Professor Roddam Narasimha FRS

Roddam Narasimha was a leader in fluid mechanical and aeronautical research in India. His ideas on the universal character of intermittency of turbulence and the evolution of turbulent spots led to improved understanding of the transition from the laminar to the turbulent state of fluid flow, and also of the reverse process of relaminarisation. Other research of lasting significance concerned fully turbulent wakes and boundary layers and the nature of bursts. In the field of rarefied gas dynamics, he made major contributions to constitutive relations for free molecule flow and shockwave structure, and put forward a novel theory for infinitely strong shocks. He worked on practical aeronautics problems, and, for example, constructed a useful theory of performance variations in a system subject to repeated deterioration and maintenance.

Professor Roddam Narasimha FRS died on 14 December 2020.

Professor Roddam Narasimha FRS
Elected 1992