Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (September 5, 1888 - April 17, 1975), was a philosopher and statesman. He introduced Western idealism into Indian philosophy. In India, his birthday is celebrated as Teacher's Day in his honour.

     Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (Sarvepalli is his family name) was born at Tiruttani, a town in Tamil Nadu, South India, 64 km to the northwest of Chennai. His primary education was in Gowdie School,Tiruvallur,and higher school education in P.M.High School,Gajulamandyam,Renigunta. He graduated with a Master's Degree in Arts from the University of Madras.

     In 1921, he was appointed to the most important philosophy chair in India, the King George V Chair of Mental and Moral Science at the University of Calcutta. Radhakrishnan represented the University of Calcutta at the Congress of the Universities of the British Empire in June 1926 and the International Congress of Philosophy at Harvard University in September 1926.

     In 1929, Radhakrishnan was invited to take the post vacated by Principal J. Estlin Carpenter in Manchester College, Oxford. This gave him the opportunity to lecture to the students of the University of Oxford on Comparative Religion.

     He was knighted in 1931 and was known as Sir Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan until India attained independence; thereafter, he was addressed as Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. He worked as the Vice-Chancellor of Andhra University from 1931 to 1936. In 1936, Radhakrishnan was named Spalding Professor of Eastern Religions and Ethics at the University of Oxford, and was elected a Fellow of All Souls College. After 1946, Radhakrishnan's academic career was cut short when his country needed him to be ambassador to UNESCO and later to Moscow.

     He was also elected to the Constituent Assembly of India in 1946. He became Vice President of India in 1952 and was elected President in 1962, an office he held until 1967.

     He was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1954 and the Order of Merit in 1963. He received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade in 1961 and the Templeton Prize in 1975 a few months before his death. The Oxford University instituted the Radhakrishnan Chevening Scholarships and the Radhakrishnan Memorial Award in his memory.