National Science Day is celebrated in India on 28 February each year to mark the discovery of the Raman effect by Indian physicist Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman on 28 February 1928. For his discovery, Raman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930.

The theme of the year 2016 is on “Scientific Issues for Development of the Nation”.

Objectives

• National Science Day is being celebrated every year to widely spread a message about the significance of scientific applications in the daily life of the people.
• To display all the activities, efforts and achievements in the field of science for human welfare.
• To discuss all the issues and implement new technologies for the development of the science.
• To give an opportunity to the scientific minded citizens in the country.
• To encourage the people as well as popularize the Science and Technology.

Did You Know?

• The Raman effect was discovered during Raman’s tenure at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Kolkata from 1907 to 1933.
• The Raman effect is defined as “a change of wavelength exhibited by some of the radiation scattered in a medium.”
• In other words, Raman discovered that when light passes through a transparent medium, some of the deflected light changes its wavelength.
• This phenomenon came to be known as Raman scattering, from which results the Raman effect.
• In 1954, Sir C V Raman was awarded the highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna.