Digvijai Singh

Digvijai Singh (11 December 1934 – 20 July 2018) was an Indian mechanical engineer and a former vice chancellor of the University of Roorkee before its reconstitution as the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee. He was also a former vice chairman of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and a former director of Central Road Research Institute. He is known for his studies on dynamics of single track vehicles and Fluid film lubrication and was an elected fellow of all the three major Indian science academies viz. Indian National Science Academy, Indian Academy of Sciences, and the National Academy of Sciences, India as well as the Indian National Academy of Engineering. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards for his contributions to Engineering Sciences in 1978.

Biography

Born on 11 December 1934 in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Digvijai Singh graduated in science from Allahabad University in 1953 before graduating in mechanical engineering from University of Roorkee (present-day Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee) in 1956 and did another bachelor's degree in civil engineering in 1957 at the same institution before joining the university as a lecturer in 1958. In 1996, he was made the vice chairman of the All India Council for Technical Education and after a service of 4 years, he became the vice chancellor of Roorkee University in 2000. He oversaw the transition of the university to an Indian Institute of Technology in 2001 and became the director of the IIT. He superannuated from service after handing over the charge to Prem Vrat in December 2001.

Legacy Singh's early researches during his doctoral studies were funded by Harley-Davidson and were focused on single-track vehicles. His work on welding technology covered weld pool solidification, effects of welding parameters on molten metal transfer, spatter, heat affected zones, changes in crystallographic structures, and solute redistribution and he proposed protocols for the analytical prediction and measurement of residual stresses in and around spot welds. Later in his career, he shifted his focus to tribological studies and contributed to widening the understanding of fluid film lubrication as well as hydrostatic and hydrodynamic lubrication. He also headed a research group engaged in the studies of Pavement management systems. He has also mentored 19 doctoral and several master's scholars in their studies.

Singh sat in the board of directors of the International Road Federation from 1991 to 1994 and, as a founder member of the World Interchange Network, he served as a director of the organization from 1993 to 1996. and is a member of its Forum on Engineering Interventions for Disaster Mitigation.

Death Professor D. V. Singh died in New Delhi on 20 July 2018.

Awards and honors The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research awarded Singh the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, one of the highest Indian science awards in 1978. He received two honors from the Institution of Engineers (India); the Mechanical Engineering Design Award in 1997 and the Eminent Engineering Personality Award in 2003. INAE would honor him again in 2015 with the Lifetime Achievement Award. and the Lifetime Achievement Award of Tribology Society of India in 2011. He is also a recipient of the Silver Jubilee Award of IMDA. He was also an elected fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering.

Selected bibliography