| Satish Dhawan | |
|---|---|
| Born | 25 September 1920 Srinagar, India |
| Died | 3 January 2002 (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 an Indian rocket scientist and a pioneer aerospace engineer who was born in Srinagar, India and educated in India and the United States. He is considered by the Indian scientific community to be the father of experimental fluid dynamics research in India, and one of the most eminent researchers in the field of turbulence and boundary layers. He succeeded Vikram Sarabhai, the founder of the Indian space programme, as Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in 1972.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
California Insititute of Technology, USA
National Aerospace Laboratories, Bangalore, India
Indian Academy of Sciences
Indian Space Research Organisation
Indian Space Commission
University of the Punjab in Lahore (undivided India at that time and now in Pakistan)
His daughter Jyotsna Dhawan, is a renowned molecular biologist.
| Government offices | ||
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| Preceded by M G K Menon |
ISRO Chairman 1972–1984 |
Succeeded by U R Rao |
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