One of the most distinguished Indian meteorologists of international repute and considered to be the father of Indian remote sensing, Prof P R Pisharoty, passed away this morning (September 24, 2002) at Pune. He was 93 years old.

Born on February 10, 1909 at Kollengode in Kerala, Pisharoth Rama Pisharoty had a brilliant academic career and worked with Prof C V Raman at Bangalore and Prof J Bjerkenes at Los Angeles. He got his Doctorate from University of California in 1954. He worked on various aspects of the general circulation, monsoon meteorology and climate and published more than hundred publications in national and international journals. One of his most significant contribution was his finding that the Indian summer monsoon is a delayed response to the inadequate poleward transport of heat in the northern hemisphere during the antecedent winter and a significant part of the moisture for an active monsoon period arises through evaporation from the Arabian Sea. He was instrumental in heralding the remote sensing in the country through his pioneering experiment to detect coconut wilt disease in Kerala in the late sixties.

Prof Pisharoty had occupied many important positions in Indian scientific departments. He was a senior officer in the India Meteorological Department; Director, Colaba Observatory and Director, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology.

In 1967, Prof Pisharoty joined the Physical Research Laboratory at Ahmedabad as a Senior Professor. He was the Director, Remote Sensing and Satellite Meteorology, at ISRO Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad during 1972-75 as well as Emeritus Professor at Physical Research Laboratory.

He was the past President of the Indian Meteorological Society; Fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences and Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy. On the International scene, Prof Pisharoty was member of the Scientific Advisory Board, World Meteorological Organisation (1963-1968) and later its Chairman, a member of Joint Organising Committee for Global Atmospheric Research Programme (1969-77), and Vice President of the International Association for Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics (1972-79).

Prof Pisharoty was a recipient of Raman Centenary Medal (1988) and Prof K R Ramanathan Medal (1990) of Indian National Science Academy. He was conferred Padmashri by the Government of India in 1970.

He was also a recipient of the prestigious International Meteorological Prize 1989 of the World.