S Somanath, who played an indispensable role in successful chandrayaan-3 mission, has received PhD at the age of 60.
There is saying that “Age is just a number”, which applies significantly for late bloomers. It's never too late to gain knowledge. Proving the notion correct, the current chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), S Somanath has added another feather to his career by earning PhD at the age of 60. In this article, we will discuss academic journey of this renowned scientist.
After receiving initial schooling from St. Augustine's High School in Kerala, he moved to Maharaja's College, Ernakulam. Somanath graduated from Thangal Kunju Musaliar College of Engineering, in Kollam in the stream of mechanical engineering. Then, he joined ISRO in 1985.
(Credit - @isro X handle)
Dr S Somanath received his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, in Indian Institute of Technology - Madras (IIT-M). It was conferred to him at the 61st convocation of the institute for his thesis entitled “Vibration response studies on modified hyper elastic material models for application aerospace systems.”
After receiving one of the highest degrees in education, the ISRO chief mentioned: “As a village boy, even though I was a topper, I did not have the courage to take the entrance exam of IIT. But I had a dream that one day I would graduate from here. It was not only a great honour, but a village boy’s dream came true.”
#ISRO Chief S. Somanath receives his PhD in Mechanical #engineering from #IITMadras #chennai
— Sidharth.M.P (@sdhrthmp) July 19, 2024
Aged 60+, ~40yr career, he is already is a recipient of multiple honorary doctorates and now he's earned a very special one...
Congrats Dr. S. SOMANATH...
What an inspiration! ❤️🚀🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/78gR0L0pyp
(Credit - @sdhrthmp X handle)
A journey of 35 Years: The scientist further said, “PhD is always difficult, especially from a reputed institution like IIT-Madras. It has been a long journey. I registered many years back, but the research subject was very close to my heart. It was related to vibration isolators, which I started as an engineer in an ISRO project decades ago. The topic remained alive in my mind, and I worked on it for so many years.”
Somanath added: “This PhD is a result of 35 years of effort and what people are seeing is only the last phase, but the journey has been long.”
According to ISRO website, “As Secretary of DoS, he piloted the National Space Policy, facilitated IN-SPACe activation, engagement of ISRO with NGPE and start-ups in space sector and enabled NSIL to aggregate user demands, take up commercial activities, including Launch vehicle production and spacecraft operations.”
Apart from successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 and The Aditya-L1 mission, he has been part of XpoSat, ISRO-NASA collaborative mission INSAT-3DS, NVS-01, Oceansat, GSAT-24, and so on.
For his outstanding contribution in space science, Somanath has been awarded with Space Gold Medal from the Astronautical Society of India (ASI), Fellow of Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE), Performance Excellence Award-2014 and Team Excellence Award-2014 for GSLV Mk-III realization from ISRO, and Corresponding Member of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA).
Currently, Dr Somanath is focusing on manned Gaganyaan programme and crewed moon mission, developing Bharatiya Antariksha Station similar to International Space Station (ISS).
From earning PhD at the age of 60 to aiming for India's dominance in space science, the visionary, Dr. S Somanath is a true inspiration for Indians.
