Review

Rajinder Singh is a well-established Historian of Science who started his journey in this field by working on his Ph.D. thesis: “Nobel Laureate CV Raman’s work on Light Scattering”. He is an accomplished historian of science with more than 100 research papers and twenty books already to his credit. This book is 3rd in series on CV Raman and exposes to public eye certain hidden aspects of Indian Nobel Laureate´s life and work.

The book consists of four Chapters which are preceded by Preface, Acknowledgements, Dedication, Foreword, and half a dozen Expert´s opinions about the author and this book. In his Foreword, Arnab Rai Choudhury has critically examined the contents of the book and minces no words in projecting CV Raman and the author. He writes: ´ As a Bengali, I am pleased that Rajinder has collected new data from the records of Calcutta University on a subject which is often represented very wrongly on the basis of nothing more than unsubstantiated gossip: Raman´s relation with the Bengali academic world".

In his introduction (Chapter 1), Rajinder gives a photograph of the Spectroscope used by Raman for the discovery of the Raman Effect. He writes succinctly: "One might blame M.N. Saha for throwing away Raman´s instruments, while shifting the IACS from Bowbazzar to Jadavpur. This suggests that Indian men of science and technology are oblivious of preserving their heritage". The author further recalls: " Raman had a huge team of trained researchers; well equipped laboratories and workshops, and his own journal. Thus under these circumstances, it is wrong to tell that Raman worked under a ´poor´ condition".

Chapter 2 is titled "Instruments for the Discovery of Raman Effect" and forms the core of this book. The author laments: "As far as India is concerned, the history of scientific instruments is relatively unknown. Even the instruments ´made´ or bought by renowned physicists like CV Raman, MN Saha and SN Bose have not been properly preserved". The author delineates the circumstances and instruments used during discovery of Raman effect step by step on the basis of KS Krishnan´s diary from Feb. 16 onwards. In fact, this Chapter is a compendium of instruments, for example, mercury lamps, light filters, spectroscopes and other accessories required for Raman´s investigations leading to his discovery and Nobel Prize.

Chapter 3 is focussed on the research facilities provided to CV Raman at the Indian Association for Cultivation of Science (IACS), Calcutta. The myth of poor facilities at IACS and winning Nobel Prize by spending merely Rs. 400 on his equipment is exploded by the author in this Chapter. The total cost of his instruments works out to be Rs. 7630, excluding the price of Chemicals, which was a handsome amount those days. CV Raman started his research activity in 1907 at IACS and it included areas as diverse as acoustics, optics, X-rays, and Crystallography. His research team included the best talent available in India as shown in Tables 4-8 included in this Chapter. The library of IACS subscribed to 30 popular Science Journals of Europe. Thus the research facilities were not only adequate but almost ´unlimited´ according to the author. It was Raman´s dream to make IACS an International Centre of research in India.

According to the author, Chapter 4 is intended to fill the gap in the information available about CV Raman in the following areas: 1. Facilities given to Raman as Palit Professor. 2. Raman´s general activities as a faculty member. 3. Raman´s ´opponents´ at the University of Calcutta. 4. Three international honours received by Raman as Palit Professor. Asutosh Mookerjee, the educationist and Judge, who became Vice Chancellor of Calcutta University later on, was a staunch supporter of CV Raman. Raman was made Palit Professor of Physics even when he had no foreign research degree equivalent to D.Sc, and that to on his own terms and conditions against the rules of University. However, Raman proved his worth by winning a Nobel Prize in 1930.

Raman was provided "Ghose Travelling Fellowship" under which he could visit most of the research laboratories in Europe, USA and Canada. He wrote a proposal for expanding his research activities after this visit which was rejected by the University. He wanted to change rules for Ph.D. registration but the University Senate did not approve of it. Raman fully participated in University administration and accepted assignments in various academic bodies of the University. He preferred Bengali as medium of instruction over Sanskrit.

The most interesting section of this Chapter deals with the topic: "Raman´s ´opponents´ at the University". He annoyed JC Bose by offering higher salary to his mechanic and thus uprooting him from Bose Institute. Raman was highly critical of research work of JC Bose and did not spare a moment to criticise him even after his death. The other scientists of Calcutta School who did not see eye to eye with Raman were MN Saha, BS Guha, UN Brahmachari and Ganesh Prasad. The author has revealed his acumen to bring to light the reasons for the conflict of interest between dons of Calcutta University and Raman.

Ultimately, all opposition to Raman fizzled out after he got International honours as Palit Professor. He was conferred the Fellowship of Royal Society London, Knighthood of British Empire, and the highest award in Physics, the Nobel Prize. I want to finish my review with the brilliant but somewhat sarcastic remarks of Arnab Ray Choudhury: "Raman as a scientist possessed many extraordinary qualities - brilliance of mind, astute intuition, dogged determination, tenacity, an almost unbelievable capacity for hard work - certainly modesty was not one of his qualities".

I recommend this book for researchers, scientists and historians of science and culture. The author has took pains to give an exhaustive list of Notes and References to supplement the Bibliography. Rajinder deserves all praise for this monumental work pertaining to the Raman era of Indian History of Science.