Vikram Sarabhai

Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai ( born August 12, 1919 in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, † December 30, 1971 in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala ) was an Indian physicist. He is considered the father of the Indian space program and was instrumental in the development of rocket and satellite technology in his country.

Life and achievements

Vikram Sarabhai was one of eight children of a wealthy industrialist family from the West Indian Ahmedabad ( Gujarat). After attending a specially arranged by his parents for their children's private school, he studied at Cambridge, where he graduated in Natural Sciences in 1939. After the outbreak of the Second World War, he returned to India to study cosmic rays at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore under Nobel laureate CV Raman. During this time he took his own radiation measurements, inter alia, in Pune and in Kashmir before. After the war he again went to Cambridge and received his PhD in 1947 on cosmic radiation in the tropics.

Back in his homeland, Sarabhai founded the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad (PRL ), which among other things later was also supported by the Indian Ministry of Atomic Energy. In addition, however, he worked not only as a scientist but also as a successful entrepreneur. In 1962, he contributed greatly to the founding of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM ) in his hometown in, which is now also represented in five other Indian cities and one of the foremost business schools in the country. In the same year he became director of the also incurred at his suggestion Indian National Committee for Space Research ( INCOSPAR ), which was tasked with the development of Indian space program. In 1969, from the Indian space agency ISRO. Even India's first rocket launch site Thumba near Thiruvananthapuram was among Sarabhai line. 1966, the chair of the Atomic Energy Commission he was also transferred.

Vikram Sarabhai was married to the dancer Mrinalini Sarabhai. On the night of 29 December 30, 1971, he died at the age of only 52 years, after a sudden cardiac arrest. He had been routinely detained in Thiruvananthapuram.

Vikram Sarabhai received several prestigious awards, including the Padma Bhushan in 1966 and 1972 posthumous Padma Vibhushan also, the second highest civilian honor of India. The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram today bears Sarabhai in honor of his name. According to him, also the moon crater Sarabhai and the asteroid ( 2987 ) Sarabhai was named.

  • Physicist ( 20th century)
  • Space functionary
  • Indian Space
  • Carrier of the Padma Vibhushan
  • Padma Bhushan winner of the
  • Indian
  • Born in 1919
  • Died in 1971
  • Man
C. V. Raman Indian Space Research Organisation Lunar craters Sarabhai (crater) (2987) Sarabhai Integrated Authority File
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