Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (7.02.1888 — 21.11.1970) was an Indian physicist, a member of the Indian Academy of Sciences, its founder and president (from 1934). He was born in Tiruchirappalli. He graduated from Presidency College in Madras (1906). In 1906—17 he worked in the Department of Finance in Calcutta while also pursuing scientific work. In 1917 —33 he was professor at the University of Calcutta. From 1933 he was professor, and in 1933 —37 director, of the Institute of Science in Bangalore, and from 1948 director of the Raman Institute in Hebbal and National Professor of India.
His research concerned optics, acoustics, molecular physics, crystal physics, colloid optics, electro- and magneto-optics, the photoelectric effect, X-ray diffraction, magnetism and the physiology of vision. He gave a theory of the Compton effect and studied the diffraction of light by ultrasound and Brillouin scattering in liquids and solids. In 1928, together with K. Krishnan, he discovered in liquids (independently of L. I. Mandelstam and G. S. Landsberg) the Raman scattering of light (Nobel Prize, 1930). He detected (1927) the anisotropy of the diamagnetic susceptibility of benzene molecules. He studied colours and their perception and tried to construct a theory of colour vision. In 1941—56 he developed the theory of vibrations of the crystal lattice.
He did much for the development of science in India and founded a number of scientific journals. He created a school of physicists. A member of a number of academies of sciences and scientific societies, a foreign member of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1947). An active fighter for peace. The Lenin Prize “For Strengthening Peace Among Peoples” (1957).