Roddam Narasimha

Roddam Narasimha FRS (20 July 1933 – 14 December 2020) was an Indian aerospace scientist and fluid dynamicist. He was a professor of Aerospace Engineering at the Indian Institute of Science (1962–1999), director of the National Aerospace Laboratories (1984–1993) and the chairman of the Engineering Mechanics Unit at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR, 2000–2014).^[6] He was the DST Year-of-Science Chair Professor at JNCASR and concurrently held the Pratt & Whitney Chair in Science and Engineering at the University of Hyderabad. Narasimha was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second-highest civilian award, in 2013.^[7] for his contributions to advance India's aerospace technology.

Early life

Narasimha was born on 20 July 1933. He was born in a Kannada family tracing its origins to

He was the ISRO K. R. Ramanathan distinguished professor at the Indian Institute of Science (1994–1999), Director of the National Aerospace Laboratories (1984–1993), Director of the National Institute of Advanced Studies (1997–2004) and the Chairman of the Engineering Mechanics Unit at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bangalore (2000–2014).^[14] He was the DST Year-of-Science Chair Professor at JNCASR and also held the Pratt & Whitney Chair in Science and Engineering at the University of Hyderabad.^[12][15] He was also a visiting member of the faculty at international universities including the University of Brussels, Caltech, University of Cambridge, Langley Research Center, University of Strathclyde and University of Adelaide.^[12] He served former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's scientific advisory council.^[12]

During his time at the National Aerospace Laboratories, Narasimha led the research initiative into parallel computing as a means to solve fluid dynamics problems.^[12][16] His efforts lead to first parallel computer in India and development of a code for weather prediction of tropical regions. He was also a contributing member to the team that designed the light combat aircraft.^[17]

Over the course of his six decade long academic career he has made significant contributions to fundamental and applied fluid dynamics. At the Indian Institute of Science, his research included the ‘bursting’ phenomenon in a turbulent boundary layer,^[18] non-linear vibration of an elastic string,^[19] equilibrium and relaxation in turbulent wakes,^[20] relaminarization,^[21] hydrodynamic instability,^[22] wall jets^[23] and the study of clouds^[24][25] as volumetrically heated jets. At the Engineering Mechanics Unit of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Narasimha continued his research on fluid dynamics of clouds via laboratory experiments^[26] as well as numerical simulations.^[27] He also studied gas turbine blades,^[28] turbulent free shear layers^[29] and proposed a novel wing design for turboprop aircraft.^[30]

He was the longest-serving member of the Indian Space Commission, a policy-making body for space exploration in India.^[12] He resigned from this position in February 2012, in protest at the blacklisting of three former ISRO technocrats including G. Madhavan Nair, former ISRO chairman, for their perceived role in a controversial agreement between ISRO's commercial entity Antrix and Devas Multimedia in 2005.^[31][32]

Honours

Narasimha was an honorary member of the

• 1975 –
  SS Bhatnagar Prize^[36][17]
• 1987 – Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian award.^[17]
• 1990 – Gujarmal Modi Award^[36]
• 1998 –
  S. Ramanujan Medal, Indian Science Congress^[36]
• 2000 – Fluid dynamics Award, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics^[36]
• 2008 – Trieste Science Prize, The World Academy of Sciences, Trieste, Italy ^[36][37]
• 2009 – Lifetime Achievement Award, Science and Technology Congress, Gulbarga University^[38]
• 2013 – Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award^[39][40]
• 2019 – Lifetime Achievement Award for Mentoring in Science, Nature Magazine^[41][42]

He was the author of more than 200 research publications and fifteen books.^[43]

Personal life

Narasimha died on 14 December 2020, from

• Narasimha, Roddam (1961). Orifice Flow at High Knudsen Numbers. Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory.
• Narasimha, Roddam (1962). Collisionless Expansion of Gases Into Vacuum. Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory.
• Narasimha, Roddam; Ojha, S. K. (1967). Effect of Longitudinal Surface Curvature on Boundary Layers.
• Narasimha, Roddam; Srinivasan, J.; Biswas, S. K. (2003). The Dynamics of Technology: Creation and Diffusion of Skills and Knowledge. SAGE.
  ISBN 978-0-7619-9670-5
  .
• Kalam, APJ Abdul; Narasimha, Roddam; Dhawan, Satish (1988). Developments in Fluid Mechanics and Space Technology: Asian Congress of Fluid Mechanics.

References