The humble son of a farmer from Sarakkalvilai village in Tamil Nadu’s Kanyakumari dis trict, Dr. K. Sivan as Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) chairman was leading the Chandrayaan-2 mission to moon. Sivan studied in a Tamil medium government school. After graduating from S.T. Hindu College in Nagercoil, Sivan completed a Master’s in Engineering from IISC in 1982. In 2006, he received Ph.D in Aerospace Engineering from IIT Bombay. Sivan is the first graduate in his family. His brother and two sisters were unable to complete higher education due to their poverty. ”When I was in college, I used to help my father in the f ield. That was the reason he got me admitted in a college near our house.” Sivan told TOI, ”Only when I had completed my B.Sc (Mathematics) with 100% marks his mind changed.” Sivan said he had spent his childhood days without a shoe or sandal. ”I continued wearing vesti (dhoti) till college. I wore pants for the first time when I entered MIT.” He joined ISRO in 1982 and worked on almost all rocket programmes. Before taking charge as an ISRO chairman in January, 2018, he was the director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) which develops rockets. He is known as ISRO’s ’Rocket Man’.
