Satish Dhawan

Satish Dhawan
Born	25 September 1920(1920-09-25) Srinagar, India
Died	3 January 2002(2002-01-03) (aged 81) India
Residence	India
Nationality	Indian
Fields	Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Institutions	Indian Space Research Organization Indian Institute of Science California Institute of Technology National Aerospace laboratories Indian Academy of Sciences and Indian Space Commission
Alma mater	University of Punjab (Pakistan) University of Minnesota California Institute of Technology
Doctoral advisor	Dr.Hans W. Liepmann
Known for	Indian space program
Notable awards	Padma Vibhushan Indira Gandhi Award

Satish Dhawan (Punjabi: ਸਤੀਸ਼ ਧਵਨ, Hindi: सतीश धवन) (25 September 1920 – 3 January 2002) was a pioneering aerospace engineer, and an extremely influential rocket scientist, widely regarded as father of experimental fluid dynamics research in India. Born in Srinagar, India, Dhawan was educated in India and further on in the United States. Dhawan was one of the most eminent researchers in the field of turbulence and boundary layers, leading the successful and ingenious development of Indian space prgramme. He succeeded Vikram Sarabhai, the founder of the Indian space programme, as Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in 1972.

Education

Dhawan was a graduate of University of the Punjab in Lahore, British India (now Pakistan), where he completed a Bachelors of Arts in Mathematics and Bachelors of Science in Physics, followed by a Master of Arts in Mathematics from the same institution. In 1943, moved to United States to further his education. He attended University of Minnesota, Minneapolis and completed a Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering. In 1947, he completed a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering and Aeronautical Engineer’s Degree from California Institute of Technology (CIT), followed by a double Ph.D. in Mathematics and Aerospace Engineering under the supervision of Dr. Prof. Hans W. Liepmann as his advisor in 1951.

Chairman of ISRO

He was the Chairman of the Space Commission and Secretary to the Government of India at the Department of Space. In the decade following his appointment, he directed the Indian space programme through a period of extraordinary growth and spectacular achievement.

Although he was the head of the Indian space programme, he devoted substantial efforts towards boundary layer research. His most important contributions are presented in the seminal book Boundary Layer Theory by Hermann Schlichting. He was a professor at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), located in Bangalore. He is credited for setting up the first supersonic wind tunnel in India at IISc. He also pioneered research on relaminarization of separated boundary layer flows, three-dimensional boundary layers and trisonic flows.

Support of space research

Dhawan carried out pioneering experiments in rural education, remote sensing and satellite communications. His efforts led to operational systems like INSAT, a telecommunications satellite; IRS, the Indian Remote Sensing satellite; and the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), that placed India in the league of space faring nations.

Honors

Following his death in 2002, the Indian satellite launch centre at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, located about 100 km north of Chennai in South India, was renamed the Satish Dhawan Space Centre.

Career

Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India

• Senior Scientific Officer, 1951
• Professor and Head of the Department of Aeronautical Engineering, 1955
• Director, 1962–1981

California Insititute of Technology, USA

• Visiting Professor, 1971–72

National Aerospace Laboratories, Bangalore, India

• Chairman, Research council, 1984–93

Indian Academy of Sciences

• President, 1977–1979

Indian Space Research Organisation

• Chairman, 1972–1995

Indian Space Commission

• Chairman, 1972–2002

Education

University of the Punjab in Lahore (undivided India at that time and now in Pakistan)

• B.A. in Mathematics and B.Sc. in Physics
• M.A. in English Literature
• B.Eng. in Mechanical Engineering, 1945, from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
• M.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering from California Institute of Technology (CIT), 1947
• Aeronautical Engineer’s Degree, from CIT, 1949
• Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering and Mathematics, 1951, with Prof Hans W. Liepmann as his advisor

Awards

• Padma Vibhushan (India's second highest civilian honour), 1981
• Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration, 1999
• Distinguished Alumnus Award, Indian Institute of Science
• Distinguished Alumnus Award, California Insititute of Technology, 1969

Family

His daughter Jyotsna Dhawan, is a renowned molecular biologist.

References

1. Dhawan S: Direct measurements of skin friction. Tech. Rep No.1121, National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, Washington DC 1953.
2. Schlichting H, Gersten K: Boundary Layer Theory (8th Revised & Enlarged Edition). Springer, 1999.
3. Dhawan S: A glimpse of fluid mechanics research in Bangalore 25 years ago. India: Surveys in fluid mechanics Indian Academy of Sciences (Eds. R Narasimha, S M Deshpande) 1-15, 1982.
4. Developments in Fluid Mechanics and Space Technology. (Eds. R Narasimha, APJ Abdul Kalam) Indian Academy of Sciences, 1988.
5. Dhawan S: Bird flight. Indian Academy of Sciences, 1991.
6. Dhawan S: Aeronautical Research in India. (22nd British Commonwealth Lecture). J. Royal Aero. Soc. 71, 149-184, 1967.
7. Special Section on Instabilities, transitions and turbulence. (Ed. R Narasimha) Current Science, 79:725-883, 2000

External links

1. Prof. Roddam Narasimha, JNCASR about his professor. [1]
2. Prof. Hans Liepmann, Caltech about his student. [2]

Government offices
Preceded by M G K Menon	ISRO Chairman 1972–1984	Succeeded by U R Rao