Scientist, teacher who helped India’s space ambitions take flight

Eknath Vasant Chitnis, the renowned scientist who shaped India’s space programme and played a pivotal role in helping the country realise its nascent cosmic ambitions, died on Wednesday. He was 100.

- Nadeem Inamdar

Chitnis was unwell for the last few days and suffered a heart attack in the morning.

He worked closely with space pioneer Vikram Sarabhai and leaves behind a rich legacy of institution-building, and technological innovation.

Born on July 25, 1925, Chitnis was among the first generation of Indian scientists to lay the groundwork for India’s space plans. He helped identify the site for India’s maiden rocket launch at the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) in Kerala , a decision that would go on to shape decades of scientific progress. In the early 1960s, Chitnis surveyed Thumba and convinced Sarabhai of its strategic equatorial advantage.

A key figure in the evolution of the Indian National Committee for Space Research (Incospar) — of which he was member secretary — into the present day Indian Space Research Organisation (isro).