Date:16/05/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/05/16/stories/2008051660401700.htm

National

IISc to honour Kalam, three others

Staff Reporter

Bangalore: To mark its centenary year, the Indian Institute of Science will confer its Honorary Fellowship on four distinguished personalities including the former President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. “Dr. Kalam has been a constant collaborator of the scientists in the institute, especially in the area of missile development,” said P. Balaram, IISc. Director.

Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata, architect of the green revolution M.S. Swaminathan and noted aerospace scientist Roddam Narasimha are the other recipients.

“All the four have been associated with science and the institute in one way or the other and have contributed to the growth of science and industry in India,” said Prof. Balaram.

Roddam Narasimha, honorary professor at the Institute’s Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (CAOS), told The Hindu that he was honoured to be included in such “august company.”

Prof. Narasimha has had a 55-year association with IISc, having joined the institute as a student in 1953 and later appointed professor in the Aerospace Engineering Department and as the Chairman of CAOS, which he helped set up. “The honorary fellowship is particularly special, coming as it does on the Institute’s centenary year,” he said.

Prof. Narasimha is a former director of the National Institute of Advanced Studies and of the National Aerospace Laboratories. He is currently also the chairman of the Engineering Mechanics Unit at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR).