A P J Abdul Kalam, President of India, worked with the Indian Space Research Organization 1964-1982, and with the Defence Research and Development Organization 1958-1963 and again 1982-2001. In 1997 the Government of India conferred on him its highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna. On many occasions during his long and illustrious career he worked closely with Professor Satish Dhawan. He recounts these events in the following pages, written from a personal point of view.

M K Chandrashekaran

When I think of the teaching qualities of Prof. Satish Dhawan, my thoughts go back to my days in the ADE during 1959-1961. At that time we were designing the Hovercraft “Nandi”. One of the typical design problems of Hovercraft was the design of a contra rotating propeller. I knew how to design a propeller, but I had no clue about the design of a contra rotating one taking into account the duct effect. I asked Dr. Mediratta, the then Director of ADE, whether I could seek the help of Prof. Dhawan for this design, since my friends had told me about his great teaching abilities. Dr. Mediratta agreed and I went to Prof. Dhawan. At that time Prof. Dhawan used to work in a small room in the IISc campus. When I asked him for help in the design, he said he would teach me how to design a contra rotating propeller, but I would have to come to him for ten Saturdays from 2 to 3 in the afternoons for learning the design. It was a great teacher's offer. I was jubilant and started attending the classes. He taught me how to design it. After the first lecture, before beginning the second one, he asked me critical questions pertaining to the first lecture. He tested the degree of my assimilation and application potential. With this background, I attended all the ten lectures and I developed the confidence that I could design the contra rotating propeller.

Read full article (168 Kb)

Address for Correspondence

A P J Abdul Kalam
President of India
Rashtrapati Bhavan
New Delhi