Vallampadugai Srinivasa Raghavan Arunachalam is an Indian scientist. He is the founder and chairman of CSTEP, a science and technology

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

Education

Arunachalam holds bachelor's and master's degrees in science and received his PhD degree in materials science and engineering from the University of Wales, UK in 1965 and an alumnus of Sharada Vilas College Mysuru.

Career

Arunachalam worked as a scientist at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre,

National Aeronautical Laboratory The National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) is India's first and largest aerospace research firm established by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Delhi in 1959. The firm closely operates with HAL, DRDO, and ISRO and ...

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

, and

Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL) is a research laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). Located in Defence Research Complex, Kanchanbagh, Hyderabad. It is responsible for the development and manufa ...

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

. He was the head of DRDO for about ten years in the 1980s. During his tenure the budget of DRDO increased eightfold, and he is credited with being able to get over both bureaucratic and financial hurdles. He initiated major defence projects like the Light Combat Aircraft and the Integrated Guided Missiles programmes. Arunachalam served as defence scientific advisor to the defence minister of India between 1982 and 1992, serving ten defence ministers and five prime ministers, and as secretary, Department of Defence Research for

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

. He advised the government on the definition, assessment and review of a number of major technological and societal programs such as optical fiber communications for India, development of indigenous iron and steel technologies, scientific and technological missions for the country to eradicate illiteracy, infant mortality etc. He also advised the government in the area of graduate education in engineering. Arunachalam is collaborating professor, engineering and public policy at the

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

. He is also an honorary professor at the UK's

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands (county), West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded i ...

. He is a former member of the Defence Research & Development Service (DRDS).

Awards

He has received numerous awards and medals, including 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 ...

for Science and Technology in Engineering Science in 1980. He was the first Indian to be elected as a Fellow of the

Royal Academy of Engineering The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering. The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senior ...

, UK. He was conferred Padma Bhushan (1985) and Padma Vibhushan (1990) for his contribution to Indian science. In 2015, he was awarded Defence Research and Development Organisation's (DRDO's) lifetime achievement award for his outstanding contribution in the field of scientific research and technology.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arunachalam, Vallampadugai Srinivasa Raghavan Living people 1935 births Scientists from Bangalore Indian aerospace engineers Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in civil service Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan in literature & education Tamil scientists Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering 20th-century Indian engineers Indian materials scientists Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Engineering Science