Pithawa was awarded the 2017 Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India, in recognition of his distinguished service in science and engineering. Currently the Raja Ramanna Fellow of the Electronics Corporation of India, a government-owned corporation under the Department of Atomic Energy, Pithawa has played a key role in many of India’s strategic nuclear programs, including the development of indigenous high temperature neutron detectors for a prototype fast breeder nuclear reactor.

(Photo: Department of Atomic Energy)