지난 해는 서울대로서는 최악의 해였다. 연구비 문제와 줄기세포 문제로 신뢰가 바닥까지 간 것 같다.



차분히 마음을 다잡고 다시 시작해야 한다.

고개를 들어 생각을 해 보라. 광학 분야에서 세계에 내어 놓을만한 연구업적이 우리나라에 무엇이 있는가? 머리에 떠오르는 것이 많지 않다면 우리가 만들어야 한다.



여러분은 이렇든 저렇든 국가대표 선수이다. 전국에 능력 있는 교수님들이 많지만, 연구를 통해 무언가 이루어보겠다는 꿈과 의욕을 가진 학생들이 있는 곳은 많지 않다. 그런 곳에서는 결국 교수건 학생이건 최대의 목표는 학생취직이 될 수 밖에 없고 연구는 학생을 훈련시키기 위한 수단이 된다. 물론 중요한 일이지만, 이런 대학에서 세계적 연구성과를 기대하기는 쉽지 않다.

그래서 결국 여러분들은 자의건 타의건 국가대표가 될 수 밖에 없다. 축구 국가대표 선수들처럼 각광 받지는 못하더라도, 광학 분야에서는 여러분이 국가대표일 수 밖에 없다.

얼마 전 어느 워크샵에서 어떤 한국 교수님이 나를 외국인들에게 소개하면서 “When I talk about him, I am always proud of him.” 이라고 말해주시는 것이 너무 고마웠다.



나는 일본에 갈 때마다 한 켠으로는 이네들의 능력은 어디서 나오는 것일까를 궁금하게 생각한다. 마치 2등 하는 학생이 1등 하는 학생에게 갖는 느낌처럼 늘 찝찝하다.

여러분들도 가 보았듯이 중국도 국제학회를 자주 만든다. 그곳 교수의 말에 의하면 외국 학회에 경제적인 능력상 나갈 수 없으니, 중국에서 국제학회를 열어 외국 사람들을 불러 중국학생들에게 국제학회를 경험하고 발표하는 기회들을 주겠다는 것이다. 내가 보기엔 중국 교수들도 외국에 나가지 못하는 사람이 대부분이다.

인도는 어떤가? 델리 시내에서 차가 신호에 멈춰 서기라도 하면 아이들이 차에 달라 붙어 구걸을 한다. 이번에 우리가 델리의 IIT(인도에서 제일 좋은 대학)를 방문했을 때, 우리가 머무르던 서너시간 동안 전기가 서너 번 나갔다 들어왔다.

중국과 인도의 세기(century)가 올지 안 올지 나는 잘 모르겠다. 하지만 이런 나라들에도 뛰어난 사람들이 있고 이들이 자랑하는 사람들이 있다. IIT 델리와 같은 열악한 환경에서도 논문을 내는데 우리는 그보다 열 배는 우수한 논문을 내야 하지 않을까?



여러분들도 스스로 자부를 할 수 있는 성과를 내는 사람들이 되기 바란다. 우리 국민들이 이를 자랑스럽게 생각하게 되는 것까지는 아닐지라도, 나는 여러분들을 자랑스럽게 생각할 것이다.



다음은 인도가 자랑하는 라만의 소개 글이다. 노벨상을 받은 논문도 인도의 저널에 낸 것이었다.



The Nobel Prize in Physics 1930

"for his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the effect named after him"



Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman



India

Calcutta University

Calcutta, India

b. 1888

d. 1970



Venkata Raman – Biography

Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman was born at Trichinopoly in Southern India on November 7th, 1888. His father was a lecturer in mathematics and physics so that from the first he was immersed in an academic atmosphere. He entered Presidency College, Madras, in 1902, and in 1904 passed his B.A. examination, winning the first place and the gold medal in physics; in 1907 he gained his M.A. degree, obtaining the highest distinctions.



His earliest researches in optics and acoustics - the two fields of investigation to which he has dedicated his entire career - were carried out while he was a student.



Since at that time a scientific career did not appear to present the best possibilities, Raman joined the Indian Finance Department in 1907; though the duties of his office took most of his time, Raman found opportunities for carrying on experimental research in the laboratory of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science at Calcutta (of which he became Honorary Secretary in 1919).



In 1917 he was offered the newly endowed Palit Chair of Physics at Calcutta University, and decided to accept it. After 15 years at Calcutta he became Professor at the Indian Institute of Science at Bangalore (1933-1948), and since 1948 he is Director of the Raman Institute of Research at Bangalore, established and endowed by himself. He also founded the Indian Journal of Physics in 1926, of which he is the Editor. Raman sponsored the establishment of the Indian Academy of Sciences and has served as President since its inception. He also initiated the Proceedings of that academy, in which much of his work has been published, and is President of the Current Science Association, Bangalore, which publishes Current Science (India).



Some of Raman's early memoirs appeared as Bulletins of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (Bull. 6 and 11, dealing with the "Maintenance of Vibrations"; Bull. 15, 1918, dealing with the theory of the musical instruments of the violin family). He contributed an article on the theory of musical instruments to the 8th Volume of the Handbuch der Physik, 1928. In 1922 he published his work on the "Molecular Diffraction of Light", the first of a series of investigations with his collaborators which ultimately led to his discovery, on the 28th of February, 1928, of the radiation effect which bears his name ("A new radiation", Indian J. Phys., 2 (1928) 387), and which gained him the 1930 Nobel Prize in Physics.



Other investigations carried out by Raman were: his experimental and theoretical studies on the diffraction of light by acoustic waves of ultrasonic and hypersonic frequencies (published 1934-1942), and those on the effects produced by X-rays on infrared vibrations in crystals exposed to ordinary light. In 1948 Raman, through studying the spectroscopic behaviour of crystals, approached in a new manner fundamental problems of crystal dynamics. His laboratory has been dealing with the structure and properties of diamond, the structure and optical behaviour of numerous iridescent substances (labradorite, pearly felspar, agate, opal, and pearls).



Among his other interests have been the optics of colloids, electrical and magnetic anisotropy, and the physiology of human vision.



Raman has been honoured with a large number of honorary doctorates and memberships of scientific societies. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society early in his career (1924), and was knighted in 1929.



From Nobel Lectures, Physics 1922-1941, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1965

This autobiography/biography was written at the time of the award and later published in the book series Les Prix Nobel/Nobel Lectures. The information is sometimes updated with an addendum submitted by the Laureate. To cite this document, always state the source as shown above.



Sir Venkata Raman died on November 21, 1970.



http://nobelprize.org/physics/laureates/1930/raman-bio.html