Father of the Indian Space Program is not the only attribution that this famous scientist from Gujarat has. Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, born in Ahmedabad, was a rare combination of talents and dreams. Dr. Vikram Sarabhai was a creative scientist, a successful and forward looking industrialist, an innovator of the highest order, a great institution builder, an educationist with a difference, a connoisseur of arts, an entrepreneur of social change, a pioneering management educator and more.
Born in Ahmedabad on August 12, 1919, Dr. Sarabhai was the son of Ambalal and Sarladevi. He belonged to an affluent family of progressive industrialists. During his childhood, his ancestral home ‘The Retreat’, used to be visited by important people from all walks of life. This played an important role in the growth of Sarabhai’s personality.
Dr. Vikram Sarabhai’s early education took place at a family school directed by his mother. After completing his matriculation from Gujarat College in Ahmedabad, Dr. Vikram Sarabhai moved to England and joined the St. John’s College, University of Cambridge. In 1940 he received the Tripos in Natural Sciences from Cambridge. He then returned to India to become a research scholar under Sir C. V. Raman at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He began to research cosmic rays, taking field measurements across India. He returned to Cambridge in 1945 and received his doctorate there in 1947 for researching photo-fission. Sarabhai, the Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission was keen on establishing Physical Research Laboratory. He founded it on November 11, 1947.
Dr. Sarabhai believed science and technology could help create a modern India. For him, science was a vehicle to carry India forward and to be prepared to apply the advancements in technology to the areal problems of man and society. He was a man with a mission and today Ahmedabad and the entire Gujarat enjoys the benefits of his vision. He played a major role in the setting up of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and Ahmedabad Textile Industry’s Research Association (ATIRA).
Further, he started converting the range and breath of his interests into institutions. Darpan Academy of Performing Arts, Space Application Centre, Community Science Centre, Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT), Blind Men’s Association and others are his gifts to Gujarat. The list of his achievements is never ending as Sarabhai also pioneered the rocket technology, Satellite TV Broadcasting and Pharmaceutical Industry in India. No wonder he was conferred with the Padma Shri award in 1966 and Padma Bhushan in 1972.
Irrespective of his achievements and positions, he was a man of principles. Anybody in his organization, irrespective of the position, could meet him without any fear or feelings of inferiority. Sarabhai believed in an individual’s dignity and tried hard to preserve it. He was always in search of a better and efficient way of doing things. Vikram Sarabhai believed that a scientist should never shut himself up in an ivory tower or overlook the problems faced by the society in mere academic pursuit of pure science.
So much to learn from this one personality who gave so much to the state! Go ahead, dare to dream, be the leaders of your own self. After all, as Dr. Sarabhai quotes: “One wants permissive individuals who do not have a compelling need to reassure themselves that they are leaders.”
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Aditi Rindani 