Raman began his research into optics and acoustics (which later came to be the focus of his career) while still a student. While working another job, Raman was able to engage in experimental research on his own in the laboratory of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science at Calcutta. In 1917, he was offered the newly endowed Palit Chair of Physics at Calcutta University. After 15 years at Calcutta, he became Professor at the Indian Institute of Science at Bangalore (1933-1948), and since 1948 he served as Director of the Raman Institute of Research at Bangalore, which he established and endowed. Raman was knighted in 1929.
In 1922, he published his work on the "Molecular Diffraction of Light," the first of a series of investigations with his collaborators which ultimately led to his discovery of the radiation effect which bears his name. He discovered that when light traverses a transparent material, some of the light that is deflected changes in wavelength. This phenomenon is now called Raman scattering and is the result of the Raman effect.
Raman had a great impact on science in India, and he founded the Indian Journal of Physics and the Indian Academy of Sciences.
Information as of 1941