New Delhi: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairperson S. Somanath added another feather to his already illustrious cap Friday as he received his PhD from IIT-Madras.
Speaking at the 61st convocation ceremony at IIT-Madras, Somanath, 60, said that despite being a topper throughout his academic life, he could never muster the courage to write an entrance exam at an IIT.
“I stand here and I see a young village boy. Despite being the topper in the state for science, I did not have the courage to write an entrance for IIT. But I always dreamt of graduating from such a prestigious institute,” Somanath said during the convocation.
The ISRO chief, an aerospace engineer from Bengaluru’s Indian Institute of Science, has been leading India’s space programme since 2022. Under his leadership, India became the first country in the world to land near the south pole of the Moon last year — the Chandrayaan-3 mission. In the same year, ISRO launched India’s first solar observatory, Aditya-L1.
Somanath’s PhD is related to vibration isolators. “The topic is very close to my heart. It is related to vibration isolators, which I started as an engineer in ISRO years ago. But this remained with me,” he said.
He added, “This PhD is a work of 25 years. What we are witnessing today is just the final leg.”
A statement from IIT-Madras said that on Friday, around 2,636 scholars were awarded their degrees, including for graduate and Masters programmes.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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