Satish Dhawan (25 September 1920 – 3 January 2002) was an Indian mathematician and aerospace engineer, widely regarded as the father of experimental fluid dynamics research in India.

[1] He was the son of Rai Bahadur Devi Dayal Dhawan, an MSc and LLB who joined the Punjab Civil Service and later became a sessions and district judge.

[2] Dhawan was a graduate of what is now called Punjab Engineering College in the city of Chandigarh in India, the Mughalpura Technical College in Lahore, Pakistan, undivided India, where he completed a Bachelor of Science in physics and mathematics, a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Arts in English literature.

Satish Dhawan, being the chairman at the time, called Abdul Kalam and conveyed to the press; "We failed!

When this succeeded, Satish Dhawan told Abdul Kalam to attend the press meet without his presence.

His most important contributions are presented in the seminal book Boundary Layer Theory by Hermann Schlichting.

[4] In honor of his contributions, the satellite launch center in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, was renamed the Satish Dhawan Space Centre following his death.