Dr. Sundareswara Balakrishna passed away on February 28, 2025, in Hampton, Virginia.
Born in Bangalore, India in October 1939, Dr. Balakrishna was a wonderful husband, brother, father, grandfather, friend, and scholar. He was innately curious, diving deeply into innumerable topics and having insights into every conversation. He was loving, supportive, generous, and self-driven. He is survived by his wife, Vijaya, his daughter Saraswati, his son Mahesh, his older brothers Ramasesha Sharma and Narasimha Murthy, his son-in-law Venkat, his daughter-in-law Pallavi, and grandchildren, Vikram and Varsha who love and miss him dearly.
Dr. Balakrishna spent his early life in India in the cities of Bangalore and Mysore. Despite having no love for the boring structures of schooling, he excelled academically. He cleared the first standardized State level exam in just two years, which would normally take four. His school was truly shocked to find out that this brilliant boy was their student when he came in first in the city on the exam, even though he had spent most school hours playing marbles and gallivanting around his neighborhood streets. He was a wizard in math, and in those days when scoring more than 70% was difficult, he would score the maximum. His academic career was outstanding.
In 1970, he married Vijaya. They were happily married for 55 years, until his passing. He loved her dearly, and they had two children together, Saraswati and Mahesh. He was a trailblazer, one of the first in his family to emigrate from India. After a brief stint in London, his career eventually took him to the United States when he and his family moved to Hampton, Virginia. Dr. Balakrishna was an intellectual giant and spent his career tackling challenging problems, particularly in the field of aeronautical engineering. Throughout his life, he was a prolific publisher of scientific and engineering professional papers, both in India and in the United States. He studied Electrical Engineering at the University of Mysore, and earned his PhD in Aeronautics and Controls Engineering from the prestigious Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. Subsequently, his career took him to Bangalore’s National Aeronautic Laboratory (NAL), where he spent 31 years working on a variety of topics related to the modeling and control of aerodynamic processes, and served as Scientist and Head of two departments.
He then joined Vigyan Inc., where he engaged with NASA Langley Research Center and worked on Cryogenic Wind Tunnel and related experimental activities. He worked for Vigyan right up until his passing, where he made a foundational impact on the organization. According to his colleagues at Vigyan, “One could say that Dr. Balakrishna had something to do with all major facilities at NASA Langley, as well as many of the smaller ones. Dr. Balakrishna’s innovation and rapid response to a challenge is unmatched, and NASA relied on him to ensure the successful operation and continuous improvement of the NTF.” His work with NASA earned him the prestigious NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal in 2015, an award given for “unusually significant engineering contributions of fundamental importance in the field.”
Dr. Balakrishna’s intellectual interests spanned the stars, history and culture, and his own family background. Hailing from the Vaidika tradition, he spent his free time researching the ancient knowledge within Vedic texts across different Indian scripts. In particular, he studied astronomical references from both Vedic and non-Vedic literature to date astronomical occurrences, culminating in his presentation of his paper “Age of the Mahabharatha based on astronomical data”, at the Asiatic Society of Bangalore, India. He also engaged deeply with his own ancestry, identifying notable ancestors from 14 generations previous and beyond. Dr. Balakrishna was a polymath, and the impact of his work was wide. In the early 1960s, he made valuable contributions to the design and planning of Bangalore’s bus system and the Cauvery Water supply system to Bangalore.
When he, as Chairman of the Kannada Committee of NAL, had to interview candidates for teaching at the Music School of the Committee, he carefully studied the standard treatises on Carnatic Music. His brilliant mind allowed him to easily recount the structure of different ragas and talas and he quickly became an expert in the technical aspects of the field. He even learned Russian and a bit of Greek when his research, work, and passion for knowledge called for it.
Dr. Balakrishna was a generous spirit and fiercely independent, encouraging others to problem-solve, be curious, and explore on their own. He loved nature, especially birds: filling up a backyard bird feeder every day, and watching the dramatic happenings of the visitors each morning. He extolled the virtues of simple living and avoiding waste. Dr. Balakrishna was an excellent chef, spreading love by sending delicious sweets and treats to family. He maintained meticulous cleanliness, and abhorred changes to his daily routine. He solved even major household problems with a ladder, toolbox, his sharp wit, and an unconventional approach: moving bookcases, chopping trees, and fixing roof leaks well into his eighties. He was an early riser and early sleeper, saying goodnight to us at 9 p.m. every evening with the Sanskrit “Shubharatri.”
Dr. Balakrishna was truly a Renaissance man. One of a kind. He will be deeply missed.
