S. Nambi Narayanan is a former Indian Space Research Organization scientist. He was one of the senior officials of ISRO.
Wiki/Biography
Nambi Narayanan was born on 12 December 1941 (age 80; as of 2021) in Kerala, India. His hometown is Nagercoil in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu. He was educated at DVD Higher Secondary School, Nagercoil. He completed his Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from Thiagarajar College of Engineering, University of Madras, Madurai. On 12 September 1966, Narayanan, along with a team of 20, started work at the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launch Station (TERLS), Thumba in Thiruvananthapuram. In 1969, he received a NASA scholarship. Narayanan completed his master’s degree in chemical rocket propulsion at Princeton University, New Jersey. Although NASA offered him US citizenship, Narayanan was determined to continue his research in India. In 1994, he was falsely accused of espionage in the ISRO espionage case.
Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launch Station, TERLS
Family, wife and caste
Nambi Narayanan was born in a Hindu family. He lost his father while he was chasing bachelors in Madurai. His mother felt bad after losing his father. He had two sisters.
Nambi Narayanan is married to Meena Nambi. The couple has a son, Sankara Kumar Narayanan (a businessman) and a daughter, Geeta Arunan (a teacher at a Montessori school in Bangalore).
Nambi Narayanan with his family
Career
Narayanan joined ISRO in 1966. In the early 1970s, Narayanan predicted the need for liquid propellant engines in ISRO’s future civilian space programs. He designed the first liquid propellant engine weighing about 600 kg and introduced liquid propellant rocket technology in India, while APJ Abdul Kalam and his team worked on solid propellants. Narayanan’s project was strongly supported by then ISRO chairman Satish Dhawan and UR Rao. He headed the cryogenic department, which is the production of materials at low temperatures.
Nambi Narayanan, with APJ Abdul Kalam
ISRO Chairman, Satish Dhawan
Narayanan, with help from France, became one of the chief architects and developed the engine called Vikas, which was used in several ISRO rockets, including the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). The Vikas engine helped in missions like Chandrayaan-1 and Mangalyaan. Vikas was also used in the second and fourth stages of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle.
Vika engine
Nambi Narayanan with other Indian team and French scientists after the successful test of the Vikas engine in Vernon, France in 1985
confrontations
- In 1992, India signed an agreement with Russia ₹235 Crore for technology transfer in cryogenic fuel development. However, the deal was canceled due to pressure from the US and France, who were planning to offer the same technology to Russia. ₹950 million and ₹650 respectively. Later, India entered into a new agreement with Russia to manufacture four cryogenic engines through a global tender without transfer of technology. But the deal was also canceled due to a false espionage scandal that surfaced in 1994.
- In 1994, Narayanan, along with fellow scientist D Sasikumaran and two Maldivian women named Mariam Rashida and Fauzia Hassan, were falsely accused of leaking vital defense secrets that included confidential information related to flight test data. Other accused persons were ISRO contractor SK Sharma and Russian space agency representative K. Chandrasekhar.
Arrest of Mariam Rashida
Maldivian women arrested in ISRO spying case
- Narayanan was arrested on espionage charges and the case was handed over to the Intelligence Bureau. He was in custody for 50 days. While in custody, he was mentally and physically tortured by IB officers. He was held for about 30 hours before collapsing and being taken to hospital.
Arrest of Nambi Narayanan in Trivandrum, 1994
Nambi Narayanan arrested in ISRO espionage case
- In 1996, the CBI dismissed the charges against Narayanan due to lack of evidence and acquitted him. Subsequently, in 1998, the Supreme Court of India overturned his case and dropped all charges against him.
- In one of the interviews, Narayanan revealed a response from one of the IB officials saying, “Sir, we are doing our duty. If what you say is true and you are justified, you can beat us with your slippers.”
The facts
- As a scientist, he worked closely with other eminent scientists like Satish Dhawan, Vikram Sarabhai, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, Ur Rao and many others.
- As ISRO’s then-Chairman Krishnaswami Kasthurirangan said, “ISRO could not interfere in a legal matter;” Narayanan did not receive the organization’s support.
- In 2001, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) ordered the Kerala state government to pay a compensation of Rs 1 crore to Narayanan.
- In 2012, the Kerala High Court ordered the Kerala state government to pay a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to Narayanan based on the NHRC’s appeal.
- In 2013, Narayanan held a discussion with the media seeking justice in his case and wanted to reveal the persons or officials behind the conspiracy of espionage charges.
- In an interview, Narayanan said that while he was being accused of espionage, he and his family suffered extreme mental torture. One such incident he recounted was that his wife, Meena, was once forced out of the auto he was traveling in when the driver realized who he was.
- He also stated that “they would come to our house and burn my effigy, calling me and shouting slogans. My family suffered a lot. My children were agitated and struggling. But my wife got depressed and stopped talking.”
- On 23 October 2017, Narayanan revealed the ISRO spying case in his autobiography Ormakalude Bhramanapatham. It was also revealed that the accused were subjected to third degree torture.
Autobiography of Nambi Narayanan
- In 2018, a court headed by Justice Dipak Misra ordered a compensation of Rs 75 lakhs to be paid by the Kerala state government to Nambi Narayanan for mental cruelty and damage to his reputation.
- In 2018, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice Dipak Misra, awarded a compensation of Rs 50 lakh to Narayanan for “unnecessary detention and harassment” by the Kerala police.
- The three-judge bench, which awarded a compensation of Rs 50 lakh, also said, “We can go for compensation to be paid by the persons involved in the investigation… We request the state to take compensation from their property. Let them sell the houses and pay. We don’t care. With our order, we clarify that his reputation has been tarnished… With this decision, his reputation will be restored.”
Nambi Narayanan was presented with a check of Rs 50 lakh by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in 2018
- On 25 January 2019, Narayanan was awarded the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award in the Republic of India, by the Government of India.
- His hobbies are reading and traveling.
- In 2019, an Indian biographical drama film titled Rocketry: The Nambi Effect was released, based on the life of Nambi Narayanan. R. Madhavan played the role of Narayanan. It was released in theaters on July 1, 2022.
Missile – Nambi effect
- In 2019, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind.
Nambi Narayanan receives Padma Bhushan by Ram Nath Kovind-
Categories: Biography
Source: dienchau2.edu.vn
