education and History of Science in the Faculty of Physics at the University of Oldenburg, Germany.

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Singh, R. C. V. Raman and the Discovery of the Raman Effect. Phys. perspect. 4, 399–420 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/s000160200002

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s000160200002

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