Brahm Prakash (21 August 1912 – 3 January 1984) was an Indian metallurgist who made foundational contributions to nuclear materials and India's atomic energy programme, and later played a key leadership role in the development of the Indian space programme as the first Director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre.^[1][2]

Born in Lahore (now in Pakistan), Brahm Prakash studied chemistry and completed his doctoral research in 1942 in physical metallurgy at Punjab University.^[1] He subsequently worked with Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar as a post-doctoral researcher, and later pursued advanced training at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he specialized in mineral engineering and metallurgical thermodynamics.^[1] He completed his second PhD programme under the mentorship of John Chipman, Morris Cohen, Antoine Marc Gaudin, and Reinhardt Schuhmann Jr., specializing in Mineral Engineering and Metallurgical Thermodynamics.^[1]

After returning to India, Prakash joined the atomic energy programme under Homi J. Bhabha and contributed to the development of nuclear materials and fuel technologies.^[1] In 1951, he became the first Indian head of the Department of Metallurgy at the Indian Institute of Science, where he expanded teaching and research programmes in metallurgy.^[1]

From 1957 to 1972, he held key roles in India's atomic energy establishment, including work on nuclear fuel fabrication and metallurgical processes.^[1]

In 1972, Prakash was appointed the first Director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Thiruvananthapuram, following the death of Vikram Sarabhai.^[2] He led the consolidation of multiple research units into a unified centre and played an important role in the early development of India's launch vehicle and space research programmes.^[2] He served in this role until 1979 and remained a member of the Space Commission until his death in 1984.^[2]

Brahm Prakash's research focused on the metallurgy of materials relevant to nuclear energy, including the processing and properties of zirconium and other reactor materials.^[1] He played a key role in the development of technologies for the separation of zirconium and hafnium and in the fabrication of nuclear fuel materials for India's atomic energy programme.^[1]

His work contributed to the establishment of metallurgical processes and infrastructure required for nuclear reactor development, including fuel fabrication and materials production.^[1] Prakash's research helped lay the foundation for India's nuclear materials programme and advanced the application of physical metallurgy to atomic energy systems.^[1]

Prakash received the 'Padma Shri', India's fourth highest civilian honour, in 1961 and the 'Padma Bhushan', India's third highest civilian honour, in 1968 for his contributions to science and engineering.^[1] He received the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for engineering sciences in 1963.^[4]

• INSA Biographical Memoir
• Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre profile
• https://web.archive.org/web/20130709005545/http://materials.iisc.ernet.in/~www/awards/bpvc.html
• https://web.archive.org/web/20130925043649/http://gcesalem.edu.in/profbrahm-prakash-memorial-metals-and-materials-quiz13