Book Review: C.V. Raman - A biography

Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (C. V. Raman, Nov 1888 - Nov 1970), Nobel laureate from India and recipient of Bharat Ratna in the year 1954 is one of luminaries in the space of scientific research in India. He was the one who demonstrated to the world that one can reach the pinnacle in the chosen field of endeavor by determination and perseverance. He was educated in then British colonial India, carried out his research in this country and was widely regarded by scientists around the world for his contribution to the science. He was a nationalist by heart and his actions matched that belief. A biography of such an eminent personality is always fascinating to read and my interest in biographies and autobiographies brought me to this book.

The author of this book Uma Parameswaran is a distant relative of Sir Raman. This book is well researched and unlike many biographies that deal more with the field of endeavor of the personality, this book also describes a lot about Ramans’ personal lives. The book gives a good insight of Raman’s early life, the influence of his father on him by introducing him to the field of science. It is very difficult to separate physics from his life and the book does a very good job in giving the details of his work to such an extent so as to interest people who do not have the background in physics. At a very young age, he read the treatises on many of the treatises by eminent scientists. People interested in details of scientific discoveries have to refer other biographies (one of the reference that I can highlight is G. Venkataraman’s vignettes in Physics that deal with the physics of Raman effect.)

Biographies of such persons should be included in curriculum of school children as it will help them understand the personalities better; how they were brought up in this country and how they went on to excel in their field. Such education should be a part of value based education in schools and colleges. The commitment and perseverance of Sir Raman towards science is very inspiring. The book takes the readers through his life at Calcutta where he was able to so effectively pursue his experiments in physics along with a job in Revenue department. Another very inspiring aspect of Sir Raman’s life was his belief that nature holds the secrets and it is only through the correct questioning and the pursuit along those lines that nature reveals its secrets.   Most of his research was on acoustics and optics that is a testimony to his belief.

Sir Raman’s vision of scientific research was different from his peers of his time and he had to resign from the directorship of Indian Institute of Science in 1930s. While many of his contemporaries were on the government initiatives of development of science and technology in India, Raman believed in complete autonomy for the science research with no strings attached. The book also mentions the turn of events where he did not support any bureaucracy in science and he started an institute of his own (Raman Research Institute in Bangalore) with the help of donations from Maharaja of Mysore after his retirement in the year 1949.

Overall, the book is very well written. It makes the life of Sir Raman come alive to the readers. This book has become one of my favorites in biographies.