22 Facts About Roddam Narasimha

Roddam Narasimha FRS was an Indian aerospace scientist and fluid dynamicist.

Roddam Narasimha was a professor of Aerospace Engineering at the Indian Institute of Science, director of the National Aerospace Laboratories and the chairman of the Engineering Mechanics Unit at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research.

Roddam Narasimha was born in a Telugu family tracing its origins to Roddam, a village in the Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh.

Roddam Narasimha completed his schooling at Acharya Pathasala in the Gandhi Bazaar neighbourhood of Bangalore.

Roddam Narasimha obtained his graduate degree in mechanical engineering from University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering in Bangalore, which was affiliated with Mysore University.

Roddam Narasimha then went to the United States to complete his doctorate in 1961 under Hans Liepmann at the California Institute of Technology.

Roddam Narasimha started his research career at Caltech, working on the problem of jet engine noise reduction.

Roddam Narasimha continued this research at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he went on to study aerodynamics and supersonic flows toward better understanding of the structure of shockwaves.

Roddam Narasimha returned to India in 1962, and joined the Indian Institute of Science as a professor in its aeronautical engineering department, where he continued his fluid dynamics research, studying turbulent flow and relaminarisation, including the study of fluid flow from turbulent to laminar forms.

Roddam Narasimha was 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.

Roddam Narasimha served former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's scientific advisory council.

Roddam Narasimha was a contributing member to the team that designed the light combat aircraft.

At the Engineering Mechanics Unit of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Roddam Narasimha continued his research on fluid dynamics of clouds via laboratory experiments as well as numerical simulations.

Roddam Narasimha studied gas turbine blades, turbulent free shear layers and proposed a novel wing design for turboprop aircraft.

Roddam Narasimha was the longest-serving member of the Indian Space Commission, a policy-making body for space exploration in India.

Roddam Narasimha 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.

Roddam Narasimha was an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of London, and of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Roddam Narasimha was a distinguished alumnus of Caltech and the IISc.

Roddam Narasimha was a foreign associate of the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Sciences in the United States.

Roddam Narasimha was the author of more than 200 research publications and fifteen books.

Roddam Narasimha died on 14 December 2020, from brain haemorrhage at the MS Ramaiah Memorial Hospital in Bangalore.

Roddam Narasimha was 87 and was survived by his wife and daughter.