INVENTA๐งช๐งช
Physical Science Association Programme
In 1986, the
Government of India, under then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, designated
February 28 as National Science Day to commemorate the announcement of the
discovery of the “Raman Effect”. This year’s edition is being celebrated under
the theme of “Global Science for Global Wellbeing”, in light of India’s G20
presidency.
The
Raman Effect was the discovery which won physicist Sir CV Raman his Nobel Prize
in 1930. Conducting a deceptively simple experiment, Raman discovered that when
a stream of light passes through a liquid, a fraction of the light scattered by
the liquid is of a different colour. This discovery was immediately recognised
as groundbreaking in the scientific community, being the subject of over 700
papers in the first seven years after its announcement.
Raman was born to a family of Sanskrit
scholars in Trichy (present-day Tiruchirapalli) in the Madras Presidency in
1888. At the age of only 16, He received a BA degree from Presidency College in
Madras, and was placed first in his class. While studying for his MA degree, at
the age of 18, he got published in the Philosophical Magazine: this was the
first research paper ever published by Presidency College.
Raman effect
The Raman Effect refers to the phenomenon in which when a stream of light passes through a liquid, a fraction of the light scattered by the liquid is of a different colour. This happens due to the change in the wavelength of light that occurs when a light beam is deflected by molecules.
In their first report to Nature, titled “A New Type of Secondary Radiation,” CV Raman and co-author KS Krishnan wrote that 60 different liquids had been studied, and all showed the same result – a tiny fraction of scattered light had a different colour than the incident light. “It is thus,” Raman said, “a phenomenon whose universal nature has to be recognized..”
The importance of the discovery
CV Raman’s discovery took the world by storm as it had
deep implications far beyond Raman’s original intentions. As Raman himself
remarked in his 1930 Nobel Prize speech, “The character of the scattered
radiations enables us to obtain an insight into the ultimate structure of the
scattering substance.” For quantum theory, in vogue in the scientific world at
the time, Raman’s discovery was crucial.
The discovery would
also find its use in chemistry, giving birth to a new field known as Raman
spectroscopy as a basic analytical tool to conduct nondestructive chemical
analysis for both organic and inorganic compounds. With the invention of lasers
and the capabilities to concentrate much stronger beams of light, the uses of
Raman spectroscopy have only ballooned over time.
"Necessity is the mother of all invention," as the famous
saying goes. But there have also been quite a few times that some major scientific and technological
inventions were a complete fluke.These are some
of the examples mentioned in the talk.
Quinine was discovered
by complete accident (apparently)
Originally found in the bark of the cinchona tree, the discovery of this important anti-malarial compound was a pure accident.While it was being used by Jesuit missionaries in South America to treat malaria since 1600, they were taught about the substance by native Andean peoples in the first place. According to their legends, the first discoverer was a feverish Andean man who was lost in the jungle. Suffering from malaria, he drank from a pool of water at the base of a cinchona tree. Although bitter to the taste, his fever lifted and he survived to pass on what he had learned.
"Velcro"
was another accidental discovery
Also back in the 1940s, a Swiss engineer called George de Mestral, made an interesting discovery while walking his dog. When they returned home he decided to examine the burdock seeds that had stuck to his clothes. He noticed they had lots of tiny hooks that easily attached and stuck firmly to fabric and fur. de Mestral realized he could create a new fastening system using the concept, and "Velcro" was brought into existence.
The discovery of radioactivity was another by accident
Henri Becquerel, while enamored with x-rays back in the late 1890s, he decided to figure out their connection with phosphorescence. After trying to expose photographic plates using uranium salts, he was hoping to absorb "x-ray energy" from the Sun.After thinking he needed sunlight for the experiment to work, the sky was overcast and he abandoned it for the day. But when he developed the previously unexposed plates he noticed that they had some fogging. It was clear to Becquerel that the uranium salts must be the culprit and were emitting some kind of strange rays. The phenomenon of radioactivity had been discovered.
LSD was also found by accident
Back in the late-1930s, a scientist called Albert Hofmann was studying a chemical called Lysergic acid. While working with it, he accidentally tasted it and felt restless and dizzy.At home, he had some "interesting" dreams and decided to experiment with dosages when he returned to the lab on the 19th of April, 1943 -- what is with scientists and tasting random chemicals?This was the first planned experiment with LSD -- and it wouldn't be the last.
Penicillin was another accidental discovery
Sir Alexander Fleming, in 1928, noticed that mold had started to grow in a petri dish of one Staphylococcus bacteria cultures. While trying to salvage cultures unaffected by the mold, he noticed that bacterial colonies would not grow near the mold.Fleming soon realized that the mold must be releasing some kind of substance that inhibited bacterial growth. Penicillin was later introduced in the 1940s, saving countless lives since.
Insulin was also a freaky discovery
Back in the late-1880s, two doctors were attempting to uncover the pancreas' role with digestion. After removing one from a test dog, they noticed that flies were gathering around the dog's urine. After testing the urine, they noted that it had a high sugar content.They realized they had inadvertently given the dog diabetes.A little later, further experiments during the 1920s built on their work and were able to isolate the pancreatic secretion known as insulin.
Vulcanized rubber was also an unintentional discovery
Charles Goodyear spent many years trying to turn rubber into something that wouldn't freeze when it's cold or melt when it's hot. After trying many things, he eventually tried using some sulfur. In frustration, he tossed it into the air, as the story goes, and it landed on a stove. But instead of melting it ch arred creating a leathery, heat-resistant and waterproof substance.Vulcanized rubber was born.
Teflon was also a fluke
Roy Plunkett was working in the Dupont Company's Jackson Laboratory in 1938 when he started researching new refrigerants. One such substance he experimented with was tetrafluoroethylene (TFE) gas.After returning to an open cylinder he'd stored some of the gas in, he discovered a strange white powder on the inside. Curiosity compelled him to conduct some tests on it, and he found that it was heat resistant, had low surface friction and was inert to corrosive acids.It was, effectively, an ideal substance for cookware.
We enjoyed every moment of planning and executing the event and we understood how much effort goes behind organizing an event.!
Keep it simple!!!
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