A school of thought argues that life is a desire, not a meaning. It is desire that makes a rose want to be a rose and want to grow like that. And a rock wants to contain itself and remain like that.
Pius Nwankwo Okeke can best be described as a man with a desire, and this desire propelled him to rise above his equals to become the icon he is today.
Okeke is a Nigerian astronomer and educator who has contributed immensely to African space research. He is known as the ‘father of astronomy’ in Nigeria.
P.N. Okeke as he is popularly known, was born on October 30, 1941, in Oraukwu in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State.
He had his primary school education in Oraukwu, where he excelled in Mathematics, before he proceeded to Washington Memorial Grammar School, Onitsha, from 1957 until 1962 for his secondary school education.
After excelling in science subjects at Lagos’ Emergency Science School, Okeke pursued a degree in Physics at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he graduated with a second-class upper degree in 1971.
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He continued his studies at the University of Nigeria and earned his Ph.D degree in 1975; he was the first person to do this at the time, and completed postdoctoral research at the University of Cambridge under renowned Martin John Rees, a professor of cosmology and astrophysics.
Known as the “Father of Astronomy” in Nigeria, Okeke has continued to make Nigeria proud through his tremendous contributions in physics, astronomy, space research, and manpower development.
PN Okeke authored one of the widely used Senior Secondary Physics textbooks, a staple for Nigerian high school students.
For mentoring and touching the lives of many science students and contributions in Space Science, Nigerian Students awarded him the title “Most popular Scientist in Nigeria”
Besides, Okeke is extremely respected by radio astronomers worldwide for his tenacious attempts to apply astronomy markedly in Nigeria through his activities in the Centre for Basic Space Science (CBSS), a main thrust of the National Space Research and Development Agency, a parastatal in the Ministry of Science and Technology.
He has published over 80 articles in reputable international journals, and fellow of Nigerian Academy of Science (NAS), African Academy of Science, (AAS) International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), Royal Astronomical Society England (RAS), Nigerian Institute of physics (NIP), and Astronomical Society of Nigeria (ASN), among others.
Okeke is among the five scientists who worked from 1993 to 2002 towards the establishment of the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA). He is the first director of the NARSDA Centre for Basic Space Science, Nsukka/Abuja. 2006 – 2014.
He is a consultant and member of the technical advisory board of NASRDA, head of Physics and Astronomy, 1976-79, Dean, Faculty of Physical Science, 1998-2000, chairman of the UNN Sports council for eight years, which attracted NUGA of 2006, hosted by the university.
He was a senior visiting fellow National Astronomical Observatory, Tokyo, Japan, from 1995 to 1957, and an external board member at the National Research Foundation of South Africa on Astronomy for six years.
Okeke has also received an UN Award in 2012, in Japan, for his contributions to Astronomy in Africa; collaborating with the University of Delaware in the USA, he discovered the Nigerian Environmental and Climatic Observing Programme (NECO) that works on wireless telemetry, and he is now collaborating with NIMET.
He is married to Francisca Okeke, a professor of Physics, a Laureate of L’Oreal – UNESCO, 2013 in physical science, and a Fellow World Academy of Science.
At 80, Okeke is even stronger at work, revising all his books and developing a new technique for teaching physics, which will be out soon.
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