Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan lived from 5 September 1888 to 17 April 1975 and was an Indian academic, philosopher and statesman who served as Vice President of India from 1952 to 1962 and President of India from 1962 to 1967, having previously served as India's ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1949 to 1952, vice-chancellor of Banaras Hindu University from 1939 to 1948, and vice-chancellor of Andhra University from 1931 to 1936; he is considered one of the most influential and distinguished twentieth century scholars of comparative religion and philosophy, holding the King George V Chair of Mental and Moral Science at the University of Calcutta from 1921 to 1932 and the Spalding Chair of Eastern Religion and Ethics at the University of Oxford from 1936 to 1952. His philosophy was grounded in Advaita Vedanta, which he reinterpreted for a contemporary understanding, defending Hinduism against what he called uninformed Western criticism and contributing to the formation of contemporary Hindu identity while working as a bridge builder between India and the West. He was knighted in 1931, awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, in 1954, and made an honorary member of the British Royal Order of Merit in 1963, and was also a founder of HelpAge India, a non-profit for elderly underprivileged people in India.