Udupi Ramachandra Rao

Udupi Ramachandra Rao, popularly known as U R Rao is a space scientist and former chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation Presently he is the Chairman of the Governing Council of the Physical Research Laboratory at Ahmedabad Rao was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 1976 He was inducted into the Satellite Hall of Fame, Washington on March 19, 2013 at a ceremony organised by the Society of Satellite Professionals International With this he became the first Indian to be inductedU R Rao was born at Adamaru in Karnataka State, India His parents were Lakshminarayana Acharya and Krishnaveni Amma He had his primary education at Adamaru He completed his secondary education from Christian High School, Udupi He completed his BSc in Government Arts and Science College, Anantpur, MSc from Banaras Hindu University and PhD at Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad under the guidance of Dr Vikram SarabhaiRao started his career as a cosmic ray scientist, under the Dr Vikram Sarabhai, which work he continued at MIT In association with the JPL Group, he was the first to establish the continuous nature of the solar wind and its effect on geomagnetism using Mariner 2 observations Raos experiments on a number of Pioneer and Explorer spacecraft led to a complete understanding of the solar cosmic ray phenomena and the electromagnetic state of the interplanetary space Convinced of the imperative need to use space technology for rapid development, Rao undertook the responsibility for the establishment of satellite technology in India in 1972 Under his guidance, beginning with the first Indian satellite Aryabhata in 1975, over 18 satellites including Bhaskara, APPLE, Rohini, INSAT1 and INSAT2 series of multipurpose satellites and the IRS1A and IRS1B remote sensing satellites were designed, fabricated and launched for providing communication, remote sensing and meteorological services