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.

 Celebration

National science day is celebrated as one of the main science festivals in India every year during which students of the schools and colleges demonstrates various science projects as well as national and state science institutions demonstrates their latest researches. The celebration also includes public speech, radio-TV talk shows, exhibitions of science movie, science exhibition based on themes and concepts, watching night sky, live projects and researches demonstration, debates, quiz competitions, lectures, science models exhibitions and many more activities. It is celebrated every year with immense passion at the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (also called GMRT) at Khodad which is a worldwide famous telescope getting operated at low radio frequencies by the NCRA (National Centre for Radio Astrophysics) established by the TIFR (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research). Variety of activities is organized by the NCRA and GMRT at the ceremony of national science day celebration in order to recognize their leading research activities in the field of radio astronomy and astrophysics. Variety of programmes is also held for the common public and student community to popularize the science and technology in the country. The minister of science and technology give a message through his speech at this day to the students, scientists, researchers and general public of the nation. Objectives of Celebrating National Science Day

National Science Day is being celebrated every year to widely spread a message about the significance of scientific applications in the daily life of the people. To display the all the activities, efforts and achievements in the field of science for human welfare. To discuss all the issues and implement new technologies for the development of the science. To give an opportunity to the scientific minded citizens in the country. To encourage the people as well as popularize the Science and Technology.

Chandrashekara Venkata Raman

Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, was born on  7 November 1888. He was an Indian physicist whose ground breaking work in the field of light scattering earned him the 1930 Nobel Prize for Physics. He discovered that, when light traverses a transparent material, some of the deflected light changes in wavelength. This phenomenon is now called Raman scattering and is the result of the Raman effect.In 1954, he was honoured with the highest civilian award in India, the Bharat Ratna