The Moral Vision
An Eye for a Talent
~ 168 ~
AN EYE FOR A TALENT
When the Industrial magnate, G.D. Birla
(1894-1983), was thirty years old, he received a letter
from an unknown student in Calcutta. This is what
the student, in an informal and forthright manner,
had written:
If only you can help me with an amount of
Rs. 22,000 for the purchase of a special type of
instrument which has to be imported, I may assure
you that I may be able to get the Nobel Prize for my
discovery.
The effect of this appeal was immediate. Mr. Birla
replied to the student’s letter at once, enclosing a
cheque for Rs. 22,000. With this amount the student
ordered the instrument he needed from abroad and
carried on with his research. His estimate proved
correct. When the results of his research came
before the public, he won such acclaim that he was
awarded the Nobel Prize for science.
This student was the very person who later became
known to the world as Sir C.Y. Raman. When he
had won the Nobel Prize and been knighted, his
