Google celebrated the 89th birthday of Professor Udupi Ramachandra Rao, with a doodle on its home page featuring an animated image of the renowned Indian space scientist with a background of the Earth and shooting stars. "Happy Birthday, Prof. Rao! Your stellar technological advancements continue to be felt across the galaxy," reads the description on Google Doodle's website.

Born in a remote village of Karnataka on this day in 1932, Rao began his career as a cosmic-ray physicist and protg ofDr Vikram Sarabhai, a scientist widely regarded as the father of India's space programme, it said. After completing his doctorate, Professor Rao brought his talents to the US, where he worked as a professor and conducted experiments on NASA's 'Pioneer' and 'Explorer' space probes.