R. Manicka Vasagam, veteran space scientist and former Vice Chancellor (V-C) of Anna University, Tamil Nadu, passed away on Friday (February 14, 2025). He was 91 and is survived by his wife and two daughters.
According to family sources, Prof. Vasagam had been ailing for some time and died at his residence in Bengaluru in the early hours of Friday. He served as the varsity’s V-C from May 1997 to May 1999.
He was the founder-director of the erstwhile Tamil Nadu Institute of Information Technology (TANITEC) and former senior and distinguished scientist of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
He had held the position of director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thumba, Thiruvananthapuram. Prof. Vasagam was the youngest among ISRO scientists to have received the Padmashree award. He was the project director of India’s Baskara satellite and a distinguished alumnus of PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore.
Senior professors at Anna University said his demise was a loss to the scientific and academic community. T.R. Gopalakrishna Nair, a colleague who worked with him during his years as a scientist developing the country’s first experimental communication satellite APPLE, said Prof. Vasagam had devoted nine years to the project.
“Everybody associated with him will easily remember his great contributions of marvelous intellectual expressions far beyond the expectations from a normal scientist of this era. He did some of the best scientific studies and analyses, helping different organisations and personalities,” he said.
“Thinking beyond current perceptions was never an inhibitor for him and this rare feature made his life glittering by bringing technology solutions to ISRO,” he said, adding that Prof. Vasagam was a “gentleman with a kind heart and great vision of humanity.”
