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color="#000000"><b>Seminar on</b></font></div>
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<div align="center"><font face="Times New Roman"
color="#000000"><b>Modern Optics and Spectroscopy</b></font></div>
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<div align="center"><font face="Times New Roman"
color="#000000"><i><b>C.V. Raman: discovery of the effect and
attribution of credit</b></i></font></div>
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<div align="center"><font face="Times New Roman"
color="#000000"><b>Barry Masters</b>, MIT</font></div>
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<div align="center"><font face="Times New Roman"
color="#000000">Tuesday, March 31, 2009</font></div>
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<div align="center"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">12:00
- 1:00 p.m.</font><font face="Times"
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<div align="center"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">In
1928, C. V. Raman (1888-1970) discovered the Raman Effect. Prior to
Raman's experimental discovery the Raman effect was predicted in
papers by Smekal, and later by Kramers and Heisenberg. What is the
physical basis of the Raman Effect? What is the importance of Raman
spectroscopy in the field of optics? What was the detailed nature of
the key experiments that resulted in this discovery? How did
Raman's experiments fit into the corpus of knowledge on the topic of
light scattering and spectroscopy at the time. Two Russian physicists,
G. S. Landsberg (1890-1957) and L. I. Mandelstam (1879-1944) made a
simultaneous discovery of the same effect. This talk is based on the
primary sources: the complete published works of C. V. Raman;
the published works of Smekal; Kramers and Heisenberg; Landsberg, and
Mandelstam; together with a number of published biographical papers
and books that I use to decipher the confounding path to the discovery
of the Raman Effect. What was the role of Adolf Smekal on the
Smekal-Raman Effect? What was the scientific style of C. V. Raman? How
was his discovery of the Raman Effect received by the physics
community? Why did the Nobel Prize award not include the two Russian
physicists who made the simultaneous discovery of the Raman Effect?
Finally, following a perusal of the complete published works of C. V.
Raman what can we conclude about his interests, his research
methodology, and his scientific style that may provide insights into
the origins of creative genius?</font></div>
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<div align="center"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Grier
Room, MIT Bldg 34-401</font></div>
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color="#000000">Refreshments served after the lecture</font></div>
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