ANI |
Update: March 10, 2021 1:11 PM STI
New Delhi [India], March 10 (ANI): On the 89th anniversary of the birth of famous Indian professor and scientist Udupi Ramachandra Rao, Google shared a Doodle commemorating “India’s Satellite Man”.
Professor Rao, who died in 2017, was an Indian space scientist and president of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), which took India’s space program to dizzying heights. The doodle that was shared included a sketch of Professor Rao with a background of the Earth and shooting stars.
The description on the Google Doodle website read: “Born in a remote village in Karnataka that day in 1932, Professor Rao began his career as a cosmic ray physicist and the protégé of Dr. considered the father of Indian space. After completing his doctorate, Professor Rao brought his talents to the United States, where he worked as a professor and conducted experiments on NASA’s Pioneer and Explorer space probes. “
Professor Rao returned to India in 1966 and began a large program of high-energy astronomy at the Physical Research Laboratory, which was the country’s first institution for space science, before heading his country’s satellite program in 1972.
He even oversaw the launch of India’s first satellite, ‘Aryabhata’, in 1975. It was one of more than 20 satellites he developed that transformed much of rural India by advancing communication and meteorological services.
According to Google, “From 1984 to 1994, Professor Rao continued to propel his country’s space program to stratospheric heights as chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization.”
He received the Padma Bhushan in 1976 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2017.
Professor Rao became the very first Indian to be inducted into the Satellite Hall of Fame in 2013, the same year the PSLV launched India’s first interplanetary mission ‘Mangalyaan’, a satellite that now orbits around March.
His experiments on a number of Pioneer and Explorer spacecraft have led to a comprehensive understanding of the phenomena of solar cosmic rays and the electromagnetic state of interplanetary space. (ANI)