He is called the father of India’s space programme. He mentored former President A.P. J Abdul Kalam, was instrumental in getting cable television into India and was one of the founders of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He is Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, who was born in Ahmedabad in 1919.
Hailing from a wealthy industrialist family involved in the country’s independence movement, Vikram fared well in his studies. He went on to study natural sciences at Cambridge. The onset of World War II saw him return to his motherland. He joined the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, as a research scholar under the Nobel laureate Sir C.V. Raman.
Prolific
Vikram’s research was on time variations of cosmic rays. He concluded that meteorological effects could not entirely affect the observed daily variations of cosmic rays.
When he was 28, Dr. Sarabhai set up the Physical Research Lab, the year India became free. This lab is referred to as the cradle of space science in India.
He also set up the first market research organisation, the Blind Men’s Association, helped start the IIM, Ahmedabad, and established the Fast Breeder Test Reactor at Kalpakkam, near Chennai.
He married Mrinalini, a classical dancer and choreographer. The couple started Darpana Academy of Performing Arts in their home town of Ahmedabad.. Their daughter, Mallika, is an actor and activist.
Dr. Sarabhai’s contact with NASA paved the way for the establishment of Satellite Instructional T.V. Experiment (SITE) in 1975, a harbinger of cable television.
Curious facts
Homi Bhabha supported him in setting up the first rocket launch station in Thumba, near Thiruvanthapuram. After Bhabha’s sudden demise in an air tragedy in 1966, Sarabhai took over as chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission. The first Indian satellite Aryabhata was put in orbit in 1975. Interestingly, a local church served as the main office for the scientists.
Dr. Sarabhai died in his sleep in a resort near Kovalam at the age of 52.
Honours
He was awarded the Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan.
On his first death anniversary, a commemorative stamp was issued in his honour.
A year later, in 1973, the International Astronomical Union decided to name a lunar crater in the Sea of Serenity after him.
