Remembering India’s most admired scientists, Vikram Sarabhai on his birth anniversary. He is the Father of the Indian Space program and was a great institution builder. He established or helped to establish a large number of institutions in India.
After returning from Cambridge in 1947, he persuaded charitable trusts controlled by his family and friends to endow a research institution near home in Ahmedabad. Thus, Sarabhai founded the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad. He was only 28 at that time.
He also set up India’s 1st rocket launch site in Thumba, Kerala. A local church, served as the main office for the scientists; the bishop’s house was converted into a workshop and the cattle shed became the laboratory in which APJ Abdul Kalam worked.
He along with some industrialists played a major role in the creation of the IIM Ahmedabad.
Other than PRL & IIM here are some of the most well-known institutions established by Dr. Sarabhai:
- Community Science Centre, Ahmedabad
- Darpan Academy for Performing Arts
- Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Trivandrum
- Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad
- Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), Hyderabad
- Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL), Bihar
And establishment of the ISRO was one of his greatest achievements.
Even after all this he has not yet been awarded the Bharat Ratna, while we have politicians getting the Bharat Ratna.
