Satish Dhawan

Satish Dhawan (25 September 1920 – 3 January 2002) was an Indian mathematician and aerospace engineer, widely regarded as the father of experimental fluid dynamics research in India. Born in Srinagar, Dhawan was educated in India and further on in United States. Dhawan was one of the most eminent researchers in the field of turbulence and boundary layers, leading the successful and indigenous development of the Indian space programme. He succeeded M. G. K. Menon, as the third chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in 1972.

Dhawan was a graduate of the University of the Punjab in Lahore, India (now in Pakistan), where he completed a Bachelor of Science in physics and mathematics, a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Arts in English literature. In 1947, he completed a Master of Science in aerospace engineering from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, and an aeronautical engineering degree from the California Institute of Technology followed by a double PhD in mathematics and aerospace engineering under the supervision of his advisor Hans W. Liepmann in 1951.

In 1972 Dr. Dhawan became chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and secretary to the Government of India at the Department of Space.

APJ Abdul Kalam explains that in 1979 when he was the director of a Satellite Launch Vehicle, the mission failed to launch the satellite in the orbit. Instead it was put into Bay of Bengal. The team of Abdul Kalam knew that there is a leakage in the fuel of the system, but they hoped that the leakage is negligible, and they thought there was enough fuel in the system. This miscalculation lead to the failure. Satish Dhawan being the chairman at the time, called Abdul Kalam and conveyed to press "We failed! But I have a very good trust in my team that next time we will be succeeding for sure". This surprised Abdul Kalam as the blame of the failure was taken by the chairman of ISRO. The next mission was prepared and launched successfully in 1980. At this moment of success, Satish Dhawan told Abdul Kalam to attend the press meet without his presence. When the team failed, he took the blame. But when the team succeeded, he redirected the success to his team, thus portraying the picture of a true leader.

Satish Dhawan was chairman of ISRO until 1984.

Dhawan joined as faculty at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, in 1951 and became its director in 1962. 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 set up the country's first supersonic wind tunnel 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.

Dhawan died on 3 January 2002 in Bangalore. Following his death, the satellite launch centre at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, located about 100 km north of Chennai in South India, was renamed to the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. Satish Chander Dhawan Government College For Boys is named after him.Department of Mechanical Engineering Building at Indian Institute of Technology Ropar is also named after him as Satish Dhawan Block, IIT Ropar.

• Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

• Senior Scientific Officer, 1951
• Professor and Head of the Department of Aeronautical Engineering, 1955
• Director, 1962–1981

• California Institute of Technology, US

• Visiting Professor, 1971–72

• National Aerospace Laboratories, Bangalore

• Chairman, Research council, 1984–93

• Indian Academy of Sciences

• President, 1977–1979

• Indian Space Research Organisation

• Chairman, 1972–1984

• Indian Space Commission

• Chairman, 1972–2002

• Padma Vibhushan (India's second highest civilian honour), 1981
• Padma Bhushan (India's third highest civilian honour), 1971
• Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration, 1999
• Distinguished Alumnus Award, Indian Institute of Science
• Distinguished Alumnus Award, California Insititute of Technology, 1969

Satish Dhawan was born on 25-09-1920 in Srinagar in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, India.

• 1953: "Direct measurements of skin friction", Technical Report 1121, National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, Washington DC.
• 1958; "Some properties of boundary layer flow during the transition from laminar to turbulent motion", Journal of Fluid Mechanics 3(4): 418 – 36 doi:10.1017/S0022112058000094
• 1967: "Aeronautical Research in India", (22nd British Commonwealth Lecture),Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society 71: 149-184.
• 1982: "A glimpse of fluid mechanics research in Bangalore 25 years ago", in India: Surveys in fluid mechanics, Indian Academy of Sciences (Eds. R Narasimha, S M Deshpande) 1-15.
• 1988: Developments in Fluid Mechanics and Space Technology, (Eds. R Narasimha, APJ Abdul Kalam) Indian Academy of Sciences.
• 1991: "Bird flight", Sadhana Proceedings in Engineering Sciences, Indian Academy of Sciences.
• 2000: Special Section on Instabilities, transitions and turbulence, (Ed. R Narasimha) Current Science 79: 725-883.