"He was aware of his strengths..." ❤️

On Vikram Sarabhai |A Great Institution Builder

& His Relevance for Academia Today

#onhisbirthdaytoday ❤️

12 August 2023

Reading the biographies of great minds is an experience in itself. They not only help us capture the lived experiences of these legends, but also help us gain valuable life experiences from their ‘lives well-lived’!

His biography, titled, Vikram Sarabhai: A Life, written so passionately, by Amrita Shah gives us such myriad glimpses into his amazing life. 

On this note, knowing about Vikram Sarabhai - from his passionate biographer - is a great source of inspiration for all of us in academia. ❤️

For a brief introduction to Sarabhai –

Well, Vikram Sarabhai – considered the Father of the Indian Space Programme - played a major role in the creation of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

He was also instrumental in establishing the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) – which is one of his greatest achievements as well.

A great Institution Builder, he also helped in establishing the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in Ahmedabad, on November 11, 1947, when he was just 28 years old, and many many more! 

His proud teacher J. S. Badani [one of his teachers at The Retreat] has this to say, about his student -

“In some of the questions he asked me, he showed a keenness of observation and originality in his thinking which is very gratifying”,

he notes in his personal diary of 10th January 1936, on the legendary Vikram Sarabhai.

His daughter Mallika describes him as ‘always thinking’ with his chin on his hands, like Rodin’s Thinker!

His biographer Amrita Shah, adds on to say, that, Vikram was a pacifist like Gandhi, and a pragmatist like his father.

Part of Vikram Sarabhai’s education also consisted of an exposure to the best minds of the times.

Be it Tagore, or Jagadish Chandra Bose, or Jadunath Sarkar, or C. V. Raman, or J. Krishnamurti, or Gandhi, or MM Malaviya, or Dr. S. Radhakrishnan – these connections proved invaluable for Vikram later.

He was aware of his strengths, and realised he could make a greater contribution in the building of institutions of education and technology, instead of frittering away his energies in the rough and tumble of political activism.

It is significant that, though he was to make a number of public speeches on a host of issues throughout his life, he never alluded to current events or controversies of his time. His vision was always for the long term.

And in his childhood he had already chosen the subject that would not only be his object of passion, but also the vehicle for everything he was to do.

He had fallen in love with science.

He was familiar with the works of popular science writers of the time.

He was also aware of the mind-boggling advances in Physics and Rocketry through the local newspapers.

He got himself acquainted with magazines and technical journals such as Nature, Popular Science, Popular Mechanics and Wireless World, that were available in school libraries.

Vikram moved on to Cambridge for his higher studies, from 1937 to 1940.

There is however, little evidence of an active extra-curricular life.

Unlike Nehru’s daughter Indira who was at Oxford around the same time, and who was active politically, Vikram stayed glued to his scientific studies.

However, in September 1939, when war broke out, his worried father, insisted that both brothers come back home immediately.

The brothers returned home, a few months into the war.

He made enquiries with the authorities at Cambridge about the possibility of continuing his work back home and was informed that, he could work on his postgraduate research in India, as long as it was under the supervision of C. V. Raman.

So in 1940, Vikram Sarabhai headed for the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. [IISc]

The Department of Physics had been established just then by the formidable Dr. C. V. Raman at the IISc.

C. V. Raman had won the Nobel Prize in 1930, for his ‘investigations into the scattering of light’, which later came to be called the ‘Raman Effect’.

At the IISc, he formed a wonderful friendship with another great legend, Homi Bhabha, the man who was to found India’s atomic energy programme.

Bangalore, then, was a period of incubation for Vikram Sarabhai.

Yes… If you love to read more on the legend, his life and his achievements, I exhort you dear reader, to buy for yourself a copy of Vikram Sarabhai: A Life, written by Amrita Shah, which I’m sure would inspire you to achieve great things in life.

So what, pray, is his relevance to academia today?

Well, his life teaches us a lot of lovely things.

First, the importance of reading reputed Newspapers, Magazines and Journals on a regular basis.

Secondly, the importance of visiting libraries.

Thirdly, the importance of associating with great minds.

Fourthly, choosing a good guide who can encourage you in your research.

Fifthly, not allowing trivial distractions to distract you from your aspirations and goals in your life.

Sixthly, doing your research with such high passion and commitment! 

Finally, to sum it all up, always think about what you can do for your society, for your country, in your own sweet ways.

Here’s wishing you the very best in all your academic endeavours!

PS: All quotations are from Amrita Shah’s biography titled, Vikram Sarabhai: A Life.