The life and science of Thomas Kailath

A gentle and good-natured man,Kailath says the Padma Bhushan came as a surprise. “There can be nothing more satisfying than being honoured by your own country. I owe all my achievements to the education I had in Pune and to my teachers and family. Perhaps I was able to contribute a little bit to the development of science and technology in India,” he says. He was associated with developing indigenous radar technology for defence use in the Himalayan region. He was also instrumental in setting up a government scholarship for students at IITs.

He is a little disappointed with the fact that government policies have not led to the development of high technology in India. “The kind of technological branding that countries like Israel,South Korea or China have been able to create globally,we have not been able to,though we had the capability,” he says. “There are big opportunities in wireless technology,for example,where Indian scientists and entrepreneurs are doing commendable work. Unfortunately,as of now,it is only helping other countries,” Kailath says,referring to an area where he pioneered research in algorithms and information theory.

Kailath has also been associated with a number of entrepreneurial adventures,including Numerical Technologies,which went public within five years of being founded. He says the entrepreneurial drive was also something that was lacking in India,especially in the universities. “Some of the best-known companies,like Yahoo,Google,Sun Microsystems or Cisco,have come out of spin-offs from universities. We need something like that to start happening in India too.”

For someone who has reached towering heights in his profession,Kailath says mathematics happened to him only by chance,thanks to a school teacher who made the subject interesting to him. “I have always been more interested in the applications of science. Mathematics connects very well with applications. Once I realised this,I took a natural liking for it.”
His only regret is that his wife Sarah,who passed away last October,was not there to see him receive the Padma Bhushan. “She knew that I had been nominated. So it is a little sad that she is not present.”