Universal
optical test
bench at the
University of
Calcutta.
Optics in India
Lakshminarayan Hazra
From antiquity to C.V. Raman’s time to today, India has evolved to
become a leader in optical research and industry.
Indian mythology contains many examples of the deep sense of appreciation that Indians had for optical phenomena more than two millennia ago.
However, scientific studies in optics did
not emerge until 1895, with Sir Jagadish
Chandra Bose’s pioneering works on
millimeter electromagnetic waves. Bose
also studied the behavior of dielectrics at
high frequencies and double refraction in
birefringent materials.
One of his contemporaries, Jogesh
Chandra Roy, was also intensely engaged
in optics-related activities—so much so
that he was elected Fellow of the Royal
Microscopical Society and the Royal
Astronomical Society (London) in 1901
and 1902, respectively. Then, in the
1920s, Indian optical scientists made
numerous advances in optical spectroscopy, led by Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata
Raman, who was awarded the Nobel
Prize in Physics in 1930. His group of
researchers also carried out pioneering
work in acousto-optics, vision science
and the science of color.
An optics instrument center was
established in India as early as in 1836.
Called the “Mathematical Instruments
Office,” it was used to repair and maintain surveying optical instruments. Later
on, its scope was enlarged to incorporate
military optical instruments, and the
center played a major role in the maintenance of all optical instruments for the
Adapted from Wikimedia Commons
Major centers of optics activities in India.
INDIA
Chandigarh
Kolkata Ahmedabad
Trivandrum
Arabian
Sea
Indian Ocean
Chennai Bangalore
Hyderabad
Warangal
Mumbai
Indore
Kharagpur
Kanpur
Dehradun
Nainital
Delhi
Ambala
Guwahati
Bay
of
Bengal
Royal Army and Royal Navy located east
of the Suez Canal during World War II.
Subsequently, the center was renamed
“National Instruments Limited,” and it
continued to operate successfully until
the 1990s. In the 1930s, Andhra Scientific—a company that manufactured
optical instruments—began operations
at Machilipatnam on the east coast; the
company was later absorbed by Bharat
Electronics Limited.
Postgraduate education in applied
and modern optics started in 1953 at the
University of Calcutta, Kolkata, followed
by the physics department of the Indian
Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, in
1965. Both courses continue to this day.
In the latter years, the National Institute
of Technology in Warangal and the Cochin University of Science and Technology started similar courses in optics and
photonics. Many other universities provide special papers in optics-related topics
in their master’s program in physics.
Optics research and development
centers are now spread all over the
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