Memorial Tributes Volume 19 (2015) / Chapter Skim
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SATISH DHAWAN
SATISH DHAWAN
Pages 95-102
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From page 96... ...
, passed away at age 81 on January 3, 2002. His career covered virtually the complete spectrum of professional involvement -- teaching, scientific research, technology development, management and leadership of learned societies and large national institutions, and scientific advice to government at the highest levels -- often in more than one of these capacities at a time.
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From page 97... ...
. The Caltech Years Dhawan wrote his thesis about the direct measurement of skin friction on a flat plate, using an ingenious floating element device whose deflection due to the wall stress was measured electronically.
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From page 98... ...
With 100-horsepower compressors running supersonic tunnels and galvanometers and optical instruments measuring the flow in the tunnels, the laboratories conveyed at once (to a casual visitor) an impression of both science and engineering -- scientific instrumentation in aid of acquiring engineering data (something unusual in India of the 1950s)
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From page 99... ...
Directing IISc As IISc director Dhawan devoted much time to the establishment of a number of new scientific programs -- in automation and control theory, materials science, molecular biology and biophysics, computer science, technology for rural areas, theoretical physics, applied mathematics, solid state chemistry, and atmospheric sciences. He persuaded several distinguished Indian scientists working elsewhere in the world to join the institute, and persuaded the faculty to reform the educational program that had changed little during the previous decade or two.
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From page 100... ...
Among other things, it beamed special educational and social content to 12 of the most backward areas in the country in the language spoken in each area. This project, a favorite of Satish's, was a tangible expression of his keen sense of the importance of promoting social justice in India.
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From page 101... ...
in 1981. He also received the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration in 1999 as "one of our foremost scientists, teachers, and national builders,…who has made multidimensional contributions to scientific education, research, policy formulation, and implementation and is deeply concerned with the solution of national problems through the use of science." Conclusion In his diverse roles during his professional career, Dhawan transformed every institution he led or advised and left his own special imprint on each of them.
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From page 102... ...
A powerful combination of ability, integrity, and personality enabled him to both do and promote science, work for the state as well as society, and manage megatechnology while also championing little science. He left a precious legacy for his country, and did so at a special period in its history.
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