G. Madhavan Nair is an Indian space scientist and a former Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation, and Secretary to the Department of Space, Government of India. He has also been the Chairman of the Space Commission and Chairman of the Governing Body of the Antrix Corporation, Bangalore.
Born in Neyyattinkara, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala in 1943, Shri. G. Madhavan Nair graduated in Engineering from Kerala University in 1966. After training at Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC), Mumbai, he joined the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) in 1967.
Shri. G. Madhavan Nair, former Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is presently holding the positions of the President of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA); the Chairman of the Board of Governors, IIT-Patna; the Chairman of the Centre for Management Development of the Government of Kerala, and he is also Council Member of Bangalore’s Indian Institute of Science.
As Chairman of ISRO, he directed the development of space technology and its application to solve the problems of man and society in India. Under his leadership, 25 successful missions have been accomplished such as INSAT, Resourcesat, Edusat, Cartosat, Hamsat, Program of PSLV and GSLV launch, and Oceansat. He was responsible for implementation of India’s first mission to moon Chandrayaan 1 which led to the confirmation of presence of water on the moon. He has given major thrust in the implementation of application programmes such as tele-education, telemedicine and disaster management support systems for meeting the needs of society at large. A scheme for Village Resource Centres through satellite connectivity is implemented targeting multiple services in a single window, which aims at improving the quality of life of the poor people in the villages. He was the chief architect of India’s work horse launcher PSLV.
He has won several awards such as the National Aeronautical Award, FIE foundation’s Award, Shri Om Prakash Bhasin Award, Swadeshi Sastra Puraskar Award and Vikram Sarabhai Memorial Gold Medal of the Indian Science Congress Association. He has also received the Gold Medal from the Prime Minister at the 94th Indian Science Congress at Chidambaram in 2007. The nation has honoured him by conferring the Padma Bhushan in 1998 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2009.
Shri. G. Madhavan Nair has been conferred with the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy/Degree of Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) from Punjab Technical University, Jalandhar (2003), Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati (2004), Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (2004), Indira Gandhi Open University, Delhi (2005), Rani Durgavati Vishwavidyalaya, Jabalpur (2005), Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kochi (2006), University of Mysore (2006), Cochin University of Science & Technology (2006), Rajiv Gandhi Technological University, Bhopal (2007), University of Kerala (2007) and SRM University, Chennai (2008); Honorary Doctorate from Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur, Chattisgarh (2009); Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science from Karnataka University, Dharwad (2009), Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai (2009) and Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (2009) and North Eastern Hill University, Shillong, Vishvesariah Technological University, Belgaum (2010) and Ch. Charan Singh University, Meerut (2010).