Vasudev Kalkunte Aatre (born 1939) is an Indian scientist and former head of the

Defence Research and Development Organisation The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) (IAST: ''Raksā Anūsandhān Evam Vikās Sangaṭhan'') is the premier agency under the Department of Defence Research and Development in Ministry of Defence of the Government of India, ...

(DRDO), India's premier Defence research and development organization. In that capacity, he also served as the Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister (''Raksha Mantri''). He is a recipient of the

Padma Vibhushan The Padma Vibhushan ("Lotus Decoration") is the second-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "exceptional and distinguished service". All persons without ...

award.

Biography

Aatre was born in 1939 in

Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...

. He completed his BE in electrical engineering from University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (UVCE), Bangalore, then part of

University of Mysore The University of Mysore is a public state university in Mysore, Karnataka, India. The university was founded during the reign of Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV, the Maharaja of Mysore. The university is recognised by the University Grants Commission ...

in 1961 and a master's degree from the

Indian Institute of Science The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is a public, deemed, research university for higher education and research in science, engineering, design, and management. It is located in Bengaluru, in the Indian state of Karnataka. The institute was ...

(IISc), Bangalore, in 1963. He was awarded a PhD in electrical engineering from the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is on of land adjacent to "Uptown" Waterloo and Waterloo Park. The university also operates ...

, Canada, in 1967. Thereafter, he worked as a professor of electrical engineering at the Technical University of Nova Scotia, Halifax, Canada, until 1980. He was a visiting professor at IISc till 1977. He is a former member of the

Defence Research & Development Service Defence Research & Development Service (DRDS) (Hindi: रक्षा अनुसंधान एवं विकास सेवा) is a Central Group 'A' Civil Service of the Government of India. DRDS scientists are Gazetted (Group A) defenc ...

(DRDS). In 1980, Aatre joined DRDO at the Naval Physical & Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL),

Cochin Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...

, and became its Director in 1984. He was later appointed as chief controller (R&D) of DRDO. In February 2000, he replaced

Abdul Kalam Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam (; 15 October 193127 July 2015) was an Indian aerospace scientist and statesman who served as the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007. He was born and raised in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu and studied ph ...

as the director general of DRDO and SA to RM, serving as scientific advisor to the then Defence Minister,

George Fernandes George Mathew Fernandes (3 June 1930 – 29 January 2019) was an Indian trade unionist, statesman, and journalist, who served as the 22nd Defence Minister of India from 1998 until 2004. He was a member of Lok Sabha for over 30 years, starting f ...

. He retired in October 2004 and was replaced by Dr. M. Natrajan. Aatre was awarded the

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service ...

award in 2000 by the then

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

K. R. Narayanan. He was bestowed with

award, India's second highest civilian award in 2016. He is now chairman of Nit goa and IIEST SHIBPUR, Howrah. In 2015, Karnataka Science and Technology awarded him with the academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award for 2014.

Biography

See also

References

Further reading