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7/16/2020 Satish Dhawan: Pioneer of India’s space journey - inspiring lives - Hindustan Times
under his leadership that India launched its rst satellite, Aryabhatta. Dhawan wanted satellite
technology to gather information useful for agriculture and other sectors of the economy, and
to promote distance learning in remote areas.

Dhawan conducted experiments in remote sensing and satellite communications which were
useful for rural education. His work helped in the development of telecommunications satellite
INSAT, the Indian Remote Sensing satellite and the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. He wrote a
book titled Boundary Layer Theory. He was also instrumental in setting up India’s rst
supersonic wind tunnel at the IISc. Dhawan remained the chairman of ISRO till 1984.

A true leader

Dhawan never took sole credit for his successful efforts and heaped praises on his team.
Recalling one incident in 1979, space scientist and former President APJ Abdul Kalam said that
when he (Kalam) was the director of a Satellite Launch Vehicle, the satellite launch mission
had failed and Dhawan as the ISRO chairman took the blame for the failure. The team later
succeeded and Dhawan credited the success to the team.

Dhawan also gave opportunities to new talent. Guha said, “It was Dhawan who recruited the
young and at the time relatively unknown Madhav Gadgil. Gadgil founded a rst-rate school of
eld-based ecological research. It was also Dhawan who supported the electrochemist, AKN
Reddy, in the creation of a centre for the development of technologies appropriate for rural
areas. This centre, named ASTRA, has since done pioneering work in the promotion of low-
cost housing and renewable energy.”

Death

Dhawan breathed his last in Bengaluru on January 3, 2002. The satellite launch centre at
Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, is named after this genius scientist. IIT Ropar named its
department of mechanical engineering building as the Satish Dhawan Block.

INTERESTING FACTS

1. Dhawan was interested in both kinds of science: science that advanced the frontiers of
human knowledge and science that increased human welfare. He was also quite interested in
literature.

2. During an interview on 50 years of India’s Independence, Dhawan said that whenever he
hears NRIs criticise India, he asks them to come back and improve the functioning of Indian
institutions.

3. At 42, Dhawan became the youngest director to be appointed at the IISc. He also remained
its longest-serving and most distinguished director. He was appointed in 1962.

4. Dhawan was concerned about poor and downtrodden. In 1988, he signed a petition asking
for a fair and independent review of the widely debated and controversial Narmada Valley dam
project.

5. Both institutions he studied at, The Indian Institute of Science and the California Institute
of Technology conferred distinguished alumnus awards on the science wizard, Satish Dhawan.

Sources: Wikipedia, Ramachandraguha.in

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