Dr. Vikram Sarabhai

Vikram Sarabhai died on 30 December 1971 at Kovalam, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. He was visiting Thiruvananthapuram to attend the foundation stone laying ceremony of the Thumba railway station. During his last days, he was under a great amount of stress due to excessive travelling and a huge work-load which adversely affected his health.
Indian Space Program
The establishment of the Indian Space Research Organization (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. 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. Sarabhai's dialogue with NASA in 1966, the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) was launched during July 1975 - July 1976 (when Dr.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 A Sarabhai Community Science Centre.
He led the family's 'Sarabhai' diversified business group.
His interests varied from science to sports to statistics. He set up Operations Research Group (ORG), the first market research organization in the country.
Dr Vikram Sarabhai established many institutes which are of international repute. Most notable among them are IIMs (Indian Institute Of Management) which are considered world class for their management studies. Also he helped establishing PRL (Physical Research Laboratory) which is doing commendable job in R&D in Physics. Dr Vikram Sarabhai setup ATIRA (Ahmedabad Textiles Industrial Research Association) which helped the booming textiles business in Ahmedabad. He also setup CEPT (Center for Environmental Planning and Technology). Not stopping with all these he went ahead and setup BMA (Blind Men Association) which helps visually challenged people with necessary skills and support.
Awards
Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award (1962)
Padma Bhushan (1966)
Padma Vibhushan, posthumous (after-death) (1972)
Distinguished Positions
President of the Physics section, Indian Science Congress (1962),
President of the General Conference of the I.A.E.A., Verína (1970),
Vice-President, Fourth U.N. Conference on `Peaceful uses of Atomic Energy' (1971)
Honors
The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, (VSSC), a research institute specialising in solid and liquid propellants for rockets located in Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) , capital of Kerala state, is named in his memory.
Along with other Ahmedabad-based industrialists, he played a major role in the creation of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.