Roddam Narasimha
Born	(1933-07-20)20 July 1933
Died	14 December 2020(2020-12-14) (aged 87) Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Alma mater	Mysore University Indian Institute of Science California Institute of Technology
Scientific career
Fields	Fluid dynamics
Thesis	Some Flow Problems in Rarefied Gas Dynamics[1][2] (1961)
Doctoral advisor	Hans W. Liepmann[3]
Doctoral students	K. R. Sreenivasan[4] Rama Govindarajan[5]

Roddam NarasimhaFRS^[6] (20 July 1933 – 14 December 2020) was an Indianaerospace scientist andfluid dynamicist. He was a professor of Aerospace Engineering at theIndian Institute of Science (1962–1999), director of theNational Aerospace Laboratories (1984–1993) and the chairman of the Engineering Mechanics Unit atJawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR, 2000–2014).^[7] He was the DST Year-of-Science Chair Professor at JNCASR and concurrently held the Pratt & Whitney Chair in Science and Engineering at theUniversity of Hyderabad. Narasimha was awarded thePadma Vibhushan, India's second-highest civilian award, in 2013 for his contributions to advance India's aerospace technology.^[8]

Narasimha was born on 20 July 1933. He was born in a Kannada family tracing its origins toRoddam, a village in theAnantapur district ofAndhra Pradesh.^[9] His father, R.L. Narasimhaiah, was a professor of physics in Bangalore'sCentral College, and was also aKannada language science writer with a focus on physics and astronomy.^[10]

Narasimha completed his schooling atAcharya Pathasala in theGandhi Bazaar neighbourhood of Bangalore.^[9] He obtained his graduate degree in mechanical engineering fromUniversity of Visvesvaraya College of Engineering in Bangalore, which was affiliated withMysore University. During this time he visited theTata Institute (now known as the Indian Institute of Science), where theSpitfire aircraft displayed in the aeronautical department caught his interest. After his graduation in 1953, while he was encouraged by his family members to accept a job with theIndian Railways or withBurmah Shell, but he went on to join theIndian Institute of Science in Bangalore for his master's degree in engineering, which he completed in 1955.^[11] During this time he worked withSatish Dhawan, who later chaired theIndian Space Research Organisation. He then went to the United States to complete his PhD in 1961 underHans Liepmann at theCalifornia Institute of Technology.^[12]

Narasimha started his research career atCaltech, working on the problem ofjet engine noise reduction. After the launch of the RussianSputnik and the resulting interest in space programs, he shifted focus torarefied gas andfluid dynamics, working withHans W. Liepmann.^[13] He continued this research at theNASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he went on to study aerodynamics and supersonic flows toward better understanding of the structure of shockwaves. During this time, he worked on one of the space agency's first computers.^[13]

He returned to India in 1962, and joined theIndian Institute of Science as a professor in its aeronautical engineering department (1962–1999), where he continued his fluid dynamics research, studyingturbulent flow and relaminarisation, including the study of fluid flow from turbulent (chaotic) tolaminar (streamlined) forms.^[13] In 1970, he was a member of the investigation team underSatish Dhawan that studied the airworthiness ofIndian AirlinesAvro 748.^[13][14]

He was the ISRO K. R. Ramanathan distinguished professor at the Indian Institute of Science (1994–1999), Director of theNational Aerospace Laboratories (1984–1993), Director of theNational Institute of Advanced Studies (1997–2004) and the Chairman of the Engineering Mechanics Unit atJawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR),Bangalore (2000–2014).^[15] He was the DST Year-of-Science Chair Professor at JNCASR and also held the Pratt & Whitney Chair in Science and Engineering at theUniversity of Hyderabad.^[13][16] 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 andUniversity of Adelaide.^[13] He served former Prime MinisterRajiv Gandhi's scientific advisory council.^[13]

During his time at theNational Aerospace Laboratories, Narasimha led the research initiative intoparallel computing as a means to solve fluid dynamics problems.^[13][17] 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 thelight combat aircraft.^[18]

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,^[19] non-linear vibration of an elastic string,^[20] equilibrium and relaxation in turbulent wakes,^[21] relaminarization,^[22] hydrodynamic instability,^[23] wall jets^[24] and the study of clouds^[25][26] 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^[27] as well as numerical simulations.^[28] He also studied gas turbine blades,^[29] turbulent free shear layers^[30] and proposed a novel wing design for turboprop aircraft.^[31]

He was the longest-serving member of the Indian Space Commission, a policy-making body for space exploration in India.^[13] He resigned from this position in February 2012, in protest at the blacklisting of three former ISRO technocrats includingG. Madhavan Nair, former ISRO chairman, for their perceived role in a controversial agreement between ISRO's commercial entityAntrix and Devas Multimedia in 2005.^[32][33]

Narasimha was an honorary member of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences, and aFellow of the Royal Society of London, and also of theAmerican Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He was a distinguished alumnus of Caltech and the IISc.^[34][35] He was also a foreign associate of theNational Academy of Engineering and theNational Academy of Sciences in the United States.^[36]

Some of his honours and awards include:

• 1975 – SS Bhatnagar Prize^[37][18]
• 1987 – Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian award.^[18]
• 1990 – Gujarmal Modi Award^[37]
• 1998 – S. Ramanujan Medal, Indian Science Congress^[37]
• 2000 – Fluid dynamics Award,American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics^[37]
• 2008 – Trieste Science Prize,The World Academy of Sciences,Trieste, Italy^[37][38]
• 2009 – Lifetime Achievement Award, Science and Technology Congress, Gulbarga University^[39]
• 2013 – Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award^[40][41]
• 2019 – Lifetime Achievement Award for Mentoring in Science,Nature Magazine^[42][43]

He was the author of more than 200research publications and fifteen books.^[44]

Narasimha died on 14 December 2020, frombrain haemorrhage at theMS Ramaiah Memorial Hospital in Bangalore. He was 87 and was survived by his wife and daughter.^[45]

• 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.

• Homepage at JNCASR
• Academic profile at JNCASR

• Engineers from Karnataka
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• Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan in science & engineering
• 1933 births
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• University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering alumni
• Foreign associates of the National Academy of Engineering
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