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| Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai |
Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai
Great Indian Personalities
Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai was an Indian scientist and physicist; he was born on 12 August 1919 in Ahmedabad, Gujarat state of western India. He was lovingly known as father of India's space programme. His father, Ambalal Sarabhai was a wealthy industrialist, who owned many textiles mills in Gujarat, and devoted his life to help poor people The Sarabhai family is an important and rich business family.Vikram Sarabhai studied his higher education from Sheth Chimanlal
Nagindas Vidyalaya. Vikram Sarabhai graduated from Gujarat College, Ahmedabad after passing the Intermediate Science examination. After completing his under graduation, he joined St. John's College, University of Cambridge, England. He was honored with Tripos in Natural Sciences from Cambridge in the year 1940.
Completing his education, Vikram Sarabhai returned to India in 1947.
India had just become independent and needed money to rebuild itself. Vikram started to persuade
charitable institutions that were controlled by his family to endow a research
institution near his hometown in Ahmedabad. Later the research centre was named
“Physical Research Laboratory” in Ahmedabad, Gujarat on November 11, 1947.
His greatest achievement was the establishment of Indian Space Research
Organization (ISRO). He effectively convinced the Indian government of the
magnitude of having a space programme for a developing and emerging country like
India, after the launch of the Russian Sputnik.
Homi Jehangir Bhabha, widely known as the father of India's nuclear science
program, supported and helped Sarabhai in setting up the first rocket launching
station in India. This center was found and established at Thumba near
Thiruvananthapuram (situated on the coast of the Arabian Sea), mainly because of its
nearness to the equator. After a significant effort in setting up the infrastructure,
communication links, personnel, and launch pads. The inaugural flight was launched
on 21st November, 1963.
Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) was launched between July 1975 – July
1976 (after passing of Sarabhai). Sarabhai started a project for the production and
launch of an Indian satellite. The first Indian satellite, as a result was called Aryabhata
was positioned in the orbit in 1975 from a Russian Cosmodrome.
