Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the great philosopher and statesman was the second President of India. He was a very prominent scholar and academician. His birthday is observed as Teacher's Day all over India. Born on 5th September 1888 at Tiruttani in Tamil Nadu, he spent his early years in Tiruttani, Tirupati and Tiruvallur. He did his schooling from Gowdie School, Tiruvallur and completed his master's degree in Arts from the University of Madras. In the year 1921, Radhakrishnan was appointed to the King George V Chair of Mental and Moral Science at the University of Calcutta, which was then the most important philosophy chair in the country.

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was Knighted in the year 1931 and since then till the attainment of India's independence, he was addressed as Sir Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. Post-independence, he came to be known as Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.

Radhakrishnan was also named as Spalding Professor of Eastern Religions and Ethics at the University of Oxford in 1936. He was elected as a Fellow of the All Souls College. In 1946 Radhakrishnan was elected to the Constituent Assembly. He served as the ambassador to UNESCO and later to Moscow. He became the Vice President of India in 1952 and in 1962 he became the President of India.

Radhakrishnan was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1954. He also received the Order of Merit in 1963 and the Templeton Prize in 1975. He passed away on 17th April 1975.

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