Context:
Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology recently released the theme for the “National Science Day 2024”, titled “Indigenous Technologies for Viksit Bharat”.
Relevance:
Facts for Prelims
Dimensions of the Article:
- National Science Day (NSD) Celebration
- What is Raman Effect?
National Science Day (NSD) Celebration
- Celebrated annually on February 28, National Science Day honors the contributions of scientists in advancing the nation’s development.
- The date commemorates Indian Physicist Sir CV Raman’s groundbreaking discovery in spectroscopy, known as the Raman Effect, made on February 28, 1928. His achievement was recognized with the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930.
History:
- The initiative to designate February 28 as National Science Day originated in 1986 when the National Council for Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC) proposed the idea to the Government of India.
- Following acceptance, the government officially declared February 28 as National Science Day.
- The inaugural celebration took place on February 28, 1987.
What is Raman Effect?
- Raman Effect is a phenomenon in spectroscopy discovered by the eminent physicist Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman in 1928.
- After two years in 1930, he got Nobel Prize for this remarkable discovery and this was the first Nobel Prize for India in the field of Science.
- Raman Effect is a change in the wavelength of light that occurs when a light beam is deflected by molecules.
- When a beam of light traverses a dust-free, transparent sample of a chemical compound, a small fraction of the light emerges in directions other than that of the incident (incoming) beam.
- Most of this scattered light is of unchanged wavelength.
- A small part, however, has wavelengths different from that of the incident light; its presence is a result of the Raman Effect.
-Source: The Hindu
