H. R. Nagendra,born on New Year''s Day 1943 in the south Indian state of Karnataka,graduated in mechanical engineering and continued his studies to secure a doctoral degree (PhD) from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and started his academic career there as a member of faculty of mechanical engineering in 1968. He served as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia in 1970 followed by a stint at Marshall Space Flight Center of NASA during 1970–71. During his stay in the US,he was also associated with Harvard University as a consultant at their Engineering Sciences Laboratory from 1970 to 1972 after which he moved to London and worked as a visiting faculty at Imperial College of Science and Technology. Returning to India,he resumed his services at IISc for two more years till he started his association with Vivekananda Kendra,a spiritual organization founded in 1972 by Eknath Ranade in Kanyakumari. Dr Nagendra popularly known as ‘Guruji’ is the personal yoga consultant of Narendra Modi,the prime minister of India. As a Chairman of the High Powered Ministerial Task Force he provided new vision and empowered AYUSH systems to be mainstreamed in Indian public health system. Dr. Nagendra has contributed many books and research papers on Yoga applications including health promotion and prevention and management of several diseases. The Government of India awarded Padma Shri,in 2016,for his contributions to society.