Padma Bandopadhyay
Wg Cdr Sati Nath Bandopadhyay (m. 1968–2015; his death) | |
|---|---|
| Children | 2 |
Vice Admiral Punita Arora
.
Early life
Bandopadhyay was born as Padmavathy Swaminathan on 4 November 1944 at
Tirupathi, Andhra Pradesh into a Tamil speaking Iyer family. When Padma was four or five years old, her mother contracted tuberculosis and eventually became bedridden. As a result, Padma's thoughts have been consumed with medical difficulties since she was a small child, and she also took on the role of her mother's primary caretaker while she was still quite young. In addition, her neighbor in the Gole Market neighborhood in New Delhi was Dr. S. I. Padmavati, Professor of Medicine at Lady Hardinge Medical College. Padma has said that her experience with her mother's illness and hospitalization at Safdarjung Hospital, and having a neighbouring lady doctor with the same name as her were early motivations to become a doctor.[1]
Education
She studied at
Armed Forces Medical College, Pune
, in 1963.
Career
She joined the
Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. Sati Nath and Padma were the first IAF couple to receive a President's award in the same investiture parade.[4]
She was the first woman to become a Fellow of the Aerospace Medical Society of India and the first Indian woman to conduct scientific research at the North Pole.air marshal of Indian Air Force. Bandopadhyay is an aviation medicine specialist and a member of the New York Academy of Sciences.[8]
Military awards and decorations
  
| |||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Ati Vishisht Seva Medal | Vishisht Seva Medal | Paschimi Star | |
| Sangram Medal | Operation Vijay Medal
|
High Altitude Service Medal
|
50th Anniversary of Independence Medal
|
25th Anniversary of Independence Medal
|
30 Years Long Service Medal
|
20 Years Long Service Medal
|
9 Years Long Service Medal
|
Awards and honors
- Vishist Seva Medal, January 1973
- Indira Priyadarshini award
- Ati Vishist Seva Medal, January 2002
- Param Vishist Seva Medal, January 2006
- Padma Shree Award, January 2020[9]
See also
- Women in the Indian Armed Forces
- Punita Arora
- Madhuri Kanitkar
- Sheila S. Mathai
- Rajshree Ramasethu
- Arti Sarin
References
- ^ Bandopadhyay, Padma (21 December 2017). The Lady in Blue: The memoirs of First Lady Air Marshal. Zorba Books – via Amazon.
- ^ "तेजस्विनीः भारत की पहली महिला एयर मार्शल, डॉ. पद्मा बंधोपाध्याय से ख़ास बातचीत". Archived from the original on 15 December 2021 – via www.youtube.com.
- ^ "Service Record for Air Marshal Padmavathy Bandhopadhyay 11528 MED at Bharat Rakshak.com". Bharat Rakshak.
- ISBN 9789351952404.
- ^ "Success Story". anusandhan.net.
- ^ "Marching Ahead: 14 Incredibly Brave Women in Indian Armed Forces Who Broke the Glass Ceiling". The Better India. 24 January 2017.
- ^ Kumar, Anshika (15 September 2017). "Padmavathy Bandopadhyay – Inspiring story of the first woman Air Marshal of the Indian Air Force". indianyouth.net.
- ^ "First woman Air Vice Marshal". The Times of India. 26 November 2002. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
- ^ "Padma Awards 2020 Conferred To 13 Unsung Heroes Of Medicine". Medical Dialogues. 27 January 2020. Retrieved 27 January 2020.