K. S. Krishnan

Sir Kariamanikkam Srinivasa Krishnan, FRS,[1] (4 December 1898 – 14 June 1961) was an Indian physicist. He was a co-discoverer of Raman scattering,[2] for which his mentor C. V. Raman was awarded the 1930 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Kariamanikkam Srinivasa Krishnan
K. S. Krishnan 1952 in London
Born(1898-12-04)4 December 1898
Watrap, Tamil Nadu, India
Died14 June 1961(1961-06-14) (aged 62)
NationalityIndian
Alma materThe American College in Madurai
Madras Christian College
Calcutta University
Known forRaman effect
Crystal Magnetism
Magneto Chemistry
Technique for measuring Magnetic anisotropy of magnetic crystals
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsPhysics
InstitutionsMadras Christian College
Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science
Dacca University
Allahabad University
National Physical Laboratory of India
Academic advisorsCV Raman

Early life

Kariamanikkam Srinivasa Krishnan generally referred to as K. S. Krishnan or KSK, was born on 4 December 1898 in Watrap, Tamil Nadu. 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. After gaining his degree in Physics he became a demonstrator in chemistry.[1]

Early career

In 1920, Krishnan went to work with C.V. Raman at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Kolkata (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, B.C. Guha, and Asutosh Mukherjee 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.[3][4]

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.[5][6]

Krishnan was elected as Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1940.[1] 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."[7]

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[8] and awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 1954.[9] He was the first recipient of the prestigious Bhatnagar Award in 1958.

On 4 January 1947. Dr. K. S. Krishnan was appointed as first director of National Physical Laboratory India. 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[10]

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

See also

References
  1. Lonsdale, D. K.; Bhabha, H. J. (1967). "Kariamanikkam Srinivasa Krishnan. 1898-1961". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 13: 244–255. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1967.0012. S2CID 71581323.
  2. Singh, R. (2002). "C. V. Raman and the Discovery of the Raman Effect". Physics in Perspective. 4 (4): 399–420. Bibcode:2002PhP.....4..399S. doi:10.1007/s000160200002. S2CID 121785335.
  3. by K.S. Krishnan, S. Banerjee, Volume 234, Issue 739 of Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London: Mathematical and physical sciences (1935). Further Studies on Organic Crystals. Harrison & Sons. p. 34.
  4. Santilal Banerjee, Kariamanickam Srinivasa Krishnan. Modern Magnetism. Cambridge University Press. p. 165.
  5. By A. B Pippard (1985). Response and stability: an introduction to the physical theory. Cambridge University Press. p. 134.
  6. Mahanti, Dr Subodh. "Kariamanikkam Srinivasa Krishnan". Vigyan Prasar Science Portal. Archived from the original on 23 December 2007.
  7. http://www2.royalsociety.org/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqSearch=RefNo==%27EC%2F1940%2F12%27&dsqCmd=Show.tcl
  8. London Gazette, 4 June 1946
  9. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 April 2009. Retrieved 7 December 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 23 December 2007. Retrieved 6 December 2007.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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