Digvijai Singh
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Digvijai Singh (11 December 1934 – 20 July 2018) was an Indian mechanical engineer and a former vice chancellor of the
University of Roorkee Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (abbreviated IIT Roorkee) is a technical university located in Roorkee, Uttarakhand, India. It is the oldest engineering institution in India, and was founded as the College of Civil Engineering in Brit ...
before its reconstitution as the
Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (abbreviated IIT Roorkee) is a technical university located in Roorkee, Uttarakhand, India. It is the oldest engineering institution in India, and was founded as the College of Civil Engineering in Bri ...
. He was also a former vice chairman of the
All India Council for Technical Education The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) is a statutory body, and a national-level council for technical education, under the Department of Higher Education. Established in November 1945 first as an advisory body and later on in ...
(AICTE) and a former director of Central Road Research Institute. He is known for his studies on dynamics of single track vehicles and Fluid film lubrication and was an elected fellow of all the three major Indian science academies viz.
Indian National Science Academy The Indian National Science Academy (INSA) is a national academy in New Delhi for Indian scientists in all branches of science and technology. In August 2019, Dr. Chandrima Shaha was appointed as the president of Indian National Science Academ ...
,
Indian Academy of Sciences The Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore was founded by Indian Physicist and Nobel Laureate C. V. Raman, and was registered as a society on 24 April 1934. Inaugurated on 31 July 1934, it began with 65 founding fellows. The first general meet ...
, and the
National Academy of Sciences, India The National Academy of Sciences, India, established in 1930, is the oldest science academy in India. It is located in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. Prof. Meghnad Saha was the founder president. Fellows *Suddhasatwa Basu * Sudha Bhattacharya * Ch ...
as well as the
Indian National Academy of Engineering The Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE), founded in 1987, comprises India's engineers, engineer-scientists and technologists covering the entire spectrum of engineering disciplines. The Academy is registered under the Societies Reg ...
. The
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (IAST: ''vaigyanik tathā audyogik anusandhāna pariṣada''), abbreviated as CSIR, was established by the Government of India in September 1942 as an autonomous body that has emerged as the l ...
, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the
Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology (SSB) is a science award in India given annually by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for notable and outstanding research, Applied science, applied or Fundamenta ...
, one of the highest Indian science awards for his contributions to Engineering Sciences in 1978.


Biography

Born on 11 December 1934 in the Indian state of
Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
, Digvijai Singh graduated in science from
Allahabad University , mottoeng = "As Many Branches So Many Trees" , established = , type = Public , chancellor = Ashish Chauhan , vice_chancellor = Sangita Srivastava , head_label ...
in 1953 before graduating in mechanical engineering from University of Roorkee (present-day
Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (abbreviated IIT Roorkee) is a technical university located in Roorkee, Uttarakhand, India. It is the oldest engineering institution in India, and was founded as the College of Civil Engineering in Bri ...
) in 1956 and did another bachelor's degree in civil engineering in 1957 at the same institution before joining the university as a lecturer in 1958. Subsequently, he took a sabbatical to move to the US where he completed his master's degree (MS) in 1962 as well as a doctoral degree (PhD) in 1964 at the
University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
. On his return to India, he resumed his service at University of Roorkee and served as a professor, head of the department of mechanical and industrial engineering, dean of academics and dean of research and industrial liaison till 1990 when he was appointed as the director of the Central Road Research Institute. In 1996, he was made the vice chairman of the
All India Council for Technical Education The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) is a statutory body, and a national-level council for technical education, under the Department of Higher Education. Established in November 1945 first as an advisory body and later on in ...
and after a service of 4 years, he became the vice chancellor of Roorkee University in 2000. He oversaw the transition of the university to an Indian Institute of Technology in 2001 and became the director of the IIT. He superannuated from service after handing over the charge to Prem Vrat in December 2001.


Legacy

Singh's early researches during his doctoral studies were funded by
Harley-Davidson Harley-Davidson, Inc. (H-D, or simply Harley) is an American motorcycle manufacturer headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1903, it is one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depressi ...
and were focused on single-track vehicles. Later, on
Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...
and
University of Stuttgart The University of Stuttgart (german: Universität Stuttgart) is a leading research university located in Stuttgart, Germany. It was founded in 1829 and is organized into 10 faculties. It is one of the oldest technical universities in Germany wit ...
sponsorship, he worked on vehicle dynamics and tyre-pavement interaction and these studies assisted in improving the design of scooters as well as in the
indigenization Indigenization is the act of making something more native; transformation of some service, idea, etc. to suit a local culture, especially through the use of more indigenous people in public administration, employment and other fields. The term is ...
of their manufacturing. His work on welding technology covered ''weld pool solidification, effects of welding parameters on molten metal transfer, spatter, heat affected zones, changes in crystallographic structures, and solute redistribution'' and he proposed protocols for the ''analytical prediction and measurement of residual stresses in and around spot welds''. Later in his career, he shifted his focus to
tribological Tribology is the science and engineering of interacting surfaces in relative motion. It includes the study and application of the principles of friction, lubrication and wear. Tribology is highly interdisciplinary, drawing on many academic field ...
studies and contributed to widening the understanding of fluid film lubrication as well as hydrostatic and hydrodynamic lubrication. He also headed a research group engaged in the studies of
Pavement management Pavement management is the process of planning the maintenance and repair of a network of roadways or other paved facilities in order to optimize pavement conditions over the entire network. It is also applied to airport runways and ocean freight ...
systems. His researches have been documented in 160 peer-reviewed articles; the online article repository of Indian Academy of Sciences has listed 49 of them. He has also mentored 19 doctoral and several master's scholars in their studies. Singh sat in the board of directors of the International Road Federation from 1991 to 1994 and, as a founder member of the World Interchange Network, he served as a director of the organization from 1993 to 1996. He was the secretary of the Association of Academies and Societies of Sciences in Asia (AASSA) during 1993–94 and was a member of the Science and Engineering Council of the Department of Science and Technology during 1983–88 and 2000–03. He has been associated with several global and national bodies as a member; governing body of the Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (1997–99), committees of
World Road Association PIARC (World Road Association) is an international forum for the discussion of all aspects of roads and road networks. Overview Though established principally for professionals in its 122 member countries round the world, it also provides an ...
, Central Board of Railway Research (1986–89, 1998-2000), National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration laboratories (1998-2000), Committee on Auto-Fuel Policy (2001–02) and Apex Committee on Road Construction and Transportation Equipment (2001–04) are some of them. He was a member of the board of governors of the
Engineering Council of India Engineering Council of India (ECI) is a statutory professional body responsible for regulation and licensing of engineering profession in India. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India It was establis ...
(2002–07) and presided the Tribology Society of India from 1998 to 2000. He was the Lead Person of the ''Fly Ash Mission'' (FAM) of the Department of Science and Technology and chaired its Technology Advisory Group during 1993–99. He was also the chairman of programme advisory committee on the National Science and Technology Management System (1997–2003) and served as the national coordinator of the engineering sciences section of the Indo-Russian Integrated long term programme of cooperation in Science and Technology. He was closely associated with the Indian National Academy of Engineering; he has chaired the Engineering Education Forum of the academy and is a member of its Forum on Engineering Interventions for Disaster Mitigation.


Death

Professor D. V. Singh died in New Delhi on 20 July 2018.


Awards and honors

The
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (IAST: ''vaigyanik tathā audyogik anusandhāna pariṣada''), abbreviated as CSIR, was established by the Government of India in September 1942 as an autonomous body that has emerged as the l ...
awarded Singh the
Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology (SSB) is a science award in India given annually by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for notable and outstanding research, Applied science, applied or Fundamenta ...
, one of the highest Indian science awards in 1978. He received two honors from the
Institution of Engineers (India) The Institution of Engineers (India) is the national organization of engineers in India. It has more than one million members in 15 engineering disciplines in 125 centers or chapters in India and overseas; it is the world's largest multi-disci ...
; the Mechanical Engineering Design Award in 1997 and the Eminent Engineering Personality Award in 2003. The Indian National Academy of Engineering awarded him the Jaikrishna Memorial Award in 2003; INAE would honor him again in 2015 with the Lifetime Achievement Award. In between, he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award of the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee in 2007 and the Lifetime Achievement Award of Tribology Society of India in 2011. He is also a recipient of the Silver Jubilee Award of IMDA. The Indian Academy of Sciences elected him as a fellow in 1981 and he became an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy in 1983 and the National Academy of Sciences, India in 1990. He was also an elected fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering. He has held the National Professorship of the
University Grants Commission of India University Grants Commission (UGC) is a statutory body set up by the Department of Higher Education (India), Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development (India), Ministry of Education, Government of India in accordan ...
and the award orations delivered by him include Dr. Guru Prasad Chatterjee Memorial Lecture of the Indian National Science Academy.


Selected bibliography

* * * * *


See also

*
Hydrostatics Fluid statics or hydrostatics is the branch of fluid mechanics that studies the condition of the equilibrium of a floating body and submerged body " fluids at hydrostatic equilibrium and the pressure in a fluid, or exerted by a fluid, on an imm ...
*
Fluid dynamics In physics and engineering, fluid dynamics is a subdiscipline of fluid mechanics that describes the flow of fluids— liquids and gases. It has several subdisciplines, including ''aerodynamics'' (the study of air and other gases in motion) an ...


Notes


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Digvijai 1934 births 2018 deaths Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Engineering Science Indian scientific authors Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy Scientists from Uttar Pradesh Fellows of The National Academy of Sciences, India Indian mechanical engineers University of Allahabad alumni IIT Roorkee alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Heads of universities and colleges in India Tribologists Fellows of the Indian National Academy of Engineering