This is an article that Prof. A. K. Rao wrote for IISc’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in 1984. From what I can tell, the Mechanical Sciences Division published a book and AKR wrote this article as his contribution.
I found this a particularly interesting article because it lays out his career in his words—why he chose to return to work in India in 1959, describes his philosophy (“design is the synthesis and creation of new systems to meet man’s desires and needs”, “building teams and training the next generation”, “scarcity is not an unmixed curse… for it spurs creativity and simpler solutions—which even affluent countries desire”), and gives one a sense of the broad yet deep footprint he created with his work (from fundamental mechanics, to experiments and computation at a point when computers available in India were limited, to composites and flight mechanics).
He closes with what he started with—a deep desire to place his work, team, the Institute and India at the forefront of the world’s technical map. From letters that I have seen from Profs. Nicholas Hoff, Holt Ashley, Bruno Boley and/or conversations I have been a participant in, I know that he achieved many of these goals for himself, his team, IISc and Indian Aeronautics.
Enjoy reading the article in pdf format!
(Or, as images below)
