Manas Bihari Verma (29 July 1943 – 4 May 2021) was an Indian aeronautical scientist instrumental in the development of the

light combat aircraft A light combat aircraft (LCA) is a light, multirole jet/turboprop military aircraft, commonly derived from advanced trainer designs, designed for engaging in light combat. The mission can either be in a light strike or attack missions, reconna ...

, Tejas. In 2018, he was conferred the

Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

civilian honour by the

President of India The president of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, and the commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the Indian Armed ...

. After his retirement he launched Mobile Science Lab aimed at promoting science education in Bihar.

Early life

Verma was born to Yashoda Devi and Anand Kishore Lal Das on 29 July 1943 in the Bour village of Ghanshyampur block, situated in

Darbhanga Darbhanga is the fifth largest city and municipal corporation in the state of Bihar in India, and is considered an important city in North Bihar. It serves as the headquarters of the Darbhanga district and the Darbhanga division. Darbhanga ...

district,

Bihar Province Bihar Province was a province of British India, created in 1936 by the partition of the Bihar and Orissa Province. History In 1756, Bihar was part of Bengal. On 14 October 1803, Orissa was occupied by the British Raj. On 22 March 1912, both Bih ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. He had three brothers and four sisters. He was related to Braj Kishore Verma Manipadam, a celebrated Maithili literary writer. He completed his schooling from Jawahar High School in Madhepur. Later, he studied in

Bihar College of Engineering National Institute of Technology Patna (NIT Patna), formerly Bihar School of Engineering and Bihar College of Engineering, is a public engineering institution located in Patna in the Indian state of Bihar. It was renamed as NIT Patna, by the G ...

, Patna, and

Calcutta University The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

Career

Verma worked as a scientist at the

Defence Research Development Organization The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is an agency under the Department of Defence Research and Development in the Ministry of Defence of the Government of India, charged with the military's research and development, headqua ...

(DRDO) in the aeronautical stream for 35 years. He worked in various aeronautical departments established in Bangalore, New Delhi, and Koraput. Later, he was made responsible for the design of the Tejas aircraft mechanical system. He was part of the design team of the

Light Combat Aircraft A light combat aircraft (LCA) is a light, multirole jet/turboprop military aircraft, commonly derived from advanced trainer designs, designed for engaging in light combat. The mission can either be in a light strike or attack missions, reconna ...

(LCA) in the

Aeronautical Development Agency The Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), under the Department of Defence Research and Development (DR&D) of India's Ministry of Defence, was established in Bangalore in 1984 to oversee the development of the India's Light Combat Aircraft (LCA ...

(ADA). He led the team responsible for the full-scale engineering development of the Tejas aircraft. He was given the 'Scientist of the Year' award by former PM

Atal Bihari Vajpayee Atal Bihari Vajpayee (25 December 1924 – 16 August 2018) was an Indian poet, writer and statesman who served as the prime minister of India, first for a term of 13 days in 1996, then for a period of 13 months from 1998 ...

and 'Technology Leadership Award' by former PM Manmohan Singh respectively. He retired from the ADA in 2005 as the Director of the Aeronautical Development Agency. In 2018, the Government of India conferred the Padma Sri award to him for his exemplary contributions in the field of aeronautical engineering.

After retirement, he returned to his native village of Bour and was involved in imparting science and computer knowledge to Dalit children in the areas of Supaul, Madhubani, and Darbhanga, through the Viksit Bharat Foundation started by Verma. Through his Mobile Science Lab project, launched in 2010, a team of science and computer instructors would visit schools to demonstrate scientific experiments and impart computer learning. The teaching was done through the 'Lab in Box' (LIB) programme supported by

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

Death

Verma died from a heart attack at 11:45 pm on 4 May 2021, at his home in the K M Tank locality of Laheriasarai, Darbhanga in

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

, aged 77 years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Verma, Manas Bihari 1943 births 2021 deaths Indian aerospace engineers People from Darbhanga district Recipients of the Padma Shri in science & engineering