# K. S. Krishnan

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{{Short description|Indian physicist (1898–1961)}}
{{Indian patronymic|Krishnan|Kariamanikkam Srinivasa}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = K. S. Krishnan
| image             = File:Kariamanickam Srinivasa Krishnan 1952 London.jpg
| caption           = K. S. Krishnan 1952 in London
| honorific_prefix  = [Sir](/source/Sir)
| honorific_suffix  = [FRS](/source/Fellowship_of_the_Royal_Society)
| birth_date        = {{birth date|df=yes|1898|12|4}}
| birth_place       = [Watrap](/source/Watrap), [Madras Presidency](/source/Madras_Presidency), [British India](/source/British_India)
| death_date        = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1961|06|14|1898|12|4}}
| death_place       = 
| alma_mater        = [The American College in Madurai](/source/The_American_College_in_Madurai)<br>[Madras Christian College](/source/Madras_Christian_College)<br>[University of Madras](/source/University_of_Madras)<br>[Calcutta University](/source/Calcutta_University)
| doctoral_advisor  = 
| academic_advisors = [CV Raman](/source/CV_Raman)
| doctoral_students = 
| notable_students  = [Calamur Mahadevan](/source/Calamur_Mahadevan)
| known_for         = [Raman effect](/source/Raman_effect)<br>Crystal Magnetism<br>Magneto Chemistry<br>Technique for measuring [Magnetic anisotropy](/source/Magnetic_anisotropy) of magnetic crystals
| footnotes         = 
| field             = [Physics](/source/Physics)
| work_institution  = [Madras Christian College](/source/Madras_Christian_College)<br>[Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science](/source/Indian_Association_for_the_Cultivation_of_Science)<br>[Dacca University](/source/Dacca_University)<br>[Allahabad University](/source/Allahabad_University)<br>[National Physical Laboratory of India](/source/National_Physical_Laboratory_of_India)
| prizes            = {{Plainlist|
* [FRS](/source/Fellow_of_the_Royal_Society) {{small|(1940)}}<ref name="frs">{{Cite journal|doi=10.1098/rsbm.1967.0012|doi-access=free|title=Kariamanikkam Srinivasa Krishnan. 1898-1961|journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society|volume=13|pages=244–255|year=1967|last1=Lonsdale|first1=D. K.|last2=Bhabha|first2=H. J.|s2cid=71581323}}</ref>
* [Padma Bhushan](/source/Padma_Bhushan) {{small|(1954)}}
* [Knight Bachelor](/source/Knight_Bachelor)
* [Bhatnagar Award](/source/Bhatnagar_Award)}}
}}

'''Sir Kariamanikkam Srinivasa Krishnan''' (4 December 1898&nbsp;– 14 June 1961) was an Indian [physicist](/source/physicist). He was a co-discoverer of [Raman scattering](/source/Raman_scattering),<ref>{{Cite journal| first1 = R. | title = C. V. Raman and the Discovery of the Raman Effect | journal = Physics in Perspective| last1 = Singh | volume = 4| issue = 4 | pages = 399–420 | year = 2002 | doi = 10.1007/s000160200002|bibcode = 2002PhP.....4..399S | s2cid = 121785335 }}</ref> for which his mentor [C. V. Raman](/source/C._V._Raman) was awarded the 1930 [Nobel Prize in Physics](/source/Nobel_Prize_in_Physics).

==Early life==
Kariamanikkam Srinivasa Krishnan generally referred to as K. S. Krishnan or KSK, was born in a [Vaishnavite](/source/Vaishnavism) [brahmin](/source/brahmin) family<ref>{{Cite news|last=Srinivasan|first=Mahadeva|date=2012-06-05|title=Not for him the second fiddle|language=en-IN|work=The Hindu|url=https://www.thehindu.com/books/not-for-him-the-second-fiddle/article3491088.ece|access-date=2022-01-11|issn=0971-751X}}</ref> on 4 December 1898 in [Watrap](/source/Watrap), [Tamil Nadu](/source/Tamil_Nadu). His father was a farmer-scholar deeply versed in [Tamil](/source/Tamil_language) literature. He had his early education in Hindu Higher Secondary school, in Watrap, after which he attended [the American College in Madurai](/source/the_American_College_in_Madurai) and the [Madras Christian College](/source/Madras_Christian_College). After gaining his degree in Physics he became a demonstrator in chemistry.<ref name="frs"/>

==Early career==
thumb|left|Krishnan seated third from left with C. V. Raman and others, c. 1929
In 1920, Krishnan went to work with [C.V. Raman](/source/C.V._Raman) at the [Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science](/source/Indian_Association_for_the_Cultivation_of_Science), [Kolkata](/source/Kolkata) (then Calcutta). There he engaged himself in experimental study of the scattering of light in a large number of liquids and its theoretical interpretations. He played a significant role in the discovery of the Raman scattering.

In 1928 he moved to the [Dacca University](/source/Dacca_University) (now in Bangladesh) as the Reader in the physics department where he studied magnetic properties of crystals in relation to their structure. Krishnan, along with other rising scientists such as Santilal Banerjee and B.C. Guha developed an elegant and precise experimental technique to measure the magnetic anisotropy of diamagnetic and paramagnetic crystals. Their findings were published by the Royal Society of London in 1933 under the title, ''Investigations on Magne-Crystallic Action.''<ref>{{cite book|last=by K.S. Krishnan, S. Banerjee|first=Volume 234, Issue 739 of Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London: Mathematical and physical sciences|title=Further Studies on Organic Crystals|year=1935|publisher=Harrison & Sons|pages=34}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Santilal Banerjee|first=Kariamanickam Srinivasa Krishnan|title=Modern Magnetism|publisher=[Cambridge University Press](/source/Cambridge_University_Press)|page=165}}</ref>

In 1933 he returned to Kolkata to take up the post of [Mahendralal Sircar](/source/Mahendralal_Sarkar) Professor of Physics in the [Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science](/source/Indian_Association_for_the_Cultivation_of_Science) where he continued to collaborate fruitfully with Banerjee to elaborate on the magnetic properties of crystals in relation to their structure. Their joint papers and communications (published in ''Nature, Terrestrial Magnetism and Atmospheric Electricity'', and by the Royal Society), remain to this day, aside from a number of other pathbreaking contributions they also published in various Physics journals, the most definitive scientific studies on the structure and tendencies of small crystals. Their experiments in Dacca and continued collaborative research in Kolkata led to what is now known as the [Krishnan Banerjee method](/source/Krishnan_Banerjee_method) for measuring the magnetic susceptibility of small crystals.<ref>{{cite book|last=By A. B Pippard|title=Response and stability: an introduction to the physical theory|year=1985|url=https://archive.org/details/responsestabilit00pipp|url-access=limited|publisher=[Cambridge University Press](/source/Cambridge_University_Press)|page=[https://archive.org/details/responsestabilit00pipp/page/n144 134]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Mahanti |first=Dr Subodh |title=Kariamanikkam Srinivasa Krishnan |url=http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/scientists/KS_Krishnan/KariamanikkamSKrishnan.htm |publisher=Vigyan Prasar Science Portal |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071223092455/http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/scientists/KS_Krishnan/KariamanikkamSKrishnan.htm |archive-date=23 December 2007 }}</ref>

Krishnan was elected as [Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1940](/source/List_of_Fellows_of_the_Royal_Society_elected_in_1940).<ref>{{cite web  |url=https://www.thehindu.com/books/not-for-him-the-second-fiddle/article3491088.ece |title=Not for him the second fiddle |date=5 June 2012 |website=thehindu.com |access-date= 28 September 2021}}</ref> His Royal Society candidature certificate in 1935 read:
"''Distinguished for his investigations in molecular optics and in magne-crystalline action:collaborated with Sir C.V. Raman in extensive theoretical and experimental studies on light scattering, molecular optics and in the discovery of the Raman Effect (1928). More recently has been publishing many valuable investigations (Phil Trans Royal Society and elsewhere) on the significance of magnetic anisotropy in relation to crystal architecture and thermo-magnetic behaviour at the lowest temperatures. Has published important work on pleochroism in crystals and its relation to photo-dissociation. Leader of an active school of research in Calcutta.''"<ref>http://www2.royalsociety.org/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqSearch=RefNo==%27EC%2F1940%2F12%27&dsqCmd=Show.tcl {{dead link|date=December 2015}}</ref>

In 1942, he moved to [Allahabad University](/source/Allahabad_University) as Professor and Head of the Department of Physics where he took up the physics of solids, in particular of metals.

He was knighted in the 1946 Birthday Honours List<ref>[http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/37598/supplements/2757 London Gazette, 4 June 1946]</ref> and awarded the [Padma Bhushan](/source/Padma_Bhushan) by the [Government of India](/source/Government_of_India) in 1954.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mha.nic.in/pdfs/PadmaAwards1954-2007.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=7 December 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090410024701/http://www.mha.nic.in/pdfs/PadmaAwards1954-2007.pdf |archive-date=10 April 2009 }}</ref> He was the first recipient of the prestigious [Bhatnagar Award](/source/Bhatnagar_Award) in 1958.

On 4 January 1947 K. S. Krishnan was appointed first director of [National Physical Laboratory](/source/National_Physical_Laboratory_of_India) [India](/source/India). This was one of the earliest national laboratories set up under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/scientists/ssbhatnagar/ShantiSwarupBhatnagar.htm |title=Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar |access-date=28 September 2021 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131018015234/http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/scientists/ssbhatnagar/ShantiSwarupBhatnagar.htm |archive-date=18 October 2013 }}</ref>

==Quotes about Krishnan==
* ''What is remarkable about Krishnan is not that he is a great scientist but something much more. He is a perfect citizen, a whole man with an integrated personality.'' – Jawaharlal Nehru<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/scientists/KS_Krishnan/KariamanikkamSKrishnan.htm |title=Kariamanikkam Srinivasa Krishnan |access-date=6 December 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071223092455/http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/scientists/KS_Krishnan/KariamanikkamSKrishnan.htm |archive-date=23 December 2007 }}</ref>

==Collected works==
The scientific papers of K. S. Krishnan have been published in 1988 by the National Physical Laboratory (located on Dr K.S. Krishnan Road, New Delhi 110012). The book of 950 pages has been made available in the Public Library of India collection of the Internet archive at https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.502306

==See also==
{{wikiquote}}
* [Raman scattering](/source/Raman_scattering)
* [Magnetic anisotropy](/source/Magnetic_anisotropy)

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Kariamanickam Srinivasa Krishnan}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071223092455/http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/scientists/KS_Krishnan/KariamanikkamSKrishnan.htm Scientists Biography page on K S Krishnan, in Vigyan Prasar, Government of India]

{{SSBPST recipients in Physical Science}}
{{Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Laureates of Tamil Nadu}}
{{PadmaBhushanAwardRecipients 1954–59}}
{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Krishnan, Kariamanickam Srinivasa}}
Category:1898 births
Category:1961 deaths
Category:Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology
Category:Experimental physicists
Category:Indian Knights Bachelor
Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in science & engineering
Category:20th-century Indian physicists
Category:University of Madras alumni
Category:Scientists from Tamil Nadu
Category:Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy
Category:Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences
Category:University of Calcutta alumni
Category:Academic staff of the University of Dhaka
Category:Tamil physicists
Category:Indian theoretical physicists
Category:Indian astrophysicists
Category:Indian fellows of the Royal Society

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [K. S. Krishnan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K._S._Krishnan) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K._S._Krishnan?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.
