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Udupi Ramachandra Rao (1932–2017)

Prof. U. R. Rao, internationally re- could be used to get a better understand- 34, 41 . For these space mis- nowned space scientist and father of the ing of the interstellar and interplanetary sions Rao along with his colleague K. G. programme in , passed medium. Young Rao was excited about McCracken, designed and developed par- away on 27 July 2017 at his residence in understanding these challenging prob- ticle detectors to measure the degree of Bengaluru. Rao symbolizes several per- lems. In his own words ‘The great scien- anisotropy of cosmic radiation in the en- sonalities – a versatile space scientist, a tists R. S. Krishnan and G. N. Rama- ergy range 7.5–90 MeV/nucleon with an technologist par excellence, a passionate chandran offered me 200 rupees accuracy of better than one part in 104. space application protagonist, leader, scholarship for Ph D under them. Dr These studies resulted in deep under- manager, institution builder, visionary – Sarabhai offered me 100 rupees. But I standing of the solar cosmic ray phe- all rolled into one. He laid the foundation went to and (to work with) nomena and the electromagnetic state of for the development of satellite technol- Dr Sarabhai because I was interested in interplanetary space. Working on these ogy in India, and is rightfully considered cosmic rays.’ He joined Physical Re- space missions also gave him a good un- as the Father of India’s satellite pro- search Laboratory (PRL) in 1954 as a derstanding of satellite technology. gramme. India’s capability of building Rao returned to India in 1966 and world class satellites is largely due to his joined PRL and along with his col- dynamic and visionary leadership. leagues, Kasturirangan, Prakash Rao and Though Rao will be remembered primar- others, carried out extensive work in ily for developing from scratch satellite high energy astronomy, particularly on technology in the country and putting the correlation between the time varia- India at par with other space-faring tion of optical and X-ray emission of X- nations, he led the space programme in ray sources in the energy range 2–20 keV various capacities with unstinted com- using balloon, rocket and satellite-borne mitment to align the goals of the organi- instrumentation. Rao and his group also zation with national development. made significant contribution to the un- was born on derstanding of cosmic X-ray and gamma 10 March 1932 to Lakshminarayana ray background and studied the effects of Acharya and Krishnaveni Amma in celestial X-ray sources on the ionization Adamaru village, Udupi, . He of nocturnal-D-region ionosphere. had his early education in Christian High Sarabhai was looking for a leader to School, Udupi and inter-junior course in take the responsibility of developing sat- Veerashaiva College, Bellary. He studied ellite technology in India and the respon- his B Sc at the Government Arts and sibility was assigned to Rao. The activity Science College, Ananthapur under Ma- An young Rao testing a sounding rocket was started as a division – Satellite Sys- dras University; and got his M Sc in payload. tems Division – in the

Physics from , Space Centre (VSSC), then called the Varanasi in 1953. doctoral student under Vikram Sarabhai. Space Science and Technology Centre He started his career as a lecturer in For the study of diurnal and semi-diurnal (SSTC). The initial plan was to develop a physics. His passion for science variations of galactic cosmic ray inten- 40 kg satellite compatible with the Scout prompted him to find avenues for carry- sity he was awarded Ph D from Gujarat launch vehicle of the USA and carry out ing out research. In those days study of University in 1960. He then continued some scientific experiments to build in- cosmic rays, discovered by Victor Hess his research work at the Massachusetts digenous capability for building satel- in 1912, was an exciting field in particle Institute of Technology (MIT), as a post lites. In the meantime there was an offer astrophysics. The cosmic ray spectrum doctoral fellow and worked with Bruno from USSR to launch a satellite devel- contains particles with energies as high Rossi’s group at MIT who were studying oped by India on a Soviet launch vehicle. as 1020 eV or more which cannot be pro- cosmic showers. Rossi was an excellent The task of realizing the satellite and as- duced in the laboratory. Study of these physicist and experimentalist. Working sociated activities was called ‘Indian particles gives new information on parti- with Rossi gave Rao good insight into Scientific Satellite Project (ISSP)’. In cle interactions at these high energies. instrumentation building for particle de- August 1971 a team led by Rao was de- The discovery of cosmic rays also posed tection. Later Rao moved to Southwest puted to USSR to discuss and finalize the a number of questions – how do cosmic Center for Advanced Studies at Dallas details of a joint satellite programme. As rays reach such high energies?; where (now University of Texas) as Assistant the story goes during the discussions are the natural accelerators?; what are the Professor. The expertise gained at MIT with the Soviets they initially suggested sources of primary cosmic rays?; – was fruitfully used to build satellite pay- that since satellite technology is com- which are some of the challenging prob- loads. During his stay at Texas he plex, India should go step by step. Their lems still not fully resolved. The study of worked on several space missions such advice was first to make only a satellite cosmic rays and the nature of their inter- as Mariner-2 (the world’s first successful payload and put on a Soviet satellite. actions during their propagation from the interplanetary spacecraft), Pioneers-6, 7, However, Rao was clear what he wanted source to the point of detection also 8, 9 deep space probes and the Explorer to achieve. He insisted that India will

CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 113, NO. 5, 10 SEPTEMBER 2017 979 PERSONAL NEWS start with designing a complete satellite. to none in the application of advanced centres ensuring decision-making at de- But for his insistence, India would have technologies to the real problems of man centralized level where technological lost the lead in satellite technology at and society’. Even before the launch of proficiency lies. At the same time, to en- least by a decade. This is typical of Aryabhatta he was planning to have the sure adequate coordination, interface Rao – a long-term vision and never com- next satellite with focus on application control, quality assurance and profes- promise on what he wants to achieve. It and India’s first remote sensing satel- sional documentation appropriate man- was realized that considering the aca- lite – 1 – was borne, which is agement structure was created. Over the demic and industrial environment, Ban- the forerunner of the state-of-the-art re- years, this basic organizational structure galore was a better place compared to mote sensing series of satellite IRS and envisaged by Rao largely remained the Trivandrum to carry out the satellite and . Another bold step he took was same in the management of ISRO’s the project was shifted to . The to accept the offer from ESA to launch a space projects. project had to start from ‘scratch’ with geostationary satellite on the third ex- In 1984 Rao took charge as Chairman, no laboratory place, no man power, and perimental launch of the Ariane launch ISRO, and Secretary, Department of no equipment! The activity started in the vehicle. Though the schedule was very Space and guided the space programme industrial sheds at the outskirts of Banga- tight, he took the challenge as it provided for 10 years. During this period he accel- lore, a village called Peenya. Most of the a low-cost opportunity to develop in- erated the development of rocket tech- scientists/engineers joined were fresh digenous capability to carry out an end- nology, resulting in the successful launch from college. In fact except Rao none in to-end geostationary satellite communi- of the ASLV rocket in 1992 and com- the initial team members had even seen a cation programme. Thus the first pleted the development of PSLV launch satellite, but they were competent, dedi- communication satellite – APPLE – was vehicle, which is currently the workhorse cated professionals with a focus to real- born which can be considered as the of ISRO for launching satellites in the ize the project in time, meeting the forerunner of INSAT series of multipur- polar orbit. Rao also initiated the devel- quality standards. Apart from availability pose satellite. As the number of satellites opment of the geostationary launch vehi- of trained manpower, many components increased, it was decided to build a more cle (GSLV) and the development of required for building the satellite have to permanent place and the ISRO Satellite cryogenic technology. His chairmanship be procured from abroad. Rao could Centre (ISAC) was born with Rao as its at ISRO can be described as the opera- convince the bureaucrats that for a pro- founder director. ISAC is the nerve- tional phase of India’s space programme, ject like this where both time and quality centre of India’s satellite programmes. when all experiments that were being of the product were of paramount impor- The new entrants to ISAC, working with tried out under ’s chair- tance, it is necessary to think ‘out of the the state-of-the-art equipment and test manship became operational. He has box’ management techniques. Rao could facilities in well-laid out buildings, may been promoting the use of space technol- persuade management to constitute special find it difficult to imagine that ISAC had ogy for broadcasting, education, meteor- teams to go to USA and Europe to pro- a humble beginning in industrial sheds. ology, integrated mission for sustainable cure components and equipments required Rao should also be credited for the development (IMSD), drought monitor- for the project. This is just one example way he brought in the project manage- ing, disaster warning and many more. of Rao’s management style to get what ment structure for ISRO’s satellite What was really unique about Rao was he wants circumventing all odds. projects. He introduced the matrix man- that apart from his dynamic leadership The schedule given to Rao to complete agement structure for optimally utilizing and institution-building capacity, he had a the project was 30 months. It was a very the expertise across the various ISRO quick and deep and intense understanding tall order. It seemed an impossible task to do all this, including testing the satel- lite’s ability to function in space, install ground control systems, etc. With his dynamic leadership, his technical fore- sight and above all his ability to motivate young minds, India’s first satellite Ary- abhatta was delivered in 36 months. Rao should be complimented for creating an organizational culture and work ethos which motivated these ‘novices’ starting from ‘zero base’ to go on to develop technologies, laboratories and test facili- ties for a technology which was new to the country. This was Rao’s first big milestone in ISRO. Undoubtedly what he achieved is something very unique in the annals of our space programme. Rao’s focus was always how quickly the benefits of space can reach the com- mon man, as envisioned by his mentor Rao (third from the right) and K. Kasturirangan (extreme right) with the visiting Soviet Vikram Sarabhai ‘… we must be second Engineers with Bhaskara satellite in the background.

980 CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 113, NO. 5, 10 SEPTEMBER 2017 PERSONAL NEWS of technology. He was a good physicist, ducted into the IAF hall of fame for his vision for initiating several space astro- and through physical laws, he understood outstanding contributions to development nomy experiments in which I should play many things on engineering side. In this of space technology in India and for his a role. He recounted the newly emerging process, he could really question engi- relentless efforts towards sharing the area of astronomy, X-ray astronomy and neers when he reviewed their work. By greater benefits of space technology with the future potential of infrared and UV all accounts, Rao is a decisive, no- developing countries and the world at astronomies. He further went on to eluci- nonsense personality who took quick large. date how he would like to set up centres decisions and this trait of his has been Rao will go down in history as an in- of excellence in newly emerging areas of evident throughout the development of spirational leader par excellence with high-energy astronomy, the need to de- India’s space programme. forthright views, innovative ideas and velop a variety of instrumentation for Even after retiring from ISRO, he took speedy actions, with his driving mantra balloons, rockets and satellites as well as keen interest in the space programme and ‘if others can do, we can do better’. the realistic possibilities of working with guided space activities as required. As These traits of Rao should continue to be American and Japanese institutions in Chairman of Advisory Committee on a motivational force and a role model for progressing these activities in India. His Space Science (ADCOS) he guided the many young aspirants in our country and unbounded enthusiasm and extraordinary space science programmes like Mars elsewhere for generations to come. confidence were evident all through his mission, Chandrayaan-2, solar monitor- On a personal note (K.K.), it was a account delivered virtually in a mono- ing mission (Aditya), etc. He has more very special privilege in my life to work logue lasting nearly an hour. He said that than 350 publications in reputed journals with him closely. It is appropriate to re- he expected me to play a central role in and authored a number of books. His count a few anecdotal instances which in translating this vision. This incident left contributions to the nation extended be- a way brought out his extraordinary per- a deep impression in my mind about his yond science and technology by guiding sonality, a man in a hurry. I vividly re- breadth and depth of his interest not only the in various ca- call the occasion of meeting him in early in technologies but also in the area of pacities as part of the National Security 1971 at Ahmedabad airport when I had space science. In retrospect, I see the Advisory Board, the Central Board of already submitted my Ph D thesis and outcome of these earlier ideas in India’s Directors, Reserve Bank of India and was awaiting my final results. I had gone vibrant space-based astronomy and sci- many more. His recommendations to the to see off my wife Lakshmi and son Ra- ence activities such as and the All India Council for Technical Educa- jesh to Bombay and Rao was also at the forthcoming Aditya, Chandrayaan-2, etc. tion (AICTE) have become the primary airport taking the same flight. Vikram To me, this incident had an important force in shaping Government policies on Sarabhai at that time had already pro- implication that if I had to build a future technical education and other related is- posed that I join the satellite programme in this country, not withstanding how sues in India. to be headed by Rao and the process of well I will fare, it is better to tag on to His concern how space technology can moving me to ISRO from PRL had been somebody who has not only the vision be used for the welfare of the society initiated. The moment we met at the air- but also ambition, self-confidence and transcended beyond the narrow confines port, Rao’s first question was when I was above all constant expression of restless- of our county’s boundaries and he took planning to join the satellite activities of ness to achieve. keen interest in reaching out to the other ISRO? I could see his excitement when In another instance which relates to the developing countries towards reaping the he started the conversation with his time when Sarabhai had just passed benefits of space technology for their na- tional development. Recognizing this he has been offered a number of important positions in the international arena in- cluding Chairman of the UN committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space and Vice President of the International Astronautical Federation. For his life-long contribution to space science, technology and applications, Rao had been bestowed with many na- tional and international awards and accolades; elected as fellow of many reputed academies and institutions; awarded honorary doctorates by a num- ber of universities and many more which are too many to record here. However, we shall mention two of the recognitions he got in the recent past. For his lifelong exceptional and distinguished service to the nation, the Government of India hon- oured him with the in 2017. He is the only Indian who is in- Rao explaining a point to the former Prime Minister Morarji Desai as Dhawan looks on.

CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 113, NO. 5, 10 SEPTEMBER 2017 981 PERSONAL NEWS away, the possibility of India building up to about Rs 60 lakhs. Rao showed me boredom. I am sure this was so with all and orbiting a reasonably heavy satellite this estimate and immediately gave his my other colleagues. He also took special with the help of the then Soviet Union reaction as to how infeasible it is to build interest in the career of youngsters who was being seriously considered the de- a satellite with this budget. He said the showed promise for future growth I was tails being available in the main text of issues of space qualified components, a special beneficiary of this attitude in this narration. The political decision was costing for infrastructure and testing, ex- him. In a sense, many aspects of my own given at the level of Madam Indira Gan- penses towards travel and interaction personal and professional life were dhi and President Leonid Brezhnev to go with Soviet side and many such elements shaped in my subsequent career not only ahead with such collaboration. To further need better estimates. He said consider- in ISRO but also elsewhere thanks to my this, the details of the framework for this ing that there is not much time available association with him. decision were worked at the level of to submit the final figures, we could Through this obituary both K.K. and M. G. K. Menon who had temporarily convey to Prime Minister a preliminary G.J. pay humble tribute to this great per- assumed charge of ISRO after the unfore- estimate of Rs 3 crores (five times the sonality who strode the space firmament seen passing away of Vikram Sarabhai and number provided by the engineers), like a colossus for nearly three decades his Soviet counterpart academician Boris based partially on his experience in US and brought immense prestige not only Petrov of the Inter-Cosmos Council. and subsequently in India as well as to the space programme but also to When the details of the same were con- partly from his own intuition of the our country making India’s voice veyed by Menon to Indira Gandhi, she scope and corresponding budgetary de- heard among all the major space-faring wanted an estimate of the financial im- mands for the activities. What is striking nations. plications within a day, so that the neces- about this exercise is the fact that when U. R. Rao is survived by his wife sary decisions could be given. Menon in we completed this project 36 months af- (Yashoda), one son (Madan) and a turn entrusted this responsibility to Rao ter its initiation the final expenditure that daughter (Mala). who was in-charge of satellite activities we incurred was very close to ‘3 crores’. and requested him to provide an estimate This shows his extraordinary acumen 1, K. KASTURIRANGAN * of the budgetary requirements to be about the many facets of the programme, 2, GEORGE JOSEPH * passed on to Indira Gandhi. Taking into not the least his ability to assess the account the urgency of this deadline, Rao scope of activities and their budgetary organized an emergency meeting of all implications. All through the years of my 1National Institute of Advanced Studies, the senior satellite divisional heads and association with him these unique capa- IISc Campus, requested them to prepare their portion bilities of making judgments on several Bengaluru 560 012, India of the budget estimates, giving them matters of a complex programme he 2Space Applications Centre, some guideline about the nature of the always excelled in. At all times, I felt a Ahmedabad 380 015, India mission. When the final numbers were great excitement and freshness in work- *e-mail: [email protected]; submitted by the functionaries, it added ing with him and never a moment of [email protected]

Maryam Mirzakhani (1977–2017)

Stanford mathematics Professor Maryam held in her native Tehran, Iran. Iran’s the creative scientist and humble person Mirzakhani, the first and to-date only President Hassan Rouhani, who had con- that echoed Iran’s name in scientific cir- woman mathematician to win the Fields gratulated her in 2014, released a state- cles around the world,’ he further wrote, Medal since its inception in 1936, died in ment expressing his great grief and ‘she was a turning point in introducing USA on Friday, 14 July 2017, at the age sorrow: ‘The unparalleled excellence of Iranian women and youth on their way to of 40, after a four-year battle with meta- conquer the summits of pride and various static breast cancer. Prominent mathema- international stages.’ ticians world-wide reacted to her death The Fields Medal is the most presti- as follows: Peter Clive Sarnak, a mathe- gious award in mathematics, often de- matician at Princeton University and the scribed as the mathematician’s Nobel Institute for Advanced Study said ‘her Prize. Mirzakhani received it in 2014 death is a big loss and shock to the during the International Congress of mathematical community worldwide. Mathematicians held in Seoul, Korea at She was in the midst of doing fantastic the age of 37 for ‘her outstanding contri- work. Not only did she solve many prob- butions to the dynamics and geometry of lems; in solving problems, she developed Riemann surfaces and their moduli tools that are now the bread and butter of spaces’ (http://www.icm2014.org/). She people working in the field.’ The Stan- is the first Iranian and first Muslim to re- ford University president, Marc Tessier- ceive the Fields Medal. Her co-recipients Lavigne, said ‘Mirzakhani’s influence are also special in their own way. Artur would live on in the “thousands of Avila is the first South American and women she inspired” to pursue maths Source: Wikimedia Commons, Manjul Bhargava is the first person of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryam_Mirzakhani# 1,2 and science.’ A memorial service was /media/File:Maryam_Mirzakhani_2014.jpg Indian origin to win the Fields Medal .

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