C V Raman, Abdul Kalam and Tessy Thomas- India’s Great Scientists| Essay by Navika,11, Noida
Who inspires you? 11-year-old Navika from Noida lists down in this essay, the great scientists – past and present – who have made an impression on her.
The well-known playwright and activist, George Bernard Shaw once quipped, “Science never solves a problem, without creating ten more.”
Perhaps, that’s the beauty of science – that it does not fear failure and is ready to be under the microscope in its journey to discover and invent the new. It is this call to be fearless and innovative that led many young men and women in India to take up science as their vocation and brought laurels to the country in the field of science and technology. I write about some of them who have inspired me.
Sir C.V. Raman or Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Rama, was an Indian physicist known for his work in the field of light scattering. He discovered that when light traverses through a transparent object, some deflected light changes wavelength. This phenomenon was subsequently known as the Raman scattering resulting from the Raman effect. For his discovery, he also received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930.
Another Indian scientist, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, gave India a new vision through his work in developing and operationalizing indigenous guided missiles such as AGNI and PRITHVI. This earned him the title of the ‘Missile Man of India’. There are also many more ways in which Dr. Kalam helped India in the field of science and technology. He directed projects to develop India’s first satellite launch (PSLV-I). Apart from directing projects, he led many nuclear tests at ‘Pokhran’ and he has developed the ‘Kalam-Raju tablet’, a tablet computer to help health care in remote regions.
Dr. Kalam won many prestigious awards for his excellent work. His philosophy of ‘follow your dreams’ has inspired millions of Indians to do what they love as one has rightly said that when you do what you love, success will always follow you.
Finally, we have an unsung scientist, an engineer, and a ‘Lal Bahadur Shastri Awardee,’ who is none other than Tessy Thomas.
Tessy Thomas is an Indian scientist and the first ever Indian woman scientist to lead an Indian missile project where she served as the project director of AGNI-IV.
These were just some of the millions of scientists who make India proud and will continue to do so in the generations to come with their amazing inventions and theories.
