“It’s a historic moment” was the one liner said by the man behind India’s first successful lunar mission as Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft soared into skies on the glorious day.

G. Madhavan Nair,  the chairman of ISRO needs no formal introduction. His name has become synonymous with the success story of India’s foray into space adventure.
Born on October 31, 1943 at Neyyattinkara near Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala state. Early in his life, he studied  in Tamil Nadu’s Kanyakumari district, which is his native place. He graduated with a B.Sc in Engineering in 1966 from College of Engineeering, Thiruvananthapuram affiliated to Kerala University with Electrical & Communication Engineering as specialization. After his graduation, Nair attended a training program at the prestigious Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC) Training School in Mumbai.
His journey from BARC Training School to becoming the Chairman of ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) has been illustrious. He had served for many vitally important science research centers and contributed invaluable service to making India self-reliable in space science. 
He will always be rememberd for his pioneering contribution to the development of multi-stage satellite launch vehicles that earned India the pride of entering the elite club of space-faring nations of world. As Project Director, he led the development of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) which has since been used for launching remote sensing satellites.

As Director of ISRO’s largest R & D Centre, the Vikram Sarabhai Space Center, he oversaw the successful making of India’s Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV).

While serving as the Director of the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre from 1995-99, he took on himself the responsibility of developing indigenous cryogenic technology (CT) when that was denied to India by western powers and vital infrastructures were built and critical technologies were developed in CT under his guidance.

Currently, Nair is serving as the Chairman of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).  During his tenure as Chairman, ISRO/Secretary, DOS, he scripted the success stories of as many as twenty two missions i.e., INSAT-3E, Resourcesat-1, Edusat, Cartosat-1, Hamsat-1, INSAT-4A, PSLV-C5, GSLV-F01, PSLV-C6, Cartosat-2, INSAT-4B, SRE-1, PSLV-C7, PSLV-C8, GSLV-F04, INSAT-4CR,PSLV-C10, Cartosat-2A, IMS-1,PSLV-C9, PSLV-C1 and the most coveted of all of them, the Chandrayaan-1.

He is entrusted with the responsibility of development of space technology and its applications to solve the problems of man and society in India.
In the international arena too, his name is something to reckon with, he has led many Indian delegations for bilateral cooperation and negotiations to space agencies of various countries, especially France, Russia, Brazil and Israel, and has been instrumental in working out mutually beneficial international cooperative agreements. He has led the Indian delegation to the S&T Sub-Committee of United Nations Committee on peaceful uses of Outer Space since 1998.
 
In recognition of his meritorious services, the government of India conferred upon him the highly prestigious award, Padma Bhushan in 1998.  He has also been awarded Vikram Sarabhai Memorial Gold Medal of the Indian Science Congress Association, the Shri Om Prakash Bhasin Award and Swadeshi Sastra Puraskar Award and many other honors.

He also enjoys the fellowship and membership of a number of national and international science organizations.

Small wonder his achievements have earned him great respect and renown in national and international arena. His name will always inspire and motivate millions of young Indians who want to make India proud.