Augsburg 2003 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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GP: Geschichte der Physik

GP 3: Experiment II

GP 3.4: Vortrag

Mittwoch, 19. März 2003, 17:30–18:00, 1003

The Official and Private Versions of the Discovery of the Raman Effect — •Rajinder Singh — Fachbereich Physik, AG Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Universität Oldenburg

In 1928 it was shown by the Indian physicists CV Raman and KS Krishnan (and possibly at the same time by the Russians GS Landsberg and LI Mandelstam) that when monochromatic light passes through a material, the scattered light contains not only the original colour but also others. This phenomenon was later named as the Raman effect. Krishnans (Ramans collaborator) diary and the first four publications of the Indian physicists are compared to show the difference between the official and private versions of the discovery.

In these publications the Indian scientists mentioned that 60 (and later 80) substances were studied. However, only a few names such as Pentane vapours, Benzene, liquid Carbon dioxide, Nitrous oxide and Naphthalene are to be found in their papers. Why were only these particular substances mentioned? This question will be discussed in short.