Famous Scientist Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (5 September 1888, Tiruttani, now in Tamil Nadu – 17 April 1975) was an Indian philosopher and statesman who was the second President of India from 1962 to 1967. He was the first Vice President of India (1952–1962).


One of India's most influential scholars of comparative religion and philosophy, Radhakrishnan built a bridge between the East and the West by showing how the philosophical systems of each tradition are comprehensible within the terms of the other. He wrote authoritative exegeses of India's religious and philosophical literature for the English speaking world. His academic appointments included the King George V Chair of Mental and Moral Science at the University of Calcutta (1921–1931) and Spalding Professor of Eastern Religion and Ethics at Oxford University (1936–1952).


Radhakrishnan was appointed a Knight Bachelor in 1931. He was elected Fellow of the British Academy in 1938. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1954 and the Order of Merit in 1963. He received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade in 1961 and the Templeton Prize in 1975, a few months before his death. He donated the entire amount of the Templeton Prize to Oxford University. In 1989, the university instituted the Radhakrishnan Scholarships in his memory. The scholarships were later renamed the "Radhakrishnan Chevening Scholarships".


Radhakrishnan was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature for five consecutive years from 1933–1937, although he did not win. His nominator was Hjalmar Hammarskjöld, father of Dag Hammarskjöld.