Homi Nusserwanji Sethna

Homi Nusserwanji Sethna ( Hindi : होमी नौशेरवानजी सेठना, Homī Nauśervānajī Seṭhnā; born August 24, 1923 in Bombay ; † September 5, 2010 in Mumbai ) was an Indian nuclear scientist , long-time chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and the leading force behind India's first nuclear test .

biography

Sethna, a nuclear scientist and chemical engineer , was called to the Atomic Energy Establishment Trombay (AEET) research center by Homi Jehangir Bhabha in the mid- 1950s , where he was initially project manager for the construction of the Canadian Indian Reactor with US heavy water (CIRUS) between 1956 and 1958 , a reactor with 40 megawatts of power. He was then responsible for building the first plutonium production facility in Trombay in 1959 and later became director of Indian Rare Earth in Kerala . In 1960 he was the first to be awarded the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology for engineering .

After Bhabha's death in 1966, he succeeded him as chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission and in 1967 had the uranium production plant built in Jaduguda in Bihar . In his capacity as chairman of the AEC, he was also the driving force behind the first Indian, allegedly peaceful nuclear explosion as part of Operation Smiling Buddha in the Thar desert on May 18, 1974. For his services he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1975 , the second highest civil order of merit .

In 1984 he resigned as chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission and later went into the private sector. In addition to serving as chairman of the energy company Tata Power from 1989 to 2000, he was also a board member of Tata Sons Ltd. , Bombay Dyeing and several other companies.

Web links

• TIMES OF INDIA: Former Atomic Energy Commission chairman Homi N Sethna passes away , September 6, 2010
• Rediff.com: Dr Homi Sethna: Man who powered India's nuke dream