Narayanan Komerath

Narayanan Menon Komerath is an Indian-born professor of Aerospace Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the United States. He has written numerous articles and books. He studied at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, obtaining a B.Tech. in Aeronautical Engineering in 1978. He then went to the Georgia Institute of Technology where he obtained a PhD in Aerospace Engineering (Turbulent Combustion) in 1982. Positions since then have included Fellow of the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts, Sam Nunn Senior Security Fellow in the School of International Affairs (2004–2006) and Hesburgh Teaching Fellow at the Georgia Institute of Technology (2005). From 2008 to 2009 he was Chair of the Aerospace Division of the American Society for Engineering Education. He is Chairman of Scv Inc. in Alpharetta, Georgia, a manufacturer of analytical instruments founded in 1994.

Scientific concepts In May 2003 Popular Mechanics reported that Komerath thinks he found a way to crush the rocks in the asteroid belts using electromagnetic waves and assemble them into radiation shields and structures where humans could live, among other purposes. The idea came to Komerath by analogy with the technique of "acoustic shaping", where sound waves can accurately position small objects such as beads into larger solid objects within a weightless environment. In space, radio waves would take the place of sound waves. Although huge amounts of energy would be needed, solar power could be used and the approach would avoid the requirement to transport material from Earth.

Since 2006 Komerath has been considering the problem of a global space power grid. As a rational first step to building a space-based grid Komerath proposes a demonstration project to build a space-based power exchange connecting the United States to India. Sabrang Communications and South Asia Citizens Web published The Foreign Exchange of Hate: IDRF and the American Funding of Hindutva, which investigated how funding raised by the IDRF in the USA was being distributed in India. Komerath was one of the authors of a counter-report that denied the implied accusation that tribal activists, who had played a major role in the 2002 Gujarat violence, were linked to US funding sources.

Komerath praised the efforts of grassroots volunteers funded by the IDRF after the December 2004 tsunami. He reported claims that Sri Lankan army personnel had hijacked aid trucks that were trying to assist Tamils. He said some US-based Indians were attempting to hinder aid by warning that donations could be misused. Komerath welcomed the July 2005 US–India Civil Nuclear Agreement, but said the refusal of the US to support Pakistan's claim to a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council was a victory for India.

In 2008 Komerath published an opinion paper that called for a break-up of Pakistan into five independent states that would be distracted by protecting themselves, and which would be destroyed if they veered towards religious fanaticism or terrorism. In the prelude of the paper he states "This article argues that the State of Pakistan should quite properly be the victim of its own terrorism. It must die, for the scourge of global terrorism to end." He furthermore states that "...all terrorism connections lead to Pakistan " and in the section labeled "What is the cost of not going to war?" contemplates the implications of an all-out war between Pakistan and India, arguing that it may be preferable to the current situation. He concludes the paper with this statement: "To put it bluntly, and succinctly: Give Peace A Chance. Destroy Pakistan. The life you save may be your own or that of someone you love."