Waman Dattatreya Patwardhan (30 January 1917 – 27 July 2007) was an IOFS officer, nuclear chemist, defence scientist and an expert in the science of Explosives engineering. He was the founder director of the Explosives Research and Development Laboratory (now known as the High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL)) of India. He is considered one of the distinguished scientists in India due to his contributions to Indian space program, Indian nuclear program and missile program in their early stages. He developed the

solid propellant A propellant (or propellent) is a mass that is expelled or expanded in such a way as to create a thrust or other motive force in accordance with Newton's third law of motion, and "propel" a vehicle, projectile, or fluid payload. In vehicles, the e ...

for India's first space rocket launched at Thumba. He was responsible for developing the detonation system of India's first nuclear device which was successfully tested in 1974, an operation codenamed Smiling Buddha. Other areas of work: Wrote a book on

Hydroponics Hydroponics is a type of horticulture and a subset of hydroculture which involves growing plants, usually crops or medicinal plants, without soil, by using water-based mineral nutrient solutions in aqueous solvents. Terrestrial or aquatic plant ...

and developed a cost-effective method for producing parabolic mirrors for astronomical telescopes. He was awarded

Padma Shri Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...

in 1974 by the

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, ...

for his contributions.Padma Awardees

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Patwardhan, Waman Dattatreya Indian Ordnance Factories Service officers Scientists from Madhya Pradesh 20th-century Indian chemists 1917 births 2007 deaths People from Jabalpur Indian military engineers 20th-century Indian engineers Recipients of the Padma Shri in trade and industry