Air, close to the surface
Satish Dhawan was born on 25 September 1920 in Srinagar. He took a multidisciplinary education in mathematics, physics and engineering, and earned advanced degrees in aeronautics at Caltech.
At IISc Bangalore he built up research in fluid dynamics and on the boundary layer, the thin region right next to a surface where moving air slows down. He became the institute’s Director at a young age.
Taking over ISRO
When Vikram Sarabhai died in 1972, Dhawan was made Chairman of ISRO. He set a condition: he would continue as IISc Director, and ISRO’s headquarters would be strengthened in Bangalore.
Taking charge of a national space programme so suddenly was hard. He chose to move it from a charismatic-founder model to an institutional, team model. Under him the SLV programme, satellite applications and ISRO’s organisational processes went forward.
Credit for the team, blame for the leader
He is remembered for team-oriented leadership and for taking accountability when things went wrong. ISRO’s disciplined review culture and mission management still carry his imprint, and the Sriharikota launch centre is today called the Satish Dhawan Space Centre.
Leadership stands behind the team at the time of success and in front of it at the time of failure. Strong institutions last far longer than any individual.
Sources
- ISRO: Satish Dhawan
- IISc
- ISRO: Satish Dhawan Space Centre
- isro.gov.in/SatishDhawan.html
- iisc.ac.in/
- isro.gov.in/SDSC.html