I bet you don't know these 3 things about G Madhavan Nair, the chairman of ISROA P J Abdul Kalam was Nair's first boss. Both Kalam and Nair then worked at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram
oh ok you new it, what about the next one.....
Madhavan Nair is the first scientiest,after a long time that a scientist not based in Bangalore was chosen as the chairman of ISRO. Madhavan nair is also the first time in two decades that a scientist not working on satellites -- Nair specialises in rockets and launch vehicles -- has been chosen for the top job of ISRO.
Yes he is propulsion-3 guy!!!
And it is rare for a scientist without a doctorate to be chosen to head ISRO, but G Madhavan rao did it and his selection underlines that knowledge and work experience are more important than degrees on paper. Before being the chief of ISRO he has lived in Kerala all through his 35-year tenure with ISRO.
Because of his major contibution in SLV-3's, he was made project director of India's first operational Satellite Launch Vehicle, the PSLV which is the only launcher whose services ISRO sells commercially. Don't forget its this launcher that made a world record of launching 10 satellites at one go and it is this launch vehicle which chandrayaan-1 will ride to moon.
Here's a brief history of G madahavan nair.
Nair was one of ISRO's early recruits. He joined the space programme in 1967, after being trained at Mumbai's Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. After graduating in engineering from Kerala University in 1966, he joined the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station, as VSSC was then known, in 1967.
Nair had been recruited by Vikram Sarabhai's protege, R Aravamudan, now a distinguished scientist with ISRO after he retired as director of various ISRO centres. Aravamudan himself had been personally handpicked by Sarabhai five years earlier. Nair was one of three young men hired by Aravamudan at the time -- the other two are no longer with ISRO.
Nair was designated to work under Kalam, who headed VSSC's payload integration section from 1967 to 1972. Former ISRO chairman Dr U R Rao still recalls how hard Nair worked on a project to develop sounding rockets in collaboration with Japanese scientists.
A decade later, Nair was working on the satellite launch vehicles in Thiruvananthapuram. "The failure of the ASLV was a major setback for the Indian space programme," recollects Rao. "Nair contributed in a major way to the development of the first Indian Satellite Launch Vehicle, the SLV-3. So he was made project director of India's first operational Satellite Launch Vehicle, the PSLV." The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle is the only launcher whose services ISRO sells commercially. It has also been chosen to send India's unmanned lunar craft, Chandrayaan-1.
Read more from this wikipedia article
Well this were the facts that i just learnt and thought about sharing with you all. I did my aesi with propulsion stream, so felt great when i heard that Madhavan Nair's major contributions are in propulsion stream. I do believe that hard work and experience matter more than degrees and the ISRO's chairman is the living example of it.
And for those aesi guys who don't know, he has been the chairman of AeSI. And i have the honour of getting my degree from his hand. I am trying to locate the picture that i had with him, will post it as soon i find it.
Do tell me what do you think about him and has his story inspired you.
