Operation Smiling Buddha or Operation Happy Krishna was the assigned code name of India's first successful nuclear bomb test on 18 May 1974. The bomb was detonated on the army base Pokhran Test Range (PTR), in Rajasthan, by the Indian Army under the supervision of several key Indian generals.
Raja Ramanna was an Indian physicist who is best known for his role in India's nuclear program during its early stages.
Homi Jehangir Bhabha, was an Indian nuclear physicist who is widely credited as the "father of the Indian nuclear programme". He was the founding director and professor of physics at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), as well as the founding director of the Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay (AEET) which was renamed the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in his honour. TIFR and AEET served as the cornerstone of the Indian nuclear energy and weapons programme. He was the first chairman of the Indian Atomic Energy Commission and secretary of the Department of Atomic Energy. By supporting space science projects which initially derived their funding from the AEC, he played an important role in the birth of the Indian space programme.
Anil Kakodkar, is an Indian nuclear physicist and mechanical engineer. He was the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India and the Secretary to the Government of India, he was the Director of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay from 1996 to 2000. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian honour, on 26 January 2009.
The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) is India's premier nuclear research facility, headquartered in Trombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It was founded by Homi Jehangir Bhabha as the Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay (AEET) in January 1954 as a multidisciplinary research program essential for India's nuclear program. It operates under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India.
Ravi B. Grover is an Indian nuclear scientist and a mechanical engineer. He is the founding vice-chancellor of the Homi Bhabha National Institute, a member of the Atomic Energy Commission, chairman of the Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences, a fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering, and World Academy of Art and Science. He was the president of the Indian Society of Heat and Mass Transfer for the period 2010–2013. He has been awarded Padma Shri by the Government of India in the year 2014.
Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research(IGCAR) is one of India's premier nuclear research centres. It is the second largest establishment of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), next to Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), located at Kalpakkam, 80 km south of Chennai, India. It was established in 1971 as an exclusive centre dedicated to the pursuit of fast reactor science and technology, due to the vision of Dr. Vikram Sarabhai. Originally, it was called as Reactor Research Centre (RRC). It was renamed as Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research(IGCAR) by the then Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi in December 1985. The centre is engaged in broad-based multidisciplinary programme of scientific research and advanced engineering directed towards the development of Fast Breeder Reactor technology, in India.
The Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR) is a breeder reactor located at Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu, India. The Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic Research (IGCAR) and Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) jointly designed, constructed, and operate the reactor.
The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) is a department with headquarters in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. DAE was established in 1954 with Jawaharlal Nehru as its first minister and Homi Bhabha as its secretary.
Baldev Raj was an Indian scientist and director of the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) in Kalpakkam, India.
The Atomic Energy Commission of India is the governing body of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Government of India. The DAE is under the direct charge of the Prime Minister.
Rajagopala Chidambaram is an Indian Physicist who is known for his integral role in India's nuclear weapons program; he coordinated test preparation for the Pokhran-I (1975) and Pokhran-II (1998).
KAMINI is a research reactor at Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic Research in Kalpakkam, India. It achieved criticality on October 29, 1996. Designed and built jointly by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) it produces 30 KW of thermal energy at full power.
Shivram Baburao Bhoje is a distinguished Indian nuclear scientist who worked in the field of fast-breeder nuclear reactor technology for forty years in the design, construction, operation, and research and development. Indian government has honoured him with Padma Shri in 2003, the fourth highest civilian award in India, for his distinguished service to science and engineering fields.
Dr. J. Daniel Chellappa is a Technical coordinator with Department for Atomic Energy (India) and Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Chennai. [http://www.igcar.ernet.in/press_releases/press38.htm
Malur Ramasamy Srinivasan, is an Indian nuclear scientist and mechanical engineer. He played a key role in the development of India's nuclear power programme and the development of the PHWR. He received the Padma Vibhushan Award.
Sekhar Basu was an Indian nuclear scientist who served as the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission and Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Atomic Energy (DAE). He also served as the Director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), the Project Director of Nuclear Submarine Program, and later as the Chief Executive of the Nuclear Recycle Board at Bhabha Atomic Research Center. He was a recipient of India's fourth highest civilian honor Padma Shri in 2014.
Chaitanyamoy Ganguly is an Indian nuclear scientist and a former head of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Materials Section of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), credited with many innovations in the field of nuclear material science. He was honored by the government of India in 2002, with the fourth-highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri.
Bisweswar Bhattacharjee is an Indian chemical engineer, multi-disciplinary scientist and a former director of the Chemical Engineering and Technology Group of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC). He is a former project director of the Rare Materials Project, Mysore and a member of the Atomic Energy Commission of India. Bhattacharjee, a recipient of the civilian honour of the Padma Shri, is best known for his contributions in the development of gas centrifugal technology for the High Speed Rotors (HSR), used in the production of enriched Uranium and other strategic materials, at BARC.
Chokkanathapuram Venkataraman Sundaram (1929–2008) was an Indian chemical metallurgist, best known for the commissioning of the Fast Breeder Test Reactor at Kalpakkam. He was the director of the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR). He was a recipient of the Sanjay Gandhi Award for Science and Technology as well as the National Metallurgists Day Award and an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, the Indian Academy of Sciences and the Indian National Academy of Engineering. The Government of India awarded him the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award, in 1986.
