National Science Day

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.

History of National Science Day

In 1986, the National Council for Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC) asked the Government of India to designate 28 February as National Science Day. The event is now celebrated all over the country in schools, colleges, universities and other academic, scientific, technical, medical and research institutions. On the occasion of the first National Science Day on 30 May 2000, the NCSTC announced institution of the National Science Popularization awards for recognizing outstanding efforts in the area of science communication and popularization. Sir C. V. Raman worked at Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Kolkata, West Bengal, India during 1907 to 1933 on various topics of Physics making discovery of the celebrated effect on scattering of light in 1928, which bears his name and that brought many accolades including the Nobel Prize in 1930. The American Chemical Society designated the 'Raman Effect' as an International Historic Chemical Landmark in 2013.