Today, 10 March 2023, is the 91st birth anniversary of the former Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Udupi Ramachandra Rao. On this day, let us read  on his early days, education, career, books authored, awards and accolades and more.

Udupi Ramachandra Rao was the Co-Chairman of the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research, Goa, first chairman of Prasar Bharati, fourth President of the Governing Body of the Centre for Space Physics and changed its name to Indian Centre for Space Physics due to its National importance.

Udupi Ramachandra Rao was born on 10 March 1932 in Karnataka's Adamaru village to  Lakshminarayana Acharya and Krishnaveni Amma. 

He completed his secondary education at Christian High School, Udupi.  He proceeded to Andhra Pradesh to continue his education, where he graduated from Government Arts and Science College in Anantpur with a B.Sc. Thereafter, he relocated to Uttar Pradesh where he finished his M.Sc. at Banaras Hindu University. He relocated to Gujarat to pursue his Ph.D., which he finished at the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad under the direction of Dr. Vikram Sarabhai.

Career of Udupi Ramachandra Rao: He began his career working with Dr. Vikram Sarabhai as a cosmic ray researcher. U.R. Rao was the first to demonstrate the solar wind's continuous nature and its impact on geomagnetism using observations from Mariner 2 in collaboration with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory team. His various experiments allowed him to fully comprehend both the electromagnetic nature of interplanetary space and the solar cosmic ray phenomenon.

Udupi Ramachandra Rao took on the task of establishing satellite technology in India in 1972. Under his direction, over 18 satellites, including Bhaskara, APPLE, Rohini, INSAT-1 and INSAT-2 series of multipurpose satellites, IRS-1A and IRS-1B remote sensing satellites, were designed, built, and launched in 1975 to provide communication, remote sensing, and meteorological services. This included the first Indian satellite, Aryabhata.

Rao returned to India in 1966 to take a position as a Professor at the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, after serving as a Faculty Member at MIT and an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at Dallas.

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