Vikram Sarabhai

Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai was born in August 12, 1919 and lived upto December 31, 1971. He was an Indian physicist. He is considered to be the Father of the Indian space program.

Vikram Sarabhai is the recipient of Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award of India.

Biography

Early years and education

Vikram Sarabhai was born on 12 August 1919 in the city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat India. The Sarabhai family was an important and rich business family. His father Ambalal Sarabhai was an affluent industrialist and owned many mills in Gujarat. Vikram Sarabhai was one of the eight children of Ambalal and Sarla Devi.

To educate her eight children, Sarla Devi established a private school on the lines of the Montessori method, propounded by Maria Montessori, which was gaining fame. As the Sarabhai family was involved in the Indian freedom struggle, many leaders of the freedom struggle like Mahatma Gandhi, Motilal Nehru, Rabindranath Tagore and Jawaharlal Nehru used to frequent the Sarabhai house. This is said to have greatly influenced the young Vikram Sarabhai and played an important role in the growth of his personality.

Sarabhai matriculated from the Gujarat College in Ahmedabad after passing the Intermediate Science examination. After that he moved to England and joined the St John's College, Cambridge, University of Cambridge. He received the Tripos in Natural Sciences (Cambridge) in 1940. With the escalation of the Second World War, Sarabhai returned to India and joined the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore and began research in cosmic rays under the guidance of Sir C. V. Raman, a Nobel Prize winner. He returned to Cambridge after the war and was awarded a PhD in 1947 for his thesis titled Cosmic Ray investigation in Tropical Latitudes.

Marriage and children

In September, 1942, Vikram Sarabhai married Mrinalini Sarabhai, a celebrated classical dancer of India. The wedding was held in Chennai without anyone from Vikram's side of the family attending the wedding ceremony because of the ongoing Quit India movement led by Mahatma Gandhi. Vikram and Mrinalini had two children - Kartikeya Sarabhai and Mallika Sarabhai. Mallika Sarabhai is a renowned dancer herself and has been awarded with the Palme d'Or.

Physical Research Laboratory

Vikram returned to an independent India in 1947. Looking at the needs of the country, he persuaded charitable trusts controlled by his family and friends to endow a research institution near home in Ahmedabad. Thus, Vikram Sarabhai founded the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in Ahmedabad on November 11, 1947. He was only 28 at that time. Sarabhai was a creator and cultivator of institutions and PRL was the first step in that direction.

]]

Death

Vikram Sarabhai died on 30 December 1971 at Kovalam, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. He was visiting Thiruvananthapuram to attend the foundation stone laying ceremony of the Thumba railway station. During his last days, he was under a great amount of stress due to excessive travelling and a huge work-load which adversely affected his health.

Created By Nandan

Indian Space Program

The establishment of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) was one of his greatest achievements. He successfully convinced the government of the importance of a space programme for a developing country like India after the Russian, Sputnik launch. Dr. Sarabhai emphasized the importance of a space program in his references.

Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha, widely regarded as the father of India's nuclear science program, supported Dr. Sarabhai in setting up the first rocket launching station in India. This center was established at Thumba near Thiruvananthapuram on the coast of the Arabian Sea, primarily because of its proximity to the equator. After a remarkable effort in setting up the infrastructure, personnel, communication links, and launch pads, the inaugural flight was launched on November 21 1963 with a sodium vapour payload.

As a result of Dr. Sarabhai's dialogue with NASA in 1966, the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) was launched during July 1975 - July 1976 (when Dr.Sarabhai was no more).

Dr. Sarabhai started a project for the fabrication and launch of an Indian Satellite. As a result, the first Indian satellite, Aryabhata, was put in orbit in 1975 from a Russian Cosmodrome.

Dr. Sarabhai was very interested in science education and founded a Community Science Centre at Ahmedabad in 1966. Today, the Centre is called the Vikram A Sarabhai Community Science Centre.

Dr Vikram Sarabhai established many institutes which are of international repute. Most notable among them are IIMs Indian Institute Of Management which are considered world class for their management studies. Also he helped establishing PRL (Physical Research Laboratory) which is doing commendable job in R&D in Physics. Dr Vikram Sarabhai setup ATIRA (Ahmedabad Textiles Industrial Research Association) which helped the booming textiles business in Ahmedabad. He also setup CEPT (Center for Environmental Planning and Technology). Not stopping with all these he went ahead and setup BMA (Blind Men Association) which helps visually challenged people with necessary skills and support.

See also

• List of Padma Vibhushan recipients