The establishment of the Indian Space Research Organisation (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. Vikram Sarabhai emphasized the importance of a space program in his quote:
“There are some who question the relevance of space activities in a developing nation. To us, there is no ambiguity of purpose. We do not have the fantasy of competing with the economically advanced nations in the exploration of the moon or the planets or manned space-flight.
But we are convinced that if we are to play a meaningful role nationally, and in the community of nations, we must be second to none in the application of advanced technologies to the real problems of man and society.”
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 Vikram A Sarabhai’s dialogue with NASA in 1966, the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) was launched during July 1975 – July 1976 (when Dr.Vikram 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 Sarabhai Community Science Centre.
Dr.Vikram Sarabhai was born on 12 August 1919 in the city of Ahmedabad,Gujarat State in western India. The Sarabhai family was an important and rich Jain 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.
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, University of Cambridge. He received the Tripos in Natural Sciences from 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 in 1945 and was awarded a PhD degree in 1947 for his thesis titled Cosmic Ray investigation in Tropical Latitudes.
Dr. Vikram Sarabhai died on 30 December 1971 at Kovalam, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
FOnder of Darpana
Some of the most well-known institutions established by Dr. Vikram Sarabhai are:
Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad
Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad
Community Science Centre, Ahmedabad
Darpan Academy for Performing Arts, Ahmedabad (along with his wife)
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuramm
Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad (This institution came into existence after merging six institutions/centres established by Vikram Sarabhai)
Blind Men Association (BMA)
Faster Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR), Kalpakkam
Varaiable Energy Cyclotron Project, Calcutta
Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), Hyderabad
Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL), Jaduguda, , Jharkhand.
Awards and honours conferred
President of the Physics section, Indian Science Congress (1962)
Vice-President, Fourth U.N. Conference on ‘Peaceful uses of Atomic Energy’ (1971)
President of the General Conference of the I.A.E.A., Vienna (1970)
The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, (VSSC) which conducts research in the field of rocket propellants in Thiruvananthapuram is named after him.
A crater on the moon ‘BESSEL A’ has been named the Sarabhai crater by the International Astronomical Union in 1973.
