Sir Kariamanikkam Srinivasa Krishnan (4 December 1898 – 14 June 1961) was an Indian

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

. He was a co-discoverer of

Raman scattering In chemistry and physics, Raman scattering or the Raman effect () is the inelastic scattering of photons by matter, meaning that there is both an exchange of energy and a change in the light's direction. Typically this effect involves vibrationa ...

, for which his mentor C. V. Raman was awarded the 1930

Nobel Prize in Physics The Nobel Prize in Physics () is an annual award given by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for those who have made the most outstanding contributions to mankind in the field of physics. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the ...

Early life

Kariamanikkam Srinivasa Krishnan generally referred to as K. S. Krishnan or KSK, was born in a Vaishnavite

brahmin Brahmin (; ) is a ''Varna (Hinduism), varna'' (theoretical social classes) within Hindu society. The other three varnas are the ''Kshatriya'' (rulers and warriors), ''Vaishya'' (traders, merchants, and farmers), and ''Shudra'' (labourers). Th ...

family on 4 December 1898 in Watrap,

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

. His father was a farmer-scholar deeply versed in Tamil literature. He had his early education in Hindu Higher Secondary school, in Watrap, after which he attended the American College in Madurai and the

Madras Christian College Madras Christian College (MCC) is a liberal arts and sciences college in Chennai, India. Founded in 1837, MCC is one of Asia's oldest extant colleges. The college is affiliated to the University of Madras but functions as an autonomous institut ...

. After gaining his degree in Physics he became a demonstrator in chemistry.

Early career

In 1920, Krishnan went to work with C.V. Raman at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science,

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

(then Calcutta). There he engaged himself in experimental study of the scattering of light in a large number of liquids and its theoretical interpretations. He played a significant role in the discovery of the Raman scattering. In 1928 he moved to the Dacca University (now in Bangladesh) as the Reader in the physics department where he studied magnetic properties of crystals in relation to their structure. Krishnan, along with other rising scientists such as Santilal Banerjee and B.C. Guha developed an elegant and precise experimental technique to measure the magnetic anisotropy of diamagnetic and paramagnetic crystals. Their findings were published by the Royal Society of London in 1933 under the title, ''Investigations on Magne-Crystallic Action.'' In 1933 he returned to Kolkata to take up the post of Mahendralal Sircar Professor of Physics in the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science where he continued to collaborate fruitfully with Banerjee to elaborate on the magnetic properties of crystals in relation to their structure. Their joint papers and communications (published in ''Nature, Terrestrial Magnetism and Atmospheric Electricity'', and by the Royal Society), remain to this day, aside from a number of other pathbreaking contributions they also published in various Physics journals, the most definitive scientific studies on the structure and tendencies of small crystals. Their experiments in Dacca and continued collaborative research in Kolkata led to what is now known as the Krishnan Banerjee method for measuring the magnetic susceptibility of small crystals. Krishnan was elected as Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1940. His Royal Society candidature certificate in 1935 read: "''Distinguished for his investigations in molecular optics and in magne-crystalline action:collaborated with Sir C.V. Raman in extensive theoretical and experimental studies on light scattering, molecular optics and in the discovery of the Raman Effect (1928). More recently has been publishing many valuable investigations (Phil Trans Royal Society and elsewhere) on the significance of magnetic anisotropy in relation to crystal architecture and thermo-magnetic behaviour at the lowest temperatures. Has published important work on pleochroism in crystals and its relation to photo-dissociation. Leader of an active school of research in Calcutta.''" In 1942, he moved to Allahabad University as Professor and Head of the Department of Physics where he took up the physics of solids, in particular of metals. He was knighted in the 1946 Birthday Honours List and awarded the Padma Bhushan by the

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in 1954. He was the first recipient of the prestigious Bhatnagar Award in 1958. On 4 January 1947 K. S. Krishnan was appointed first director of National Physical Laboratory

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. This was one of the earliest national laboratories set up under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.

Quotes about Krishnan

* ''What is remarkable about Krishnan is not that he is a great scientist but something much more. He is a perfect citizen, a whole man with an integrated personality.'' – Jawaharlal Nehru

Collected works

The scientific papers of K. S. Krishnan have been published in 1988 by the National Physical Laboratory (located on Dr K.S. Krishnan Road, New Delhi 110012). The book of 950 pages has been made available in the Public Library of India collection of the Internet archive at https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.502306

References

External links