M. R. Kurup

{{Short description | Indian rocket scientist and founder of India's first solid rocket propellant plant}}

{{Infobox person

| name = M. R. Kurup

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| birth_date =

| birth_place = Chengannur, Travancore (present-day Chengannur, Kerala, India)

| death_date =

| death_place = India

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| othername = Madhavan Pillai Ramakrishna Kurup

| occupation = Rocket scientist

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| known for = Solid rocket propulsion technology

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| children =

| parents = C. N. Madhavan Pillai

| website =

| awards = Padma Shri

}}

Madhavan Pillai Ramakrishna Kurup was an Indian rocket scientist and the founder of the first solid rocket propellant plant in India at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre.{{cite web | url=http://www.isnttvm.org/kurupMemorialLecture.php | title=MR Kurup Memorial Lecture | publisher=Indian Society for Non-Destructive Testing | date=2015 | access-date=27 September 2015}} He is known to have contributed to the successful launching of the Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV) as the director of the VSSC centre in Thiruvananthapuram.{{cite web | url=http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/isro-scientists-prepare-for-second-aslv-flight/1/329540.html | title=ASLV: The final countdown | publisher=India Today | date=15 June 1988 | access-date=27 September 2015}} The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian award of Padma Shri in 1990.{{cite web|url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |title=Padma Awards |publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India |date=2015 |access-date=21 July 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015193758/http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |archive-date=15 October 2015 }}

Biography

Kurup was born in Chengannur, in the south Indian state of Kerala to C. N. Madhavan Pillai, a lawyer.{{cite web | url=http://www.chengannur.net/personalities.php | title=Our Great Prominent Personalities | publisher=Chengannur.net | date=2015 | access-date=27 September 2015}} Kurup started his career by joining the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). He worked in VSSC in various capacities such as General Manager, Deputy Director and Chief Executive of Chemicals, Materials and Propulsion unit where he had the opportunity to work alongside A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, the space scientist who would later become the President of India.{{cite web | url=http://www.rediff.com/news/special/apj-abdul-kalam-my-childhood-memories-of-kalam-uncle/20150729.htm | title=My childhood memories of Kalam Uncle | publisher=Rediff | date=29 July 2015 | access-date=27 September 2015}} During his tenure there, he established the first solid rocket propulsion plant in the country for propellants, propulsion and pyrotechnics.{{cite web | url=https://tamilkirukkan.wordpress.com/tag/isro-became-a-government-body/ | title=Movers | publisher=Tamil Kirukkan | date=2015 | access-date=27 September 2015}} He was a member of the team selected by Vikram Sarabhai to design the first Indian satellite launch vehicle, which was composed of Kurup, Vasant Gowarikar, A. E. Muthunayagam and Udupi Ramachandra Rao among others. He was the Design Project Leader of the second stage{{cite web | url=http://www.bhu.ac.in/kalam.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081001152025/http://www.bhu.ac.in/kalam.pdf | url-status=dead | archive-date=1 October 2008 | title=BHU Report | publisher=Banaras Hindu University | date=2015 | access-date=27 September 2015}} and was closely associated with the project till the launch of the vehicle on 10 August 1979.{{cite web | url=http://www.thehindu.com/2004/08/15/stories/2004081500871300.htm | title=ISRO's spectacular leap in 25 years | date=15 August 2004 | work=The Hindu | access-date=27 September 2015}}{{dead link|date=April 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} Later, he moved to Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, established a similar plant in the 1970s and superannuated from service as the director of the SHAR centre.

The Government of India included him in the 1990 Republic Day honours list for the civilian award of the Padma Shri. The Indian Society for Non-Destructive Testing has instituted an annual lecture, the M. R. Kurup Memorial Lecture, in his honour.