Birthday of the Legendary C.V. RAMAN : The Man who saw Light Differently

Birthday of the Legendary C.V. RAMAN : The Man who saw Light Differently and helped in the Emergence of Modern Indian Science.

 

This day - November 7, marks the 132nd birth anniversary of Sir Chandrasekhar Venkata Raman -  C V Raman, the one and only Indian Scientist to win the Nobel Prize in Physics. Not just that, Raman also became the first Asian and a first non white Scientist to win the most coveted Nobel Prize in sciences, in the year 1930, for the discovery of the effect known after his name - The Raman Effect. Raman was born on 7th November, 1888 in a small town of Thirucherapalli, Tamil Nadu to R. Chandrasekhara Iyer and Parvathi Ammal. Raman received the coveted Nobel prize at a relatively young age of 42. Considering the fact that Raman did not start his career as a regular scientist, his achievement becomes all the more remarkable. Raman actually began his career as an Assistant Accountant General with the colonial Indian Finance Department in Calcutta in 1907 and served this post for nearly a decade before resigning from the post to start his full time career as a Palit Professor in Physics at the Calcutta University in 1917. During the period from 1907 to 1917, Raman worked part time at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, where he pursued his research and passion for science. Raman had barely worked for 13 years as a regular and professional scientist, before receiving his coveted Nobel Prize, which makes his achievements that much more praiseworthy. Raman must therefore mandatorily be considered as a scientist who deserves to remain alive in our history lessons to become a source of inspiration for generations to come. I was therefore of the opinion that our Indian media will do justice to this great legend - Sir C V Raman, by remembering him and writing about him on his birthday today. 

But then most unfortunately a look at the densely populated Times of India, Mumbai edition, and so also a cursory search through several other news and media, has revealed that there is no coverage of Raman’s birthday, barring a few passing reference here and there, in any of the major media, both print and electronic, which have continued to give major coverage to the Bihar and US elections and so also the Covid pandemic. What a travesty of justice and an indifference to this great scientist of India, who pushed those barriers of colonialism and slave mindset to make a mark not just for himself but also for our entire country and that too in the field of sciences, which was believed to be the sole fiefdom of the whites who had loads of money. Raman broke the myth that great science can only be practiced and performed in labs that invest tonnes of money on scientific research. 

Raman started his scientific career as a part time activity  in a nondescript building - with unkempt and ill equipped laboratory -  at the Indian Association for the Cultivation Science, Calcutta (IACS). It was here that Raman created his tryst with scientific destiny and discovered the Raman Effect on the evening of 28th February 1928, to earn the coveted Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930. The IACS, an eponymous Institute, was famously and laboriously created by yet another great Indian nationalist, Dr Mahendra Lal Sircar, who envisaged building an institute of excellence in science where Indian students could perform science in the very Institute created by an Indian for the Indians. It was here that Raman looked at light differently and laid the foundation, with his other illustrious fellow scientists, for the emergence of modern Indian science. Incidentally it was on the 21st of November 1970, that Sir CV Raman left for his heavenly abode and this year also marks the fiftieth year of his punya tithi. I earnestly hope that the media makes amends for their turning a blind eye to this great legend and extend him that mandated respect and reverence and cover him extensively while commemorating his fiftieth punya tithi, which is just two weeks from now. Raman, though not a believer, was firmly grounded in his beliefs in Indian ethos and traditions and sported his religious sacred thread conspicuously on his bare chest and that quintessential symbolic ‘pigtail’ was dangling behind his head, which was almost always covered by that trademark Raman Head gear.

As a science communicator and a science museum professional, what appeals to me most about Raman was his love for taking science to the children. Notwithstanding the fact that he was the most famous scientist in India, Raman loved to invest his time and interact with school children, a much needed attribute for scientists, particularly in India where scientific research is mostly public funded. Unfortunately, that is not the case and most of the Indian scientists shy away from interacting with  school students and feel that it may be a waste of time for the practising scientists to be away from their lab and scientific research work. We need role models for our children, who are a plenty when it comes to subjects like sports and cinema and these role models, be it the likes of Sachin Tendulkar or Amitabh Bachhan or the likes of Saina Nehwal and Aishwarya Rai, are covered day in and day out in the media and advertisements. The influence of such role models on young minds is there for every one to see. But then we hardly have any scientist role models, who get even a fraction of that media highlight, which the sports and cinema stalwarts receive in India and therefore it becomes that much more necessary for the practising scientists to directly interact with school students to be their role models. Raman was truly a great role model who loved to interact with school children.  One of the incident, which a renowned photojournalist TS Satyan narrates, highlights Raman’s interest in children and speaks of the extraordinary quality of Raman to connect very easily with children. Satyan says that a group of school children from the local school in Bangalore came calling at the Raman Research Institute, an institute, which Raman created with help from the Mysore Maharaja, where he continued his research post his retirement from the Indian Institute of Science until his last (1948-70). Satyan writes ‘Raman bubbled over with joy in the company of school children answering their questions in his characteristic, simple way’. Raman later guided them to a room saying: "I will show you something beautiful." One of the research interests of Raman, while spending his time at the Raman Research Institute, was in minerals, stones and gems. Raman guided the students to one of the rooms in the Institute where he had stored a variety of stones of many sizes and shapes, besides crystals, diamonds and minerals, which were beautifully displayed in the dark walled room. Raman then suddenly switched off the lights in the room. Standing in the centre of the dark room, he switched on a portable ultra violet lamp and directed his lamp on the stones and minerals, which were exhibited in the room. The stones and minerals came alive and began to glow in breathtaking bright colours - violet, indigo, blue etc and in their myriad combinations. A bright little girl screamed in joy "Alice in wonderland". Delighted, Raman joyously hugged her and planted a soft kiss on her tender cheek. Such was his innate love for children and he was quite innovative in exciting the young minds to the fascinating world of science. Having shown the children the beauty of nature, which for Raman was central to scientific research, Raman went on to explain the scientific basis of the phenomena of fluorescence and phosphorescence. He also took children around the campus showing them colourful flowers and also spoke about the discovery of what came to be known as the Raman Effect, which concerns the molecular diffraction of light that won him the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1930. It is such experience that motivate children to pursue science as their career and that too with passion. I would therefore like to dedicate this post of my reverence to Raman to the cause of Science.

C.V. Raman, can be rightly described as one of the key architect who laid the foundation for modern science in India. Raman and some of his illustrious colleagues at Kolkata, which included among others, JC Bose, P C Ray, MN Saha, S N Bose, are befittingly credited to be the founders of the Indian Scientific Renaissance, a period of great reckoning for science in India. They excelled in scientific research bringing in name and fame to the Indian Science during the pre-independence era. The period from the early twentieth century to the epoch year 1947, when India attained its independence, is of great importance for Indian science. Although it is considered that the inception of western science in India is of recent origin, it is a matter on records that India did produce eminent scientists during the pre independence period and the scientific research that emanated from India during this period is of international repute. Raman and his colleagues made their mark in the world of Western science by their original contributions during the early decades of the twentieth century. Raman was amongst the pioneers of that period, self-taught and fully self-trained, who, while pursuing research on his own, created a new ambience and a new school of thought for scientific research in India.

Raman’s association with the city of Joy, Kolkata, is legendary. It was in this city that Raman once again fell in love with his passion for science on seeing the historical ‘Indian Association for Cultivation of Science (IACS)’ board, while travelling in a tram on way to his office as the Assistant Accountant General, a highly lucrative job of the Indian Financial Services with the British Indian Government. The rest, what they say, is history, which ultimately led Raman to the most coveted Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930. This year due to the Covid pandemic Raman’s birthday celebrations have been muted in most scientific institutions including in science museums. However, I am reminded of last years celebrations, which coincided with the India International Science Festival that was organised at our sister unit, Science City, Kolkata. To commemorate  Raman’s birthday last year, the city of Joy chose a brilliant, Guinness Book record winning idea in which nearly 1600 students of classes VI to XI from different schools from across the country attended a lecture on astrophysics at the Science City, Kolkata, to set a new record in the Guinness Book of World Records. This was one of several events,  which were  organised during the fifth edition of the India International Science Festival (IISF) at Science City. Another interesting feature of the event was that all the students who participated in the event were engaged in the making of a small model of an advanced low cost spectroscope, with cardboard, during a practical experiment session that followed the lecture. The low cost spectroscope equipment was meant to inspire students that Raman produced his monumental findings using such low cost scientific instrument to discover the Raman effect. Raman had used a low cost, locally built Spectrometer at the IACS and this instrument, which costed him less than 500₹,  helped him and his associates in recording their experimental readings, which led to the discovery of  the Raman effect and the Nobel Prize in Physics for the year 1930.  

Raman and his students developed the Spectroscope while working at the IACS some times during the period from 1924 to 27.  The path breaking experiments, which were carried out at the IACS using this instrument, culminated in the publication of the findings of a ‘new light’, which was first published in the renowned international magazine, Nature, in 1928. This very instrument, which won Raman the Nobel Prize, was one of the six precious antiquity objects that were sent from India to be a part of the historic exhibition ‘Illumination India - 5000 years of science and Innovation’ that was exhibited at the London Science Museum from October 2017 to April 2018. I was honoured and privileged to be the national coordinator for this coveted exhibition. This historic exhibition was one of the major events to commemorate the India - UK year of Culture. Our Honourable Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi ji, paid a visit to this exhibition in London in April 2018. Fourteen significant objects of importance were sent for the exhibition from India, which included six antiquity objects - including Raman’s original Spectroscope, and 8 other non antiquity objects.

The original Raman Spectrometer is now with the IACS and it had 6 different components, namely the Mercury Vapor Lamp, Collimating Lens, the Sample holder, the Collecting lens, the Violet Filter. The original Raman Spectrometer, which was sent for the exhibition was not in working condition as the inner contraptions of the spectrometer were missing. This instrument was originally used to identify materials that display Raman Scattering, a scattering of light which will depend on the medium through which the light gets scattered and the wavelength of the scattered light will change according to the medium and will be higher or lower in frequency. This was completely a path breaking finding. Sir, C V Raman got the Nobel Prize for the discovery of an effect named after him in the year 1930, using this very instrument. On completion of the exhibition the Raman Spectrometer along with other antiquity objects returned back to India and the Raman spectrometer is now in the custody of IACS, the very institute where Raman developed and used this instrument.

Raman was an extraordinarily precious child excelling in academics all through his career. Raman’s father served initially as a school teacher and later became a lecturer in mathematics and physics in a college in Vishakhapatnam. Raman studied in St. Aloysius Anglo-Indian High School at Vishakhpatnam from where he passed his matriculation examination at a very young age of 11 years, in 1899. At the age of 13 he passed his F.A. examination (equivalent to today’s intermediate examination) with a scholarship. He then moved to Madras and joined the Presidency College in 1902 from where he completed his B.A. in physics in 1904. He topped the exams and won the gold medal. Three years later, he earned his M.A. degree in 1907. His interest in science was kindled from a very young age. Raman got two of his initial research papers published in the Philosophical Magazine UK, when he was still pursuing his MA degree in Madras. He received a letter from Lord Rayleigh, the eminent scientist, addressing  Raman as “Professor Raman”, not knowing that Raman, the author of the paper, was  still a student and was just nineteen years of age. During this period in India the best possible career opportunities for the bright students were the Indian Civil Services, the former avatar of the modern day Indian Administrative Service - IAS, which continues to be a coveted career even today. But then for competing for the ICS it was mandatory for the aspirants to travel to London for appearing for this exam. Unfortunately Raman was too frail and the doctors advised his parents that Raman will not be able to endear this long and arduous sea journey. Therefore Raman’s father advised Raman to try for the next best possible career option, which was the Indian Financial Services. Raman qualified in the Indian Financial Services Exam and was selected to serve as the Assistant Accountant General in the British Government. His first posting was in the city of Calcutta. He moved to Calcutta in the year 1907 and joined the British government service as the Assistant Accountant General. Serendipitously, one day while travelling in the tram to his office, Raman came across a board on the Bow Bazar Street  titled ‘Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science’ (IACS), which completely changed the career path of Raman in the years ahead.

On his return back from office to home, Raman dropped in at the IACS office to enquire about the institute. The IACS was laboriously and painstakingly created by the legendary Dr Mahendra Lal Sircar, a nationalist who envisaged building an institute of excellence in science where Indian students could perform science in the very Institute created by an Indian for the Indians. Raman’s love for experimental science bloomed in the dusty ambience of IACS, which in a way is inextricably linked to the Indian Renaissance in science. It was this very place where Raman worked, part time, painstakingly on his passion that compelled him to let go of a highly lucrative career with the British Government in the financial services,  to settle for a lesser salary job at the Calcutta University - as the Palit Professor. Interestingly enough the Palit Professor position, which was offered to Raman by the great Prof. Ashutosh Mukherjee, the Vice Chancellor of Calcutta University who was also the father of Shyamaprasad Mukherjee, had a condition for the Palit Professorship that the incumbent of the chair must mandatorily be trained abroad. However, Prof Ashutosh Mukherjee knowing the merit and scholastics that Raman possessed for the job, managed to convince his senate to overlook this condition, which Raman did not fulfil,  to offer this position to Raman. Raman had never travelled abroad nor did he  have any western training in science. This new opportunity, so graciously given by Prof Ashutosh Mukherjee, provided Raman a chance to represent the Calcutta University in a conference in England in the year 1921.  By then Raman had already produced some of the best scientific works at the IACS and he had already attained some reputation in the study of optics and acoustics. Raman’s works were known to the English physicists J. J. Thomson and Lord Rutherford, who gave Raman a warm reception in England, during his tour. Raman’s specialty had been the study of the vibrations and sounds of stringed instruments such as the violin, the Indian veena and tanpura and so also the Indian percussion instruments, the tabla and the mridangam, which he had proved had some unique characteristics that produced pure harmonics unlike the western percussion instruments. Raman made an impression on his western counterparts including the legendary JJ Thomson and Rutherford during his stay in England. 

It was the return trip from London to Bombay, aboard the SS Narkunda that would change forever the direction of Raman’s future interest in science. During the fifteen-day return voyage, Raman became fascinated with the deep blue color of the Mediterranean. He was not inclined to accept the widely believed Lord Rayleigh’s explanation that the color of the sea was just a reflection of the color of the sky. He therefore proceeded to outline his thoughts on the matter while still at sea and sent a letter to the editors of the journal, Nature, as soon as his ship docked in Bombay (Mumbai now). A little time later Raman was able to show conclusively that the color of the sea was the result of the scattering of sunlight by the water molecules. Raman  then became obsessed with the phenomenon of light scattering. Immediately on his return to Calcutta, he and his group began an extensive series of experiments and measurements of light scattered primarily by liquids but also by some solids. In less than an year after his return from England - in 1922  - Raman published his work on the “Molecular Diffraction of Light”,  the first of a series of investigations with his collaborators, which ultimately led to his ultimate discovery, on the 28th of February, 1928, of the radiation effect which bears his name (“A new radiation”, Indian J. Phys., 2 (1928) 387). One of his collaborator for this work was Dr K S Krishnan, who some people believed must have been recognised equally for the Nobel Prize. As a matter of fact, although Krishan and others worked with Raman on this subject at the IACS, it was truly Raman who firmly believed that the scattered light was a new radiation, which produced higher or lower frequency in the scattered light depending on the medium through which it passed. In one of the interviews that Krishnan has given, he firmly says that the credit for the discovery must mandatorily go to Raman, his guru and that he and his associates were incidental to the path breaking discovery by Raman. The controversy gained impetus, courtesy some politics, which provided momentum to the issue, after Raman was conferred the Nobel Prize.

It was on the 16th March, 1928 in Bangalore that Raman for the first time talked about their new discovery, in a public function.  Raman began his lecture in Bangalore with these prophetic words “ I propose this evening to speak to you on a new kind of radiation or light emission from atoms and molecules.” Professor Raman delivered this lecture to the South Indian Science Association in Bangalore. Raman, during the course of his lecture, described the discovery that, according to him, resulted from a deceptively simple experiment. This famous experiment was conducted by Raman and his colleagues at the IACS, Kolkata, far away from those great centres  of scientific research in the Western world. They had used the simplest of inexpensive equipment for their measurement. Although Raman’s original experiments were done by visual observation, precise measurements were made with their low cost spectrograph, which they had fabricated. Raman and his students, during their initial experiments, used only a mercury lamp, a flask of benzene, and a direct vision pocket spectroscope. The results that they obtained went on to capture the attention of scientists around the world and bring many accolades, including the Nobel Prize to Raman.

Raman was known for his immodesty and one such instance, which exhibits his immodesty was witnessed in Calcutta. Raman’s travel to London in 1921 and his interaction with the scientists had ensured that his works at IACS were recognised and Raman was nominated for the Fellowship of the Royal Society, London. He was subsequently elected to this prestigious body in 1924. During one of the reception parties that Raman attended in 1924 in recognition of his election to the coveted FRS, Raman is believed to have famously and immodestly stated that in less than five years he will be awarded the Nobel Prize, which later on turned out to be a reality.  Raman’s immodesty, his famous ill-tempered, autocratic and arrogant approach was probably also responsible for some of the antagonism, which in a way continued to  trouble him later in his career.  This coupled with politics and parochialism led to Raman’s ouster from the institute he loved most, the IACS. True to his immodest statement of claim, which he had made while hosting a party for his election to the prestigious FRS in 1924, that he will receive the Nobel Prize in the next five years, Raman indeed was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930. But then this coveted recognition for Raman was the beginning of a long standing rivalry between him and Meghnad Saha another great scientist from Bengal. Saha too was an aspirant for the Nobel Prize, which most unfortunately eluded him. Moreover Saha had to move out of Calcutta to take the teaching position in Allahabad and it was not until Raman moved out of Calcutta that Saha could return back to his city Calcutta. Saha also believed that Raman was patronising South Indians at the IACS and that was at the cost of the Bengalis. All these incidents were to have a long lasting impact on the relationship between Raman and Saha. The Bengali Bhadralok’s in Calcutta started a movement in the name of Bangla Nationalism to get rid of Raman. The Nobel Prize also added to the accentuated immodest  behaviour of Raman, which only complicated the matters. By the end of 1932 the fissures started coming out in the open and there were letters to the editor in the local newspapers against Raman’s management of the IACS and the Palit Professorship. The accusations were that he had only south Indians around himself as scholars, and that physics was given too much prominence, to the exclusion of other sciences. Adding to the allegations were the major grouse that Bengalis were being sidelined in their own state. This ultimately resulted in Raman’s decision to hesitantly move out of Calcutta, the city he had made home, once and for all. In 1932 he permanently shifted to Bangalore after spending 25 long years in Calcutta.  Raman was at the receiving end of his behaviour and political opportunism of his detractors even in Bangalore. 

By the time Raman left Calcutta, the IACS and the School of Physics in the University of Calcutta had made spectacular progress in several areas. Raman’s stay at Calcutta was a  'golden era' for Physics in India. Several monumental and international standards research happened in the field of Physics at Calcutta, including works on musical instruments and of course the Raman Effect. In one of the short biographies published on Raman by P. Krishnamurthy, in 1938, he gives a list of about eighty five students who worked with Raman at Calcutta. He also lists some of the prominent areas in which Raman and his collaborators were engaged in research and the list also includes the number of research papers in these areas which are shown in parentheses. Vibrations and Sound (31); Theory of Musical Instruments (30); Wave-optics (65); Colloids (20); Molecular Scattering of Light (65); X-rays and Electron Diffraction (45); Magnetism and Magneto- optics (40); Electro-optics and Dielectrics (10); Raman Effect (100); Viscosity of Liquids (16); Atomic Spectra (8); Optical and Elastic properties of Solids (20). Krishnamurthy also states that among these published papers Raman was co-author of about 170 papers. It was not just the vast number of papers which are creditworthy but the quality of research was truly international that caught the attention of the leading scientists of the world.

JN Tata, a benevolent industrialist par excellence and a nationalist with the spirit of humanism, had conceived an Institute or University, which he intended to establish in Bangalore with an objective of providing a facility for higher learning to Indians. He was motivated to think about this institute while listening to a speech by Lord Reay, the Governor of Bombay, in 1889. Finally the seeds of developing a higher learning institute of excellence, which were sowed in the minds of JN Tata, became a reality and the Tata Institute (Indian Institute of Science now) was established in the year 1909. The institute started with three departments which were primarily focusing on applied sciences. Most of the faculty at the institute were Europeans, primarily the British including the Director of the Institute. In the year 1931, in anticipation of the fact that Sir Martin Fraser, who was the Director of the Institute, was to retire from the post of Director in early 1933, the Tatas approached the Royal Society, London, and requested them to suggest an appropriate successor, preferably an Indian, to Sir Martin Forster.  Rutherford, the Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, who was then the President of the Royal Society, suggested Raman's name, who by then was conferred with the Nobel Prize. Raman’s name for the post of Director of the Institute was later approved by two selection Committees, one in England and one in India. 

Raman took over the Directorship of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore in July 1933 shifting his base completely from Calcutta to Bangalore. When Raman assumed the charge of the Director of the IISC, the institute did not have a Physics Department. Moreover the research output of the Institute was not significant either by way of quality or quantity. Raman, having been a witness to the quality and quantity of the scientific research that was produced at Calcutta in IACS and the Calcutta University, felt that the IISC had become quite a ‘sleepy place’ where little work was done by a large number of “well paid people". He therefore was in a hurry to act quickly and reorganize the functioning of the Institute so that results could be seen and seen fast. Subconsciously the first thing that came to his mind to improve the situation was to start a Physics Department. He also set out to reorganise the existing Departments including the workshops. This was a time when scientists from Germany were prepared to move out of Germany. He also believed that brining in non-British European scientists to work for the institute will be beneficial to the restructuring of the Institute. Raman therefore sent out request letters to some of these scientists including to Max Bom and Erwin Schoedinger and asked them to visit or even take up long term appointments at the IISc. Although his objectives were for the larger good of the Institute, there was resentment amongst the British faculty in the Institute against this decision of Raman to invite non British Europeans as faculty members at IISc. Raman knew that most nations were making attempts to recruit German physicists fleeing the new Nazi regime and therefore he was firmly of the opinion that India too should not loose this opportunity. He therefore had managed to attract Max Born to Bangalore in 1935 on a temporary readership, which Raman intended to convert into a new chair in Mathematical Physics.

The appointment raised hackles among the faculty. An English professor of Electrical Engineering described Born as a “second-rate foreigner”. Others with nationalist commitments wanted an Indian appointed – Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, who was on the IISc council, was campaigning for a Bengali candidate. There were other reason for friction between Raman and his detractors one of which was the resentment building against Raman’s emphasis on physics. Raman had established Physics department even while the institute was facing budget cuts in the era of the Great Depression. Raman had established the physics department with a capital that nearly equalled the combined annual contributions of the Tatas, the Government of India and the Government of Mysore to the Institute. The resulting reorganisation of the other departments, together with an emphasis on hands-on workshop training also caused resentment among the the class-conscious faculty members.

The Director of the IISc was to function under the aid and advise of IISC Council, which most unfortunately had several of Raman's detractors, including Professor Meghnad Saha and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee with whom Raman had developed serious differences while at Calcutta. Therefore Raman’s plans for the improvement of the IISc did not go well with his detractors. His plans to invite non European scientists, though was very well intentioned,  became an Achilles heels for Raman and eventually on the issue of appointing Max Born, as Professor of Mathematical Physics, the Council outvoted Raman and got a Review Committee appointed to look into the affairs of the Institute under Raman. Here too Raman was at a disadvantage. The Committee mostly consisted of Raman’s detractors and included Sir James Irvine, Vice- Chancellor of St. Andrews University, Dr.S.S. Bhatnagar, Professor of Chemistry in Punjab University, Lahore and Dr. A.H. Mackenzie, Pro- Chancellor of Osmania University. The outcome of the committees finding became a foregone conclusion even before the committee submitted its formal report. When the report was submitted by the committee, it was not at all charitable to Raman and the politics was evident in its report. Shyamaprasad Mukherjee, the son of Ashutosh Mukherjee who had famously side stepped a mandated requirement for the appointment of Palit Professor to offer this Chair to Raman at Calcutta, played a role which was diametrically opposite to the patronage that his father provided to Raman. All this led to the inevitable resignation of Raman from the position of the Director of the Institute. Raman was baselessly targeted for some ill doings in the institute. Raman could serve as the Director of the Institute for just around four years from 1933 to 1937. However, even after he submitted his resignation from the position of Director of the Institute, Raman continued to work at the institute as Professor of Physics until his retirement in 1948, from the IISc.

Raman had major differences even with Pandit Nehru and he firmly believed that Nehru had his priorities wrong in investing majorly in institutes like the CSIR, which was the brainchild of Bhatnagar. He cautioned Nehru that major investments in CSIR, Atomic Energy etc, will be at the cost of the university research, which he felt would be adversely effected. He coined the phrase “Nehru- Bhatnagar effect” to describe the mushrooming of CSIR laboratories in the 1950s, predicting they would achieve little despite the massive sums spent. Raman also has to his credit mentoring two of the best minds of India - Homi Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai who worked with Raman at the IISc. Bhabha and Sarabhai are the founding fathers of DAE and ISRO, two jewels in the Indian science. Raman was also a great mentor and a great teacher, who was so very committed to his students that it is said that he preferred to stay back with his students who were preparing their dissertation, rather than accept the invitation of the Honourable President of India to be his guest at the Rashtrapati Bhavan for receiving the Bharat Ratna award, which was bestowed on Raman. Raman also became the first National Professor. 

Post his retirement from IISc, Raman spent all his time and energy for the next 22 years of his life in establishing the Raman Research Institute, with help from the Mysore Maharaja who helped him with 11 acres of land for the establishment of the RRI. Raman continued to remain active with his research at RRI and he was also associated with the activities of the Indian Academy of Sciences, an institution , which he had founded in 1934. Raman, apart from his sustained interest in the standard fields of Optics and Acoustics, was also engaged in other areas of science which included varied topics such as the structure of crystals (especially diamond), the plumage of birds, the colors exhibited by minerals, the colors of flowers, the perception of light by the eye and the theory of hearing, the science of meteorology and so on. Perhaps, the most well-known contribution, which Raman made during this period was on the diffraction of light by high frequency sound waves, now known as the Raman - Nath theory. 

Raman, perhaps did not  participate actively in freedom movement nor was he actively engaged in any of the political activities. But then that in no way must take away the merit of his nationalistic feelings. Raman, in one of his interviews has said ‘National awakening has got other fields than politics in which it can show itself. ... I think scientific endeavour has certainly a national value, and I have heard it said that what Indian scientists, particularly physicists have done, has helped more to raise the esteem of India in the world than recent political events.” He made this statement in an interview to the Free Press of India after he was awarded the Nobel Prize. Raman had his own way to show his patriotism. There is also an apocryphal belief that Raman had tears in his eyes while receiving the Nobel Prize at the Nobel Ceremony standing under the Union Jack and not under an Indian Flag, which also alludes to his patriotism and nationalistic feelings. 

Today while the major national dailies and media has completely forgotten the legendary Raman’s birthday, I join millions of scientific community in India and abroad in remembering this colossal I dian scientists whose contributions will ever remain etched in golden letters in the annals of history of modern science in India. May you continue to remain in the hearts and minds of people Prof Raman.

Karnataka Rajyotsav Day.

 Karnataka Rajyotsav Day.

It was on this date, 1st November, 1956, that a new state, Mysore, was born out of a divided Kannada speaking people, who were until then torn between different provinces, that the colonial rulers had put them under. On this day in 1956, courtesy the recommendations of a Committee constituted by Government of India, all the Kannada speaking people were brought together to form the Mysore state, which later became Karnataka State in 1973. The genesis for the reorganization and  formation of states on linguistic lines goes back to the beginning of the 1950, when Potti Sreeramulu,  a freedom fighter, anointed his fast unto death agitation demanding formation of the state of Andhra Pradesh, based on the Telugu language. 

Karnataka is resplendent with world renowned architecture evidenced under the rule of different kingdoms, be it the mighty Chalukyas, the Hoysala, Vijaynagar, Adilshahi, Wodeyars, the Rashtrakutas. It is home to the largest number of the majestic Tigers, Elephants and is a land of Sandalwood and coffee. The rich Kannada literature has helped eight of the scholars to be bestowed with the highest literary award - the Jnanpith award. It is dubbed the silicon valley of India, whose strength created that fear even for Barack Obama, who spoke of people of Buffalo loosing jobs to Bangaloreans,  thus making the word Bangalored enter into the lexicon of the English dictionary. 

The formation of states on linguistic basis started with the struggle and agitation by the Telugu-speaking people, in the begining of 1950s, who wanted a separate state of their own. Unfortunately the Madras State led by C Rajagopalachari, was not particularly sympathetic to this  demand.  Pandit Nehru was swayed by the sentiments and opinion of Rajagopalachari and therefore he too was not very sympathetic to the demands of the Telugu speaking people. This led to an agitation, which was spearheaded by Potti Sreeramulu, who started that quintessential Gandhian style of satyagraha - fast unto death - on 19 October, 1952. The then prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, assured his support for the creation of Andhra Pradesh and requested Potti Sreeramulu to end his fast. But since there was no written commitment nor was a formal public statement made to this effect by Nehru, Sreeramulu continued with his fast. This led to the spread of agitation in the Telugu speaking region of the Madras state and resulted in public unrest. On that eventful day - 15 December 1952 - Sreeramulu died after about 58 days of his fasting. His death resulted in widespread rioting and violence in many regions in Andhra. A few people were killed in firing by the police. Protests continued and when things seem to take uglier turn, on 29 December, Pandit Nehru announced his decision to form a separate Andhra state on linguistic basis. Accordingly, on 1 October, 1953, the Andhra State was formed with its capital at Kurnool, near to my native place Raichur. 

The formation of Andhra Pradesh led to the reorganisation of the Indian states on the basis of languages. In August 1956, Parliament enacted the States Reorganisation Act, which called for states to be redrawn along linguistic lines by November 1 of that year. And one of the states to be formed on the basis on this Act was the state of Mysore, which was formed on  1st November, 1956 that later became the state of Karnataka in 1973.  Until 1956, the states in India had largely retained the political boundaries left by the British. The state of Mysore was formed out of four different parts of India, which had majorly the Kannada speaking population namely ; - Mysuru Karnataka, Mumbai Karnataka, Kalyan Karnataka and parts of Madras Presidency.  The States Reorganisation Act of 1956, which was based on linguistic division has enabled people to nurture and promote their language and their respective culture in which the language is inextricably intertwined with culture. 

Some of the prominent leading lights of the state of Karnataka include Ranna, Pampa, Basavaveshwara, Allama Prabhu, Akkamahadevi, Sarvgna, Shishunala Sharif, Kuvempu, Bendre, Shivraam Karanth, Masti, Gokak, Karnad in literature. Much before the first war of Independence waged by the legendary Rani Jhansi, Kittur Channamma in Karnataka had blown the bugle of freedom from the British and was helped by her strong man Sangolli Rayanana. 

https://khened.blogspot.com/2019/10/sangolli-rayanna-forgotten-freedom.html

Anubhava Mantapa was one of the foremost democratic parliamentary style of governance, which began in Karnataka during the 12th century, much before what we now know as parliamentary democracies began anywhere in the world and this was led by Basaveshwara, a remarkable visionary.

https://khened.blogspot.com/2020/04/basava-jayanti-birth-anniversary-of.html

Here is another blogpost on the majestic Ibrahim Roza : https://khened.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-majesty-of-ibrahim-rauza-monument.html

A birds eye view and a tapestry of the state and its vibrant culture can be seen in the accompanying visuals, courtesy Wiki Commons. 

Wishing you all a very happy Karnataka Rajyotsava Day.

Birth Centenary of Abdul Rahim Appabhai Almelkar : A Tribute.

 Birth Centenary of  Abdul Rahim Appabhai Almelkar : A Tribute.

Images : Courtesy NGMA, Mumbai.

This day, 10th October, 2020, marks the birth centenary of Abdul Rahim Appabhai Almelkar (10th October1920 - 12th December 1982), a well known artist known for his own distinct ‘Almelkar style’, which was inspired by Indian miniatures. The NGMA, Mumbai has an outstanding collections of Almelkar. Of the 1456 art collections, which NGMA Mumbai has in its collections, nearly 1200 of the works are that of Almelkar. It was therefore no wonder that the NGMA, Mumbai, developed a major retrospective exhibition of Almelkar titled ‘AA Almelkar : Inspiration and Impact‘. This exhibition was curated by Shri Suhas Bahulkar. I had the honour to be the Director of NGMA, Mumbai when this exhibition was planned, curated and hosted at NGMA Mumbai and subsequently at NGMA Bangalore. 

Although Almelkar works formed major collections of NGMA, Mumbai, yet there was not a single well researched and curated exhibition of the works of Almelkar.  Fortunately the then Advisory Committee of NGMA Mumbai, under the chairpersonship of Dr. Pheroza Godrej, rightfully decided and recommended that NGMA Mumbai must present a curated retrospective exhibition that is primarily centered on the collections of the works of Almelkar, from NGMA Mumbai collections. The recommendations of the committee provided a much needed impetus for planning this exhibition, abiding to all the rules and procedures that underpin the functioning of the NGMA and planning an art exhibitionM which befits the stature of the NGMA. The result was an exhibition which was titled  ‘A A Almelkar: Inspiration and Impact’. This exhibition was very well researched and curated by Mr Suhas Bahulkar.

Almekar played an important role in the history of Indian Art. His style of paintings, which depicted rural and tribal life & culture, made his work distinctive and unique. Decorative elements dominated his works and made the compositions very diverse, innovative and ingenious. His works were influenced by the cultural ingredients prevalent in the Indian art world during the first half of the twentieth century. The use of texture and the synthetic graceful lines were the soul of his paintings. His works also reveal a simple unassuming art with brilliant rhythmic fluid lines, local colours, people and landscapes that were predominantly a visual documentation of western India.

Almelkar was obsessed by traditional values of Indian art and by Indian ethos, while the Progressive Artists Group, who were making a major mark on the Mumbai art scene,  was challenging all forms of traditional art traditions in Mumbai. Almelkar started working vigorously on his Indian style and remained faithful to it all through his life. The experimental modernists from the Bombay Progressive Group, dismissed his style in derogatory terms and stated that  ‘he recites the same old Raga’. Almelkar remained unfazed and never took their comments seriously. He had deep faith in the roots of Indian Art and truly believed in the traditional methods. He had no support for his style of art, yet he was  confident to lead a lonely crusade against the well established artists who identified themselves as ‘Modernists’. It was a period when the art  movement in India was divided in two major streams, one led by radical reformists, which included eminent artists like Souza, Husain, Raza and others from the Progressive group and the other explored by artists like Almelkar and few other the traditionalists. 

Almelkar created his paintings by making a skillful use of luminous colours and decorative elements in a variety of compositions. Bahulkar, the curator of the exhibition, often said that Almelkar applied colours with his fingers instead of brush. Texture created by jute, comb and rags was the hallmark of Almelkar’s style. His paintings were completed after defining the contours with lyrical and tender black lines. Almelkar was known for his landscapes, which he painted with emotive colours. His paintings bear a signature of his attraction to Indian miniatures. His other works included, paintings based on kings and consorts, heroes and heroines and Raga-Raginis of the Hindustani music.  Subsequently he spent a major part of his time in to studying the primitive world of adivasis, which he has depicted in most of his drawings that are in the collections of NGMA, Mumbai. He has painted Indian villages in their full diversity exhibiting their rich culture along with nature, birds and animals, which are a treat for the eyes.

He visited several tribal areas, forests, villages all across the western India, especially Rajasthan, Gujarat, Kutch, Maharashtra and the whole of the western costal line right up to Kerala, to make a visual documentation survey of people and their natural landscape. He remained largely untouched by the influence of his peer groups who were mostly impacted by the western world aesthetics, classics or subjects. He never followed any typical school of traditional art, though he had worked with different mediums such as oil on canvas, water color on paper, predominantly ink, and pencil line drawings on papers. Almelkar was majorly inspired by the Ajanta and Ellora Buddhist murals, frescos and sculptures. His works bear true signs of his perfect and minute observations,  which can be witnessed in his paintings that depict plants, animals, birds, hills, mountains, rivers, towns, villages etc. There are very few artists who exhibit a particular signature style of art, as does Almelkar, and therefore the Almelkar retrospective exhibition at the National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, was a befitting tribute to this truly deserving artist, who most unfortunately has not been given the due that he rightfully deserves. 

Mr Suhas Bahulkar who was chosen by NGMA Mumbai to curate the retrospective exhibition of Almelkar, was well acquainted with Almelkar and he had also invited Almelkar for a demonstration at Sir. J.J. School of Art, while he served there as a teacher. Bahulkar’s personal association with the artist was vividly seen in the passion with which he was involved in this exhibition, which he titled ‘A. A. Almelkar - Inspiration and Impact’.  The exhibition consisted majorly selection of sketches and paintings from the collection of NGMA, Mumbai. Bahulkar also collected a wide variety of archival materials that included photographs, original letters, articles and documents related to his works and exhibitions, which formed a part of the exhibition. The collections of the archival information was an outcome of an overwhelming response from Almelkar's intimate friends and their families from various places like Mumbai, Pune, Solapur, Nagpur etc. Almelkars family also extended a whole hearted support for the exhibition. The copious amount of archival material collected by Suhas Bahulkar was used in the well researchedM visually rich exhibition catalogue, which was published by NGMA Mumbai. The result was on expected line and the exhibition was a grand success. Interestingly enough Almelkar, who hails from the Solapur, which adjoins its area with its neighbouring districts of Bijapur and Gulbarga in Karnataka, is quite famous in Karnataka as well and therefore it was no wonder that the then Chairman of the Advisory committee of NGMA Bangalore decided to host this exhibition in NGMA Bangalore, where too the exhibition was very successful. 

Almelkar was a recipient of 20 Gold Medals, 24 Silver Medals and several cash awards. He had organised 44 exhibitions in India and abroad. On the occasion of his birth centenary, I take this opportunity to pay my tribute to this great artist. May he continue to remain in the hearts and minds of people.

MADAM’ Moment in Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the Year 2020

 MADAM’ Moment in Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the Year 2020

The Nobel Prize in chemistry, 2020 was announced yesterday and it has been  awarded to ‘Madam’ scientists Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier for their pioneering work on the development of CRISPR tool for gene editing, a discovery that holds out the possibility of curing genetic diseases. This years Nobel Prize in Chemistry is an extraordinary moment for the global scientific community since it is a rarity that Nobel Prizes are awarded exclusively for lady scientists. This historic ‘Madam’ moment is significant considering the fact that the Nobel club is majorly populated by gentlemen scientists, particularly in the field of sciences and that there  are only seven scientists including Marie Curie - winner of two Nobel Prizes, and her daughter Irene Juliet Curie and this years winners  Charpentier and Doudna, among the 182 scientists who have received this coveted Nobel prize in Chemistry till date. 

The word ‘Madam’ used in the caption of my article in a way is quite significant for this years Chemistry Nobel prize. It reveals the very nature of the works for which the two Madam scientists - Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna, have received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry and will share the prize money of 10 Million Sweedish Krones. They have been awarded the prestigious Nobel Prize Prize in Chemistry for this year, in recognition of their scientific research, which has led to the development of a technological tool that can be used for editing the very book of life - Genome editing. Their discovery, known as CRISPR-Cas9, helps researchers to make specific and precise modifications to the DNA contained in living cells. The term CRISPR is an acronym for Clustered Regularly Interspersed Short Palindromic Repeat. Palindromic represents a word or a sentence, which reads the same both backward and forward. Take for example the word ‘Madam’, used specifically in the title of the article. It reads the same when read both ways ; forward and backwards. The two Nobel ‘Madam’ laureates have harvested the fundamental scientific understanding  of this naturally occurring palindromic biochemistry phenomenon -  a region of DNA in which the sequence of nucleotides is identical with an inverted sequence in the complementary strand (GAATTC is a palindrome of CTTAAG), to develop their CRISPR - CAS9 technique. The CRISPR/Cas9 is a gene-editing tool that can be used to remove, add, or change a portion of the DNA sequence of a target gene of interest. It is based on a quintessential “cut-and-paste” mechanism, which we routinely use in our document editing, in which the enzyme Cas9 is guided toward a specific DNA region with the help of a small guide RNA molecule. This path breaking technique and use of the guide RNA has opened up a revolutionary way forward for harvesting immeasurable applications of this technology, which are destined to present themselves in the form of therapeutic medicines for genetic disorders like the sickle cells, haemophilia etc. 

According to a recent report (5th October 2020), Genome Editing Market by Application (Cell Line Engineering, Animal Genetic Engineering, Plant Genetic Engineering), the market valuation of this CRISPR - CAS 9 and other similar technologies, is estimated to be valued at around 10 Billion US Dollars by 2026. It is also estimated that there will be an increase in government support for the biotech and pharmaceutical companies in the better treatment of genetic diseases using this technique. Industry captains are certain that this technology will lead to a paradigm shift in investments in the field of genetic engineering and that its impact will be felt across biomedical research, clinical medicine, agriculture and wider society, besides its potential to treat or prevent human diseases particularly the genetic disorders. The current Covid 19 pandemic will accentuate the governmental support and investment in such technologies. India in a way is a leading global manufacturer of vaccines. It is one of the major countries which the global community is looking towards for mass manufacturing of vaccines and such other pharmaceutical products that can reach a vast population. Therefore it is earnestly hoped that the benefits of this technology, which have already began to play out in the international market, will accrue to the Indian pharmaceutical companies and to the global human society.

However, it must also be noted with circumspection that this technology also brings with it major ethical concerns and critics have cried foul and are afraid that this technology may prove to be a Frankenstein monster that may lead to creating gene edited babies and such other unethical practices and end up interfering into the very act of ‘God’. It is worth recalling the claim made by the Chinese scientist - He Jiankui, of illegally altering the genetic make up of twin girls which was reported in late 2018. This information shook the world and called the attention of the global community on the ethical concerns that such technology comes with. Fortunately, He Jiankui was found guilty of illegal practices in trying to alter the genetic makeup of twin girls and was jailed for three years. The alertness of the global community in combating such unethical and illegal practices give hope that this technology will not go unchecked nor will it be abused. Scientific community and human society is now aware that the Chinese scientist by engineering mutations into human embryos, which he used to produce babies, was capriciously nosediving into an era in which science could rewrite the gene pool of future generations by altering the human germ line. The Chinese scientist had also flouted established norms for safety and human protections along the way. Although there was no definitive evidence that the Chinese scientist actually succeeded in modifying the girls’ genes — or those of a third child expected to be born later, the experiments had attracted so much attention that the incident has created an alarm for the human society and may very well alter scientific research for years to come. This incident has also divided the society in their opinion on scientific research in the field of genome editing.

But then the ethical concerns of scientific research have not been new to the human society. Ever since the Nobel prize winning discovery of the structure of DNA in 1953, by James Watson and Francis Crick, who were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1962, which was followed the successful sequencing of the entire Human Genome fifty years later in 2003, there have been debates in favour and against such scientific research and ethical concerns have been voiced by the society. Interestingly, it is in anticipation of such ethical concerns that the Human Genome Project (HGP) has specifically had earmarked a portion of the HGP budget (3%) which was meant to address the ELSI - Ethical, Legal and Social Issues, associated with the sequencing of the human genome. Hopefully there will be requisite funding, legislation and laws which will be framed by countries to ally the fears that the CRISPR technology may create. 

While speaking of the benefits and concerns debate, which crops up during such scientific research, particularly in the context of this years Nobel winning works in Chemistry - the CRISPR technology tools, I am reminded of two quotes from history one relatively recent and the other from the eighteenth century, which reveal the two sides of the divide that are natural to such debates, which span centuries. Jonathan Swift in his famed ‘The King of Brobdingnag, “Gulliver’s Travels”, wrote in 1727 ; ‘Whoever could make two ears of corn, or two blades of grass grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before would ....do more essential service to his country, than the whole race of politicians put together”.  Perhaps his statement can be appreciated in the Indian context where the benefits of scientific research were applied in agricultural practices by scientists like Normal Borlaug and M S Swaminathan, who heralded the green revolution in India and helped us in combating hunger and famine quite effectively. However, there is another side to any scientific research and that relates to the concerns that come with some of the scientific research, which can be seen from the statement of Prince Charles, made in 1998. He said “ I believe that we have now reached a moral and ethical watershed beyond which we venture in to realms that belong to God, and to God alone. Apart from certain medical applications, what actual right do we have to experiment, Frankenstein like, with the very stuff of life?” 

As exemplified in the above quotes, throughout history, there have been those who have embraced change, which emanates from scientific research and those who have expressed concern and have preferred to clung to old ways, feeling known risks are better than unknown benefits. So we should not be surprised that history may be  replayed as we come to grips with this new technology, which is a result of the wonderful research work of the two Nobel Madams who have been awarded this years Chemistry Nobel Prize. 

May Science triumph and may humanity triumph as well.

 Discovery of the Hepatitis C wins the 2020 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.

Images : courtesy Nobel Foundation and Wiki Commons.

Liver cirrhosis - a dreaded medical jargon, which affects the liver - primarily due to the Hepatitis virus, is something that has caused immense sorrow for me and other students and alumni of Sainik School Bijapur - the Ajeets. Two of my very close friends - Tipusultan and Gurupad Hegadi, fellow Ajeets, have succumbed to this dreaded disease - Liver Cirrhosis, within a year of each other on July 13, 2019 and 17th August, 2020, respectively. One of the major causes for liver cirrhosis is a virus - the Hepatitis virus, which comes in three major variants A, B and C. World Health Organisation - WHO, estimates that worldwide some 290 million people are living with the Hepatitis virus including  the Hepatitis C virus, which alone infects more than 70 million people, and kills 400,000 people annually. It is therefore no wonder that the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute has decided to award the coveted Nobel Prize (2020) for Physiology or Medicine, jointly to three scientists, Harvey J Alter, the US National Institutes of Health, Maryland, Michael Houghton, British virologist presently at the University of Alberta in Canada and Charles Rice, Rockefeller University, New York, “ for their discovery of the Hepatitis C virus”. The three of them will share the handsome Nobel Prize  money of 10 million Sweedish Krone (8.2 Crore Indian ₹). This years laureates and their works reminds me of yet another connect with my school, where we were assigned an interesting task - treasure hunt, the finding of which depended on clues each navigating to the final destination for finding that illusive treasure. The discovery of the Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) by the three scientists has followed this path with each of them - Alter, Houghton and Rice, in that order, getting a clue or to use the words of Newton in the context ‘standing on the shoulders of the other’ to reach their final treasure destination of the discovery of the HCV. 

The ultimate result - the discovery of the Hepatitis C Virus by the three scientists, has helped in decisively fighting against the blood-borne hepatitis transmission, a major global health issue, which causes cirrhosis and liver cancer in people around the world. It is perhaps this discovery and understanding the underpinnings of the Hepatitis C virus (HCV) that has prompted the UN to announce, in its Sustainable Development Goals (SDG - 2015), their aim for the elimination of this dreaded disease by the year 2030. The discovery of Hepatitis C virus is a landmark achievement in that direction. Thanks to this discovery, highly sensitive blood tests for the Hepatitis virus are now available and these tests have essentially eliminated post-transfusion hepatitis in many parts of the world, thus helping in greatly improving the global health. The seminal discovery of Hepatitis C Virus by this year’s Nobel Laureates, has also paved the way for the development of effective antiviral drugs and in the development of the HCV vaccines, which will help in not only reducing the mortality rates but also in guiding the global health workers on to the right path towards elimination of this virus. 

The significance of the discovery of the HCV and understanding of the viruses can be appreciated and well recognised in the current context of the Covid 19 global pandemic, which is caused by yet another virus - the SARS- COV2, virus, which is the cause for the current ongoing Covid 19 pandemic that is plaguing the world. The study and understanding of the viruses help the medical fraternity in bringing down the mortality with pharmaceutical therapeutics and so also finding  candidate vaccines to get rid of the virus. Scientists and pharmacists from across the world, including India, are striving hard to invent variety of pharmaceutical therapeutics like the Remdesivir, which we understand has been used for the treatment of President Trump, who is admitted with Covid infection and so also for inventing vaccines for combating the Covid pandemic. Lot of the vaccine candidates are already in advanced trials stages and it is anticipated that by next year there will be definitive vaccines to combat the Covid 19 pandemic. The rapid pace at which the medical research has progressed for Covid 19 has been aided by the understanding of the viruses including the discovery of the HCV. In all cases the beginning of the vaccine development starts with the understanding of the virus, which causes the disease and therefore it is natural that the discovery of the Hepatitis C virus, which is the cause for many global deaths, by this years Nobel laureates is destined to play a pivotal role in not only combating and elimination of the HCV virus by 2030 but also in combating the current Covid 19 pandemic.

The Hepatitis C virus is a silent killer whose mortality rates are much higher than the ongoing Covid pandemic that is caused by another virus - SARS - Cov-2 ( Severely Acquired Respiratory Syndrome - Corona Virus 2). The Hepatitis Virus adversely affects the liver and causes liver cirrhosis, which may lead to cancer and death, if not attended timely with the liver transplant.Global studies estimate that there are 8.7 million people living with chronic HCV in India. Delhi-based, Institute of Liver and Biliary Science (ILBS), in the year 2014, had highlighted the approximate number of people living with chronic Hepatitis C infection to be around 12 million. According to another analysis it is estimated that the prevalence of chronic HCV infection in India could be somewhere around one per cent. In India HCV disease is mostly prevalent in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram. According to one estimate Hepatitis C is killing more people than HIV/AIDS in India. All this means that we, Indians, must hail the decision of the Nobel committee to recognise the discovery of the hepatitis C for the coveted Nobel Prize award in Physiology or Medicine for this year.

The word Hepatitis is derived from two Greek words hepar - meaning "liver", and itis - meaning "inflammation". The HCV causes the deadly liver disease and accounts for nearly 12-32 per cent of liver cancer and 10-20 per cent of liver cirrhosis cases in India alone. Most unfortunately Hepatitis is a silent killer disease and most people with chronic Hepatitis B or C are not even aware of this infection and therefore are at very high risk of developing cirrhosis or liver cancer. HCV is also a major global health issue and in its recognition and with an objective of creating global awareness about hepatitis, every year the world observes ‘World Hepatitis Day (WHD) on 28 July and this year (2020) the theme for WHD was ‘Find the Missing Millions’. The WHD theme helps in creating awareness of the global burden of viral hepatitis and hopes to influence real change in global society. As stated above, an estimated 290 million people are living with the Hepatitis Virus and therefore identifying and finding the ‘ missing millions ‘ and linking them to medical care is of paramount importance, failing which millions will continue to suffer, and many of these precious lives will be lost. In that sense the Nobel recognition this year to the three scientists, who have played pivotal role in the discovery of Hepatitis C virus, is quite befitting and this discovery is helping their fellow scientists to understand the underpinnings of not just the HCV but also other viruses like the SARS- COV2 virus which causes Covid 19 virus. 

A look back in history reveals that the first description of hepatitis dates back to approximately 400 B.C.E and this is ascribed to the Greek physician Hippocrates - father of western medicine. By the middle of the twentieth century - 1940s, the doctors knew there were two main types of infectious hepatitis. The first, transmitted by the hepatitis A virus, which could spread via contaminated food and water and caused a short-term infection that is typically resolved within weeks. Hepatitis A is far less lethal in comparison with its cousin viruses B and C. Hepatitis B and C are spread by blood and body fluids and they are more harmful and insidious, since they silently infect the patient for years before serious complications like the liver cirrhosis and cancer are evidenced. By the 1960s researchers started studying about a new variant of the hepatitis virus.  In the year 1967, Baruch Blumberg, an American scientist, discovered the hepatitis B virus, while working for the National Institute of Health, USA, for which he received the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Unfortunately, even the discovery of the hepatitis B was unable to explain all cases of chronic hepatitis infections, a disease that was becoming more common even in apparently healthy people who had received or donated blood. This pointed to the presence of yet another type of virus, which was then classified under the category of Non A Non B Hepatitis-NANBH. 

This years Nobel laureate, Harvey Alter was working as an young scientist  at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, where his senior Blumberg had discovered the hepatitis B virus. While studying hepatitis spread by blood transfusions, during the early 1970s, the young Alter discovered that plasma from patients who didn't have hepatitis B could also transfer the disease. He observed and inferred that some patients were being infected by an unknown virus agent - NANBH. He later conclusively demonstrated that blood from these patients could transmit the disease to chimpanzees. Despite this significant progress, the identity of the new virus responsible for NANBH remained illusive. The unsuccessful search for the unknown agent (NANBH) employing all the traditional methods that had allowed the discovery and characterization of hepatitis A and hepatitis B continued for more than 10 years.

Michael Houghton, while working at a Pharmaceutical company - Chiron Corporation, was one of those scientists was in the hunt for the NANBH agent. In the year 1982, using a molecular approach based on the screening of DNA fragments, which were isolated from infected chimpanzees, Houghton and his team were able to arrive at a preliminary understanding of the illusive agent, which was causing liver cirrhosis. The initial screenings identified only genetic material from the host. Attempts to enrich viral sequences by eliminating host sequences that were also found in an uninfected control liver did not yield any result and were unsuccessful. They realised that Isolating the hepatitis C virus was harder. 

The breakthrough came in 1989, when Michael Houghton, who holds a PhD from Kings College, London, and his former coworkers, George Quo and Qui-Lim Choo, used a combination of molecular biology and immunology-based techniques to clone the virus by introducing viral DNA from an infected animal into bacteria, and using human antibodies to the virus to screen for its genetic sequence and identified  the mystery pathogen and sequenced the genetic code of the new virus. This new discovery came to be known as the hepatitis C virus. They discovered that the new virus - Hepatitis C, resembled viruses from a family called flaviviruses. These findings formally established a relationship between infection with the newly discovered hepatitis C virus and the occurrence of NANBH around the world. This discovery also led to a blood test that could screen for hepatitis C, which was quite revolutionary and it helped in vastly reducing the number of disease cases that resulted from blood transfusions worldwide.

The works of Houghton and his team were still unable to provide that conclusive answer to one question. Did the virus alone cause the disease? But then Houghton and his teams combined work had established a critical link between the unknown agent NANBH and HCV infection. The answer to this question was provided by Rice, who was then working at the Washington University in St. Louis, and his colleagues. Interestingly enough Rice had no intention to study the hepatitis C virus. He was more interested in studying yellow fever virus, which is also a family of the flavivirus, to which HCV belongs. However, by then Alter and Houghton had published their seminal papers on a ‘mysterious hepatitis virus’ in Science in 1989 and this paper fortuitously came to the notice of Rice. The paper gave that  uch needed impetus to Rice to study this new virus. To start with Rice’s interest in studying this new virus started off as a small side project and he says ‘that really nobody in lab was excited about this new study’. It was that time of the period when the scientists could not even grow the virus in cells and therefore the attenuated interest his team was understandable. From there, Rice and his team used the works of Houghton and his colleagues to build on their works and were successful in fleshing out the pathogen’s genome sequence, clone the viral RNA and infect it with animals. Rice and his teams works ultimately demonstrated that the hepatitis C virus alone was responsible for the cause of the disease. 

The combined works of the scientists has saved millions of lives and their works also demonstrate that science does not have any barriers. This years Nobel laureates  — Harvey J. Alter Michael Houghton and and Charles M. Rice — have ‘built on the discovery of the Hepatitis A and B viruses”, the Nobel Committee said, and their "discovery of Hepatitis C virus has revealed the cause of the remaining cases of chronic hepatitis and made possible blood tests and new medicines will continue to save millions of lives until this deadly HCV is eliminated as envisaged in the SDG of the United Nations. Their seminal works and their discovery has helped fast forward the development of effective antiviral drugs, which are now the need of hour in the current Covid 19 pandemic times, which is plaguing the world and India alone accounting for six million plus cases and fatalities which have just exceeded hundred thousand. The positive part of it is that close to 5.6 million people have recovered from this pandemic. Had it not been for our better understanding of the virus, part of which stems from the works of the three laureates of this years Medicine Nobel prize, there would have been that many more fatalities and lesser recoveries. 

Thanks to the pioneering work of the three laureates- Alter, Houghton and Rice, and many of their colleagues who built upon their findings to identify HCV carriers, the global health workers are now able to eliminate contaminated blood and blood products and develop effective drugs, to combat the global menace  of HCV. We have now come to a stage where HCV induced hepatitis in many cases has become a curable disease. Their works have also aided in the development of anti viral pharmaceutical medicines, which can cure more than 95% of the hepatitis patients. Therefore the joint discovery of the HCV by the three scientists and their team can be rightly characterized as a “landmark achievement in our ongoing battle against viral infections”, particularly in combating causes of cirrhosis and liver cancer in people around the world.

Long live science and scientific temper, which alone is rational and non canonical.