Raman effect: History of the discovery

Abstract The paper gives a historical account of the discovery of the Raman Effect, starting from Raman's voyage to Europe through the Mediterranean Sea in the summer of 1921 to the observation of modified lines in benzene when illuminated by the 435.8 nm radiations of mercury, through a direct vision spectroscope, on 28 February 1928. The important contributions of Raman and his students during the period which form the progressive stages in the road to discovery have been briefly touched upon. The work of the French group, the Russian group and the theoretical work of Smekal are narrated in sequence.