Mon, 01 February, 2021
In recognition of his sterling contributions and dedicated service to the field of NDE science and technology, as well as for enhancing industrial quality, safety and productivity through NDE, promoting applied research in NDT and his significant contribution to training and certification in NDT, Dr R J Pardikar has been honoured with the prestigious ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ by the Indian Society for Non-Destructive Testing (ISNT).
The Lifetime Achievement Award is an unsolicited award given annually to honour the sustained outstanding scientific achievements in the field of NDE Science and technology.
Having started his career as a trainee at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) Mumbai, R J Pardikar was deputed to BHEL Trichy in November 1977 on a special mission to set right the radiation protection issues during industrial radiography and to develop a robust radiation safety system.
Subsequently, he joined BHEL in 1978 and had glorious career of over three and half decades in Bharat Heavy Electrical Ltd. (BHEL), Tiruchirappalli; a world class manufacturer of power equipment. During his renowned career at BHEL he was groomed into an expert in NDT. With his scientific and technical achievements and outstanding managerial skills, he rose to the position of general manager and superannuated from BHEL in 2013. In 2014, he joined TWI and continues to serve this global leader in research and technology.
Throughout his career he has promoted NDE science and technology in industry towards enhancing quality and safety, and the productivity of engineering products. He promoted applied research in NDT and developed and established several innovative NDT techniques for manufacturing, in-service inspection and residual life assessment of ageing power equipment. His work on ‘detection of hydrogen damage in boiler components by ultrasonic technique’ was rewarded with a national NDT award in 1994. In his highly meritorious career, thus far he has published over 150 technical papers for national and international conferences and journals. Over the years he contributed significantly to the research in NDE.
In recognition of his contributions over the years, Dr. R J Pardikar received many awards. Prominent among them were the National NDT Award; International Recognition Award, Glory of India Award, Bharat Vibhushan award, and the International Engineer of the Year Award.
He has been a member of ISNT for over 40 years, since its formation, and significantly contributed towards the growth of ISNT by shouldering the responsibilities in various capacities such as Hon. General Secretary for nine years and, recently, as the President of ISNT from 2018-2019.
In his acceptance speech of the Lifetime Achievement Award, Dr. Pardikar proudly said:
“As I look back at these glorious 40 years I realise how little I would have been able to accomplish had I been all alone without the support and encouragement of the hundreds of members of ISNT and my professional colleagues from BHEL and TWI; two of the great global engineering organisations. The management of these organisations believed in my capabilities, planted seeds, cultivated them and satisfied my thirst for knowledge. I am grateful to the hundreds of customers I had the pleasure and privilege to serve during my professional career, for their advices and sharing their rich experiences. They rekindled and fueled a fire in my belly to continue working for the society to improve the quality of life for a common man through NDE science and technology.
“I want to thank the many folks I've worked with throughout my lifetime who always pushed me to do better every time. Because of that, they not only helped me to be a better leader, but most importantly to be a better person.
“My professional gurus taught me many things for achieving success. First and foremost, to be passionate, consistently passionate in good times and bad times, secondly, care for others - you can never be successful yourself. Thirdly, to be open and frank with others and get the best by developing other leaders and genuinely care for others. Last but not the least, to have positive attitude.
“Friends, the work that we’re doing today has never been more important to help create a safer world by promoting the profession and technologies. The performance driven world is demanding more and more that engineering products and systems extend the operational life limits with greater reliability, safety and efficiency, with lower carbon footprint to meet the challenges of competitiveness and sustainability.
“With the rapid advancement in research and technology, the NDT field is becoming larger and more sophisticated day by day. Innovative research in materials science and digital technology, IOT, artificial intelligence and machine learning is paving the way for more advanced methods in NDT technology. Modern NDE has been playing a vital role in ensuring the manufacturing quality, structural integrity and safety of components in nuclear, aerospace, automobile, power, defense, petrochemical and other fabrication industries.
“My only advice to the young engineers and scientists in NDT is to ramp up your ambitions, set your goals high, be focused and accept the challenges with unbreakable enthusiasm. Hopefully we can create a much safer world one day.”
Each solution and each development demonstrated to be a noteworthy point in Mr Pardikar’s career and gave him fulfillment that he was able to contribute to several critical and prestigious projects.
Still working at TWI India, Dr R J Pardikar continues to conduct welding inspection and non-destructive testing courses.
Recognising his contributions, the ISNT selected him for their prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award, which was given to him at the Inaugural function of the NDE Virtual Conference 2020.
We would like to congratulate Dr Pardikar for receiving this prestigious award and thank him for his significant contributions to Indian industry through NDE Science and technology.