In this biography
Quick facts
- Born
- December 1898
- Died
- June 1961
- Birthplace
- Watrap, southern India, in present-day Tamil Nadu
- Country
- India
- Nationality
- Indian
- Known for
- Light-scattering research with C. V. Raman, crystal magnetism and leading India’s National Physical Laboratory
- Full name
- Kariamanikkam Srinivasa Krishnan
- Research fields
- Optics and magnetic properties of crystals
- Royal Society election
- 1940
- Laboratory leadership
- NPL’s former-director list records 1947–1961
Why this life matters
His career connects laboratory collaboration with the measurement methods, teaching and scientific institutions needed to sustain experimental physics.
Timeline
Key moments
Born at Watrap
Born in December; cited sources differ on the day.
Experimental optics in Calcutta
Works with Raman on molecular scattering and polarization.
Joint light-scattering report
Coauthors A New Type of Secondary Radiation with Raman.
Dacca
Teaches physics and develops experimental research on crystal magnetism.
Returns to IACS
Becomes Mahendralal Sircar Professor of Physics.
Royal Society fellowship
Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.
National laboratory leadership
Serves as NPL’s first director.
Death
The contemporary obituary dates his death to the night of 13–14 June.
Education and experimental research in Calcutta
Kariamanikkam Srinivasa Krishnan grew up in Watrap in southern India. After studying physics at Madras Christian College, he worked as a demonstrator before moving to Calcutta for further study and research. The October 1961 obituary describes his early investigations of the intensity and polarization of light scattered by liquids. This was experimental work requiring careful observation of how material altered a beam’s direction and properties.
His early career developed around C. V. Raman and the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science. Their work on molecular scattering provided the setting for a collaborative discovery, rather than a chance encounter with a result unrelated to their previous investigations.
Sources for this section: [1]
A named collaborator in the 1928 discovery
The Nature report A New Type of Secondary Radiation names both Raman and Krishnan. It describes an altered-frequency component accompanying ordinary scattered light. Krishnan therefore belongs in the account as an author of the research report, even though the phenomenon is conventionally called the Raman effect.
Raman received the 1930 Nobel Prize in Physics. That later award does not change the paper’s byline. Readers seeking the experimental sequence can follow the linked discovery guide; Krishnan’s own biography also requires attention to the magnetic research and institutional leadership that occupied much of his subsequent career.
Sources for this section: [3]
Crystal magnetism and university teaching
In 1929 Krishnan moved to the University of Dacca, now Dhaka. He studied weak magnetic responses and how they varied with the orientation of small crystals. Magnetic anisotropy concerns a directional difference in a material’s response; measuring it offered another way to investigate crystal structure alongside other physical methods.
He returned to IACS in 1933 as Mahendralal Sircar Professor of Physics, and later worked at Allahabad before moving to the national laboratory. The Royal Society’s catalogue records collaborative work on magnetic properties as well as his election in 1940. His research was not confined to the optical discovery that made his name widely recognizable.
Building India’s National Physical Laboratory
NPL identifies Krishnan as its first director and lists his tenure as 1947–1961. Its charter separates the laying of the foundation stone in January 1947 from the formal opening of the main building in January 1950. The laboratory’s origin was consequently a process of organization and construction, rather than a single opening-day event.
The institution connected physics to reliable measurement. Its stated responsibilities encompass measurement standards, precision work and assistance to research and industry. This gives Krishnan’s directorship a different significance from a university chair: he helped lead a laboratory serving a national scientific and technical system, while continuing to belong to an academic research community.
Death, recognition and the breadth of his career
Krishnan died in June 1961. Nehru’s condolence message, dated 14 June, addressed his colleagues at NPL as well as his family. The contemporary journal obituary places the death during the night of 13–14 June. It also prints a birth day different from the Royal Society catalogue; the date notes above retain these differences rather than manufacture precision.
His career illustrates several connected contributions to science: reporting a result with a collaborator, developing measurements with students, teaching physics and organizing a laboratory. The Royal Society fellowship recognizes a researcher whose work extended across those settings. Reducing him to either Raman’s assistant or a laboratory administrator would miss much of that trajectory.
Quick answers
Frequently asked questions about K. S. Krishnan
- What did K. S. Krishnan contribute to the Raman effect?
- He coauthored the 1928 Nature report with C. V. Raman. The published byline documents a collaboration; the linked guide explains the experimental claim.
- Was Krishnan only an optics researcher?
- No. He also investigated crystal magnetism, taught university physics and became the first director of India’s National Physical Laboratory.
- When did Krishnan lead NPL?
- The laboratory’s former-director list gives 1947–1961. The 1947 foundation stone and 1950 building opening are separate institutional milestones.
Keep exploring
Lives connected to this story
- C. V. Raman
Read the collaborator’s broader career, then compare the shared discovery with Krishnan’s later work in magnetism and national measurement.
- Harish-Chandra
Follow the researcher whom Krishnan encouraged and recommended to Bhabha.
Sources and further reading
Explore the evidence
These references support the biography and offer further reading. Official records, first-person accounts and independent reporting provide different perspectives; image records document attribution and licensing.
- 1. Indian Journal of Meteorology and Geophysics / India Meteorological DepartmentDr. K. S. Krishnan, F.R.S.: October 1961 obituary
The first two pages of the contemporary obituary were inspected as rendered scans. Birth-day and death-day differences are preserved in the date notes. The scanned birth day is 3, not an OCR-inferred 4.
- 2. Royal SocietyKariamanikkam Srinivasa Krishnan: biographical catalogue and research records
Indexed catalogue text records 4 December and 14 June, differing from the obituary. The profile does not silently select either exact day.
- 3. C. V. Raman and K. S. Krishnan / NatureA New Type of Secondary Radiation (1928)
- 4. CSIR-National Physical LaboratoryFormer directors: K. S. Krishnan, 1947–1961
The official portrait is identified, but no explicit commercial reuse permission was found; it is not copied. A similarly named later radio astronomer at RRI is a different person.
- 5. CSIR-National Physical LaboratoryNPL Charter: foundation, opening and scientific functions
- 6. Jawaharlal Nehru / The Nehru ArchiveCondolence message of 14 June 1961, with editorial source note
Nehru’s message and the editors’ explanatory footnote are distinct. The footnote’s 1948 NPL date is not substituted for NPL’s own 1947–1961 tenure list.
