An Indian Scholar who took ISRO and IISC to the top
Satish Vikash was an Indian Mathematician, Aerospace Engineer, and Scientist. He is popular as the father of experimental fluid dynamics research in India and was born in Srinagar, Jammu, and Kashmir. He completed his education both in India and America. Satish Adhisheshji was also famous as an eminent researcher in the field of turbulence and boundary layers. He was responsible for the Indian space program from 1972-1984 as the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
Education
Satish Dhawan received his bachelor’s degree from Punjab University in Lahore, India (now Pakistan). He completed two bachelor’s degrees, one in physics and mathematics and the other in mechanical engineering. He also majored in arts in English literature while living in Punjab. In 1947, he completed a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Minnesota and a degree in aeronautical engineering from the California Institute of Technology. He proceeded with his examinations at Caltech and in 1951; he finished a twofold Ph.D. in math and aeronautic engineering.
Working in IISC
When Dr. Dhawan returned to India in the year 1951, his next plans were to prepare new engineers in India. He was given the responsibility to teach students at the Indian Institute of Science. Dhawan’s Ph.D. training was in Mathematics and Physics. So when he applied to IISC, the director there sent him to Allahabad University. He was called for an interview in Allahabad. Interview panel placed a graph in front of Dhawan and asked him to name the lines on the graph. Dhawan sat thinking for some time. The interviewer felt that Dhawan did not know the answer. He narrated some things to Dhawan in a harsh voice. Dhawan kept listening silently. When the talk of the person in front is over, he reversed the graph in front. He explained to the sir that while copying the graph from the book, he printed it in reverse.
When Dhawan used to teach at IISC, a young man used to work in his house. His name is B Ramaiya. He fondly called him Ramu. For his experiments, Dhawan had to make some wooden setups. He used to do this work with his own hands, and Ramu used to help him with this. Seeing Ramu’s talent, Dhawan made him a part of his experiments. And later on, this Ramu’s son worked as an engineer in Elon Musk’s company Space-X. In 1962, Dhawan was appointed the director IISC. During his tenure, he started new research programs at IISC in subjects like Science, Molecular Biophysics, Solid State Chemistry, Ecology, and Atmospheric Science.
ISRO Chairman’s tenure
In 1971, Satish Dhawan took a brief break from IISc. He went back to the California Institute of Technology for research. In December 1971 Vikram Sarabhai, the father of the space program, died. Along with being the director of ISRO, Sarabhai was also the Scientific Advisor to the Prime Minister. Principal Secretary (PN Haksar) suggested the name of Dr. Dhawan to Indira for the new head of ISRO. Senior scientist VP Balagangadharan tells in his book that initially, Indira did not want to make this offer to Dhawan. Sometime back, Indira had offered Dhawan the post of Council of Scientific Research, Director General of CSIR, and Advisor to the Defense Minister, which Dhawan turned down. Indira’s advisor Professor MGK Menon convinced Indira in the name of Dhawan. This time, Dhawan agreed to take over the post, but he had some conditions along with it. Dhawan had kept three conditions.
Dhawan Conditions
First – he will continue to be the director of IISC.
Second- The headquarters of the space mission should be brought from Ahmedabad to Bangalore.
Third- before returning he should be allowed to complete that research work in America.
Indira agreed to all three conditions. In this way, Dr. Dhawan returned to India in 1972 and became the third director of ISRO. Meanwhile, this post was handled by Professor MGK Menon for some time.
While being as the director of ISRO, he gave impetus to India’s space program. Along with this, it was ensured that ISRO remained separate from the Atomic Commission. To keep ISRO away from bureaucracy, he brought the satellite program to Bangalore. The advantage of keeping ISRO away from the Ministry of Defense was that India could get technical assistance from countries like France.
In this period, he prepared the next generation of scientists for India. One of them was the former President of India and Missile Man, Dr. Abdul Kalam.
Satish Dhawan is a great leader
Satish Dhawan ji was also a great leader. One such anecdote was told by the former President of India, APJ Abdul Kalam. In 1979, when he was the director of a Satellite Launch Vehicle, he failed in a mission to launch a satellite into orbit and the satellite fell into the Bay of Bengal. APJ Abdul Kalam’s team knew that there was a leak in the system’s fuel, but they expected that the leak was negligible, and thus thought that there was enough fuel in the system. This miscalculation led to the failure. Satish Dhawan ji, who being as the chairman of ISRO at that time, called APJ Abdul Kalam ji and briefed the press and said:
We failed! But I have a lot of faith in my team and I am sure that next time we will definitely succeed.”
APJ Abdul Kalam got surprised, as the blame for the failure was taken by the Chairman of ISRO. The next mission was successfully prepared and launched in 1980. When it was successful, Satish Dhawan ji asked APJ Abdul Kalam ji to attend the press meeting in his absence. APJ Abdul Kalam ji observed that when the team failed, Satish Dhawan ji took the entire blame. But when the team was successful, he attributed the success to his team.
After he died in 2002, the Indian Satellite Launch Center at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh (about 100 km north of Chennai in southern India), was renamed as Satish Dhawan Space Centre.
Satish Dhawan ji was also honored with the following awards for his works:
1. Padma Vibhushan (India’s second highest civilian award), 1981
2. Padma Bhushan (India’s third highest civilian award), 1971
3. Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration, 1999
4. Distinguished Alumnus Award, Indian Institute of Science
5. Distinguished Alumnus Award, California Institute of Technology, 1969
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