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Satish Dhawan passes away
By N. Gopal Raj
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JAN. 4. The Indian scientific community today bade adieu to Satish Dhawan, the man who shaped the country's space programme and was the longest serving director of the Indian Institute of Science.
Prof. Dhawan will be remembered as a deeply-compassionate human being, an accomplished scientist, an astute institution builder, a great teacher and a person who continually inspired people.
His faith in Indian talent was extraordinary and people worked hard to justify his faith in them, says Roddam Narasimha, who studied under Prof. Dhawan and is himself a distinguished scientist.
Prof. Dhawan took over the helm of the space programme after its founder, Vikram Sarabhai, died four decades back. Sarabhai had envisioned India building and launching satellites which would provide beneficial applications such as remote sensing, meteorology, communications and direct TV broadcasting. He shaped the fledgling programme, giving it the organisational structure and management methods which have made it one of the most dynamic and successful institutions.
He believed the institution was bigger than the individual and sought to create collective decision-making structures. Under him, the Department of Space and the Indian Space Research Organisation developed effective ways of assessing growth strategies for the future and monitoring the progress of the ongoing projects. Project management methods allowed work to be coordinated across different groups and work centres within ISRO, and even in industry and academic institutions.
But Prof. Dhawan always saw himself first as an academic. ``I am a teacher,'' he told this correspondent on one occasion. Even when he was asked by the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, to head the space programme, he insisted on being allowed to continue as director of the Indian Institute of Science.
Born on September 25, 1920 in Srinagar, Prof. Dhawan graduated from the University of Punjab with a B.A. in Mathematics and Physics, an M.A. in English Literature and a B.E. in Mechanical Engineering. He took an M.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Minnesota and a doctorate from Caltech. His pioneering work included his studies of shock waves as they hit a flat plate, work which was important for supersonic flight.
Prof. Dhawan joined the Department of Aeronautical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Science as a senior scientific officer in 1951. He became professor and head of the department in four years' time and seven years later, at the age of 42, became the youngest director of the institute. He led the building of the first supersonic wind tunnels in the country. When there were doubts in the late Sixties about the safety of the Avro (HS-748) passenger aircraft, Prof. Dhawan led the inquiry which was a considerable technical enterprise at the time. He and his students at the Institute carried out path- breaking research in the field of fluid dynamics.
As director, Prof. Dhawan transformed the Institute. He brought a spirit of research and modern work into the engineering disciplines, observes Dr. Narasimha. He was able to attract bright young faculty, both from abroad and within the country. He started new departments, such as Molecular Biophysics, and encouraged work in new areas, such as atmospheric sciences.
He was also a person with a large heart who went out of his way to encourage and help young faculty as well as non- academic staff at the Institute, says N. Balakrishnan, now chairman of the Division of Information Sciences.
President, PM condole
By Our Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI, JAN. 4. The President, K. R. Narayanan, has condoled the death of the space scientist and former chairman of the ISRO, Satish Dhawan, in Bangalore today.
In a message, Mr. Narayanan - who has worked with Prof. Dhawan in the Ministry of Science and Technology - recalled him as an outstanding space scientist who had a deep conviction in the capability and potential of science and technology for solving various national programmes.
``India's space programmes owe to a great extent its spectacular growth and high level of maturity to the stewardship and visionary leadership of Prof. Dhawan. I join all citizens of the country in paying homage to this outstanding son of India who served the nation with dedication and distinction, and extend my heartfelt condolences to all those who grieve his departure,'' the President said in his message.
PTI reports:
The Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, in a condolence message said that in Prof. Dhawan's death the nation had lost one of its foremost scientists whose unmatched scientific zeal was underlined by social commitments and keen awareness of the national requirements.
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