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Monday, Sep 03, 2007
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Tributes paid to Krishnamurthy, Rajeev Lochan

T.S. Subramanian

SRIHARIKOTA: The scientific community at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre of the Indian Space Research organisation (ISRO) here on Sunday paid a moving tribute to two of its outstanding colleagues, Rajeev Lochan, Scientific Secretary, ISRO, and S. Krishnamurthy, Director, Publications and Public Relations, ISRO, who died in a road accident near Tirupati on August 24. They were on their way to Sriharikota from Bangalore.

While Rajeev Lochan was killed on the spot along with car driver Chandran, Krishnamurthy died of multiple injuries on Saturday.

S. Satish, who has taken over as the new Director, Publications and Public Relations, ISRO, said the death of these two personnel was a great loss to the organisation. Krishnamurthy in particular was popular with the media, he said.

K. Kasturirangan, former Chairman, ISRO, described Krishamurthy as a “unique colleague.” His record was impeccable and he brought to bear a professionalism to his job. Krishnamurthy helped to put the ISRO in the proper perspective among the public. He was highly rated by the country’s science and technology establishment in popularising space science, Dr. Kasturirangan said.

The scientific fraternity at the Brahma Prakash Hall here observed a minute’s silence in memory of Rajeev Lochan and Krishnamurthy.

Tirupati Special Correspondent reports:

Mr. Krishnamurthy had been on life-support system at the TTD-run Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences here.

Mr. Krishnamurthy, a mechanical engineer, joined the ISRO in 1989. A media-friendly person, he was popular among journalists for his simple articulation of scientific and technical details, especially during the pre and post-launch briefings. He is survived by his wife and a daughter.

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