National Science Day observed on 28 February

28 February: National Science Day

National Science Day was observed across India on 28 February 2017. The year’s theme for the day is "Science and Technology for Specially Abled Persons”.

The day is observed to mark the discovery of the Raman Effect ( a phenomenon of scattering of photons) by Indian physicist Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman on 28 February 1928.

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For his path-breaking discovery, CV Raman was knighted in 1929 and awarded the Nobel Prize in 1930. This was the first Nobel Prize won by an Indian or any Asian in the field of Science.

The second objective behind celebrating 28 February as the National Science Day is to spread a message about science and its importance in the daily life of the people.

How the day came into existence?

The day came into existence after the National Council for Science and Technology Communications (NCSTC) in 1986 asked the Union Government to designate 28 February as National Science Day. Later in the same year, the government designated 28 February as National Science Day. The first National Science Day was celebrated on 28 February 1987.

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Raman Effect

Raman Effect or scattering is a process in which wavelength light changes. The light beam changes its wavelength when its molecules are deflected. The molecules deflect when the light passes through a dust-free, transparent sample of a chemical compound or something else. In this case, a fraction of the light emerges in directions, that is, other than that of the actual beam. Maximum of the scattered light is of unchanged wavelength. The small part of deflected light or the light with a different wavelength from the actual light is the result of the Raman Effect.