Professor Himanshu Hatwal did his Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1971 from Bengal Engineering College, Shibpur, which was affiliated to University of Calcutta. Then he worked for two years at Hindustan Motors, a premier automobile industry during that era. He joined the graduate programme of Mechanical Engineering at IIT Kanpur in 1973. He completed both masters and Ph.D degree here. His Ph.D thesis was very highly rated. A two-part paper, based on his Ph.D work, published in Journal of Applied Mechanics, Transactions ASME in 1983 is considered a classic in the area of Nonlinear Mechanical Vibrations. This paper producing one of the earliest experimental evidence of "Chaotic Mechanical oscillations" is regularly cited even after 25 years of its publication. After finishing his Ph.D, he proceeded to University of Calgary, Canada for his post-doctoral research work. Upon returning he joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering of IIT Kanpur in 1985 & remained till 2014. A man of few words, charming disposition, and sharp intellect, Professor Hatwal won the hearts of one and all, starting from students to colleagues. Whosoever came in his contact appreciated his valiant fight with the dreaded disease and the dignity with which he lived and worked until the last two months of his life.