Women are valuable to the society just like men. When it comes to the field of science, women are overlooked because of men’s achievements, strength and domination. Though women have a lot of catching up to do, they are giving absolutely everything to come through with flying colours to reinstate our faith in women empowerment. Times are changing. It is good to see women venturing into almost every field where men are at the helm of things.
When someone asks you to name a scientist, you would say Dr, APJ Abdul Kalam or Srinivasa Ramanujan. Well, how many of you all know Nandini Harinath? Like other scientists, she also deserves a lot of recognition and credit. She is a leading rocket scientist at ISRO’s (Indian Space Research Organisation) Satellite Centre in Bengaluru. Nandini’s introduction to science was the popular series ‘Star Trek’ on television.
Nandini’s mother is a mathematics teacher and her father is an engineer. Interestingly, the whole family is well engaged in science fiction. Nandini’s career kick-started at Star TrekISRO and now it’s been an incredible 20 year-journey. During her experience as a scientist, she was actively involved on 14 missions over a period of 2 decades at ISRO.
Following a tremendous progress over the years, she carved out a reputation for herself as the most dedicated woman scientist. She is the Project Manager of Mission Design and also extended her fruitful services as deputy operations director on the Mars Orbiter Mission, Mangalyaan where she successfully controlled the Mars Orbiter.
Nandini said that she had never ever thought of working at ISRO throughout her childhood. “For me at that point of time, I was watching science fiction movies, reading books, watching Star Trek.” It was a good thing that ISRO went public. It brought us to a new level and the entire world appreciated us and recognized our expertise,” Nandini told in an interview with The Pragyan Blog
The sportive team was able to send a satellite to Mars less than a year and Mangalyaan mission was an accomplished one. “Nothing is impossible. There were so many countries that failed in their first tries. But we weren’t disheartened and we didn’t accept that.”
Nandini feels that she was treated equally and emphasised the fact that she would like to be known as a scientist rather than a woman scientist. “I would like to be known as a scientist, not a woman scientist.”
Nandini who is now an epic inspiration to many girls said that “All of you should have a dream. But make sure you have a passion to drive that dream. It’s not going to be easy. You won’t always get success wherever you go. You have to be persistent. It may sound cliche, but that’s all it is.”
