Nationality Indian Residence Pune | Doctoral advisor Dr. Ambler Fields Nuclear chemistry Name Waman Patwardhan | |
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Institutions Defence Research and Development OrganisationIndian Space Research OrganisationHigh Energy Materials Research LaboratoryArmament Research and Development Establishment Alma mater Sir Parshurambhau CollegeUniversity of MumbaiH.P.T.College Other academic advisors Prof. LimayeV. C. Bhide Similar People Homi Sethna, P K Iyengar, Rajagopala Chidambaram | ||
Waman Dattatreya Patwardhan (January 30, 1917 - July 27, 2007) was an Indian nuclear chemist, defence scientist and an expert in the science of Explosives engineering. He was the founder director of the Explosives Research and Development Laboratory (now known as the High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL)) of India. He is considered one of the distinguished scientists in India due to his contributions to Indian space program, Indian nuclear program and missile program in their early stages. He developed the solid propellant for India's first space rocket launched at Thumba. He was responsible for developing the detonation system of India's first nuclear device which was successfully tested in 1974, an operation codenamed Smiling Buddha.
Other areas of work: Wrote a book on Hydroponics and developed a cost-effective method for producing parabollic mirrors for astronomical telescopes.
He was awarded Padma Shri in 1974 by the Government of India for his contributions.