Vasant Ranchhod Gowariker (25 March 1933 – 2 January 2015) was an Indian scientist. He was a director in the

Indian Space Research Organization The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO; ) is the national space agency of India, headquartered in Bengaluru. It operates under the Department of Space (DOS) which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India, while the Chairman ...

and also the scientific advisor to the

Prime Minister of India The prime minister of India (IAST: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and their chosen Council of Ministers, despite the president of India being the nominal head of the ...

from 1991 to 1993. Gowariker made valuable contributions to the fields of space research, weather and population. He was well known for his monsoon forecast model as he was the first scientist to develop an indigenous weather forecasting model that predicted the monsoon correctly .

Early life

Gowariker was born in

Poona Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

on 25 March 1933 in Maharashtrian family. After his schooling and graduation from

Kolhapur Kolhapur () is a city on the banks of the Panchganga River in the southern part of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarter of the Kolhapur district. In, around 2 C.E. Kolapur's name was 'Kuntal'. Kolhapur is kn ...

district in Western Maharashtra, he embarked on his scientific odyssey to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in the early 1950s. He obtained his

M.Sc. A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

and

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in chemical engineering, supervised by F. H. Garner. His collaboration resulted in the Garner-Gowariker theory, which was a novel analysis of heat and mass transfer between solids and fluid.

Career

He had worked with the

Indian Space Research Organisation The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO; ) is the national space agency of India, headquartered in Bengaluru. It operates under the Department of Space (DOS) which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India, while the Chairman ...

. Gowarikar was involved in space research in early career under Vikram Sarabhai when his office was in the building of the local St Mary Magdalene Church in Thumba in

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

. He pioneered solid propellant development and later served as Director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) between 1979 and 1985. Gowarikar also served as the scientific advisor to

P.V. Narasimha Rao Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao (28 June 1921 – 23 December 2004) was an Indian lawyer, statesman and politician who served as the 9th prime minister of India from 1991 to 1996. He is known for introducing various liberal reforms to Ind ...

from 1991 to 1993. He had also been the Secretary of Department of Science and Technology. He was appointed as Vice-Chancellor, Pune University and was chairman of the Marathi Vidnyan Parishad between 1994 and 2000. Gowarikar, along with his associates, also compiled ''The Fertilizer Encyclopedia'' (2008) that featured 4,500 entries detailing the chemical composition of fertilizers, and containing information on everything from their manufacturing and application to their economic and environmental considerations.

Death

Gowarikar died on 2 January 2015 at Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, Pune, India following dengue and urinary tract infections.Scientist Vasant Gowarikar no more
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gowarikar, Vasant R. Marathi-language writers 1933 births Alumni of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge Fellows of King's College, Cambridge Marathi people Scientists from Pune 2015 deaths Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in science & engineering Indian Space Research Organisation people Space programme of India Recipients of the Padma Shri in science & engineering 20th-century Indian engineers Engineers from Maharashtra