Science has grown enormously in the past two centuries, and from philosophy to higher mathematics and from epistemology to string theory, great scientific minds over the past couple of centuries have sought to develop a world of knowledge. India has played its important part in that race.
It has joined the elite group of such countries who have their own space program and who have been able to forge their own cryogenic engine, an engine that uses liquid oxygen and hydrogen as fuel. This would not have been possible if the scientists were not able to develop such technology with their sheer ingenuity. Armed with the sheer power of their intellect, scientists like Roddam Narasimha have played a key role in shaping India’s future.
His Early Life and Education
Roddam Narasimha was born in Karnataka on 23rd June 1933. His main interest was always engineering and science and he went onto pursue the same. He did his graduation from the University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering. He then did his post-graduation from the famous Indian Institute of Sciences in Bangalore.
Narasimha completed his Ph.D. from California Institute of Technology, Caltech, in 1961. His main areas of concern were aerospace engineering and fluid dynamics related to aerospace problems. He is also an expert in atmospheric sciences and is credited of being the founder of the Center for Atmospheric Sciences, presently known as the Center for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, at the Indian Institute of Sciences, in 1982.
His Many Roles
Since 1962, Professor Narasimha has been associated with the Indian Institute of Sciences, especially the department of Aeronautical Engineering. In the period of 1984 to 1993 he was the director of the National Aerospace Laboratories, which is the second largest aerospace company after Hindustan Aeronautics limited.
He has been a visiting faculty in the California Institute of Technology, Caltech and a professor of engineering at Cambridge in London.
He’s held visiting posts at the University of Brussels, University of Strathclyde, Adelaide University, and NASA Langley. He was the director of the National Institute of Advanced Studies, besides being on the Board of Directors for Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
His Work and Achievements
Professor Narasimha’s work has mainly concentrated with the dynamics of Aerospace Fluids and the different flows of the fluids. He was also on the advisory board of Rajiv Gandhi’s Scientific Advisory Council. His main area of research has been the transition of the flow of fluid from Laminar to Turbulent and the other way round.
Currently he is a member of the Commission of Space and also co-chairs the Joint Scientific Working Group and Joint Steering Committee for Megha-Tropiques, an Indo-French atmospheric research satellite.
Professor Narasimha has received many honors for his work of immense importance. He has received the Trieste Science Price by TWAS, a Fellowship of the Royal Society. He is an associate (foreign) of both national Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was also the Chairman of the Engineering Mechanics Unit at the Jawaharlal Nehru Center of Advanced Scientific Research.
