Bhaskara II

(c. 1114 - c. 1185)

Born in Bijapur, Bhaskara II—the leading mathematician of the twelfth century—succeeded the astronomer Brahmagupta as head of the observatory of Ujjain, the mathematical center of ancient India, and wrote the first work to systematically use the decimal system. In 1981 the  Indian Space Research Organization launched the Bhaskara II satellite, which orbited Earth for a decade.