Vikram Sarabhai, the father of the Indian space programme, met Jacques Blamont, Founder of Scientific & Technical Director of the French Space Agency (CNES) at the Fifth General Assembly of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) in Washington DC in 1962.
This meeting was instrumental in kicking off the Indian space programme. On November 21, 1963, India launched a sodium vapour payload at its first rocket launching station in Thumba. The payload was from Blamont’s laboratory. The man himself was present with Sarabhai, with whom he had developed a friendship that lasted for years and benefited India’s fledgling space programme.
Stories such as this feature in the ‘Science Beyond Borders’ exhibition, which is on at Bangalore International Centre till May 21. Curated by Institut Français en Inde and its partners, the exhibition has been conceived specifically for this edition of Bonjour India marking 75 years of Independence and 75 years of Indo-French relations.
The exhibition features stories across mathematics, medicine, nuclear science, biodiversity, aviation, physics, visual analytics, locomotives, astronomy, cartography and more.
The exhibition is free to attend at the Bangalore International Centre till May 21.
