Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan or K. Kasturirangan is an elite Indian space scientist who was born on 24 October 1940 in Ernakulam, Kerala and headed ISRO for over 9 years.
K. Kasturirangan is one of the reasons why India is amongst the limited number of countries with major space programs.
As ISRO chairman from 1994 to 2003, K. Kasturirangan was preceded by U. R. Rao, and succeeded by G. Madhavan Nair.
In his illustrious career, K. Kasturirangan is not only responsible for India’s heroics in the field of space, but he also changed the education reforms in the country for the benefit of children.
Dr Kasturirangan has written more than 200 papers, both in international and national journals in the areas of astronomy, space science, space applications, etc.
Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan Biography
| Full name | Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan |
| Age | 82 years (as of Sep 2023) |
| Date of birth | 24 October 1940 |
| Birth place | Ernakulam |
| Zodiac | Scorpio |
| Height | 5.5 ft or 1.67 mt |
| Religion | Tamil Brahmin family |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Parents | Father – C. M. Krishnaswamy Iyer Mother – Visalakshi |
| School | Sree Rama Varma High School |
| College | Ramnarain Ruia College |
| Wife | Lakshmi |
| Children | Sons – Rajesh and Sanjay |
| Career | ISROChairman of Space CommissionSecretary to the Government of India |
| Achievements | Successful PSLV, GSLV flight tests |
| Awards | Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, etc |
| Honours | Banaras Hindu Uni, Andhra Uni, University of Calcutta |
| Fellowships | Cardiff Uni, Cambridge, International Academy of Astronautics |
Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan Age, Birth, Parents, Caste
K Kasturirangan as of Sep’23 is 82 years of age, he was born on 24 October 1940 in a Tamil Brahmin family to father C. M. Krishnaswamy Iyer and Visalakshi.
His birth took place in Ernakulam in the Kingdom of Cochin (present day Kerala).
K Kasturirangan’s father C. M. Krishnaswamy Iyer was himself a scholar in studies, and had completed his graduation in Chemistry from Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam.
The credit for Kasturirangan as well as Krishnaswamy Iyer‘s education goes to Kasturirangan’s paternal grandfather, Chalakudy Manikam Iyer who wanted his sons to receive proper education.
C. M. Krishnaswamy Iyer after his graduation worked at Tata Airlines, and retired as a senior accountant at the Indian Airlines Corporation (now known as Indian airlines).
K Kasturirangan was born in a family of scholars and well-respected individuals.
His ancestors came from Tamil Nadu and settled down in different parts of Kerala. His maternal forefathers settled in Nallepalli Agraharam in Chittur taluk, Palakkad district, while his paternal forefathers settled in the town of Chalakudy, near Thrissur.
Kasturirangan’s maternal grandfather Sri Ananthanarayana Iyer after completing his education became a sanitary inspector in Ernakulam.
Ananthanarayana Iyer was well respected in the community and was known for his discipline and ethics.
Kasturirangan’s mother Visalakshi was the eldest of four daughters from Ananthanarayana Iyer and his wife Narayani.
Kasturirangan and his brother Ravi spent a lot of their childhood in Ernakulam with their maternal grandparents since the death of their mother Visalakshi.
However, when Kasturirangan was only 10 years old, his grandfather passed away, so he and his brother Ravi went to Bombay to live with their father.
Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan Education
Kasturirangan completed his schooling from Sree Rama Varma High School, which is one of the largest government-owned schools in Kochi, Kerala.
The school was founded by the Kochi Royal family as the English Elementary School in 1845.
Before studying in Sree Rama Varma High School, Kasturirangan for the first two standards studied in a girls only school.
After moving to Bombay, Kasturirangan continued his schooling at South Indian Education Society High School, Matunga.
He then completed his B.Sc (Hons.) in Physics and Mathematics, as primary and secondary subjects respectively, from Ramnarain Ruia Autonomous College, also in Matunga.
For higher education, K Kasturirangan was admitted at University of Bombay, where he completed his M.Sc in Physics in 1963, and chose electronics as an elective subject.
As a child, K Kasturirangan always had a fascination for astronomy. In one of his interviews, he said when he was young, he used to observe the night sky for hours.
At that time, the city pollution was less, so stars were quite clearly visible. He always used to be curious about the stars, and his curiosity only grew bigger with his education.
By the time Kasturirangan completed his masters, he wanted to get into astronomy to satisfy his childhood fantasy.
It was during the same time, when he saw a small advertisement in a local newspaper from Vikram Sarabhai and he immediately applied for a fellowship at Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad.
During his interview at PRL, Vikram Sarabhai wanted to dissuade K Kasturirangan to see how determined he is to join the institute.
A few years later, in 1971, K Kasturirangan received his Doctorate Degree in experimental high energy astronomy under Vikram Sarabhai’s guidance.
Two years before Kasturirangan completed his PhD, he got married to Lakshmi. The duo gave birth to two sons, Sanjay and Rajesh. In 1991, Kasturirangan’s wife Lakshmi passed away.
Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan Career
There are very few ISRO chiefs who have held this prestigious position for over 5-6 years.
K Kasturirangan was the chairman of ISRO for 9 years, only less than Satish Dhawan (12 years) and Prof U R Rao (10 years).
When K Kasturirangan was pursuing his PhD, there was a lot of talk about ISRO, Vikram Sarabhai and the country’s space advancement plans.
As soon as he completed his PhD, he was offered a job by Sarabhai at ISRO as a Physicist.
This was the start of a long adventurous career with ISRO for Kasturirangan.
His first project at ISRO was to help build the Rohini satellite. Kasturirangan was then leading the Physics Group in Aryabhata Project Management Board from 1974 to 1978.
From 1976 to 1980, Kasturirangan was connected to the Bhaskara (I and II) projects as Project Director.
In 1990, he finally got an opportunity to serve as the Director, ISRO Satellite Centre which he completed till 1994, after which he became the Chairman of Space Commission, Secretary at Department of Space, Government of India till 2003.
From 2003 to 2009, K Kasturirangan joined Rajya Sabha as a member and he was also the Director of National Institute of Advanced Studies NIAS, Bangalore.
Kasturirangan is also head of a committee tasked with creating the National Education Policy for India.
Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan Achievements
As Director of ISRO Satellite Centre, K Kasturirangan was directly responsible for all the activities related to the development of new generation spacecraft, Indian National Satellite (INSAT-2) and Indian Remote Sensing Satellites (IRS-1A & 1B) as well as other scientific satellites.
These INSAT satellites were extremely crucial for telecommunication, television broadcasting and meteorological services.
IRS-1A & 1B was meant to be used for various applications in the areas of integrated mission for sustainable development, agriculture, forestry, flood mapping, etc. IRS-1A was also India’s first remote sensing satellite.
Under K Kasturirangan’s chairmanship, India’s space program witnessed exponential success including launching and operationalisation of the India’s prestigious launch vehicle, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and more recently, the first successful flight testing of the all important Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV).
K Kasturirangan was also involved in the design, development and launching of world’s best civilian satellites, IRS-1C and 1D, and initiation of third generation INSAT satellites.
It was because of Kasturirangan’s efforts and substantial studies, India planned to enter the planetary exploration generation, finally leading to Chandrayaan-1.
As an astrophysicist, Kasturirangan made some valuable research in the field of high energy X-ray, gamma-ray astronomy, as well as optical astronomy.
Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan Important Positions Held
In addition to ISRO and Rajya Sabha, Kasturirangan was an eminent part of several other institutions:
- Honorary Professor, PRL, Ahmedabad (1997 onwards);
- Honorary Professor for Space Science and Applications, College of Naval Warfare, Mumbai (1996 onwards );
- Senior Associate, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore (1995 onwards );
- Honorary Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore (1995 onwards for 5 years).
- General President, Indian Science Congress 2002-2003;
- President, Indian Academy of Sciences 2001-2003;
- Chairman, Council of Raman Research Institute (RRI) 2000- 2004;
- Ex-officio Member, Scientific Advisory Committee to Cabinet 2000;
- Chairperson, Research Council of National Aerospace Laboratories, Bangalore;
- Vice President, Indian Academy of Sciences 1998-2000;
- International Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS);
- Panel for Space Research in Developing countries of COSPAR/ICSU;
- Chairman of the Governing Board of the UN Centre for Space Science & Technology Education (UN-CSSTE);
- Member, International Academy of Astronautics Sub-Committee on Mars Exploration (1992- 1993);
- Member, Board of Trustees of the International Academy of Astronautics, Paris;
- Member, Advisory Board of International Space University (ISU), Strassbourg, France.
Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan Awards
K Kasturirangan is the proud recipient of honorary doctorates from 27 different universities. In 1982, he received a Padma Shri from the Indian government and 10 years later, he received Padma Bhushan.
In 2000, Kasturirangan was bestowed with the second-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, Padma Vibhushan.
Some of Kasturirangan’s other notable awards are:
- ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ of the Asia-Pacific Satellite Communications Council, Singapore (2005)
- ‘ISPRS Brock Medal’ instituted jointly by ISPRS and ASPRS, Istanbul, Turkey (2004)
- Vikram Sarabhai Memorial Gold Medal, 2009
- Theodore Von Karman Award by International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), France (2007)
- ‘Aryabhata Award 2003’ by Astronautical Society of India (2005)
- Award of “Officer of the Legion d’honneur”, the highest decoration given by the Government of France (2002)
- Shanti SwarupBhatnagar Award in Engineering Sciences (1983)
- Award of Intercosmos Council of the Soviet Academy of Sciences (1981)
Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan Role in Education Reform
The former legendary space scientist K Kasturirangan is also the main educationist for the Narendra Modi government.
He was chosen by the Government due to his strong academics and exposure with different institutes.
Kasturirangan leads the panel working on the new National Curriculum Framework (NCF), and his role is to decide what goes into school syllabus across the country.
The Government of India approved the National Education Policy in 2020.
According to the new policy, Kasturirangan and his team are now paying a lot of focus mainly to skill-based learning in schools and colleges, especially at the early stages of education, and improving higher order thinking and communication skills.
The policy’s aim is to make India, one of the best education systems in the world by 2040.
Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan Biography Conclusion
K Kasturirangan has not only contributed to India’s adventurous space explorations, but he has also endowed his expertise in India’s education system, which will pave the way for the younger generations to come.
With his excellent leadership, vast knowledge and a huge publication of more than 200 articles in national and international journals in the fields of astronomy, space science, space utilization, Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan’s name will forever be etched into the history books of ISRO.