Vikram Sarabhai: Rockets, atomic power & Bharatnatyam

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We've found water on the moon and have more remote sensing satellites in space than any other country. But without Vikram Sarabhai, the man who founded ISRO, none of it would have been possible. On his birthday, here's a brief look at what he achieved. All of this research is thanks to my colleagues Vivian Fernandes and Sharmila Bhowmick, I'm just writing it down.

Vikram Sarabhai was born on the 12th of August, 1919. Father Ambalal and Mother SarlaDevi were rich and involved in the freedom struggle. Gandhiji and Nehru were regular visitors at home.

After a doctorate at Cambridge and research at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, Sarabhai worked with Homi Bhabha, the father of India's nuclear programme. He set up a rocket launch station in Thumba, Kerala and launched India's first satellite in 1963. This was the start of the Indian Space Research Organisation or ISRO. In 1975, Sarabhai set up the country's first satellite television broadcasting service and beamed educational programmes to villages.

But it was his love for the arts that made him fall in love with Mrinalini, a Bharatnatyam dancer. Together, they set up Darpan, a theater group and a home called Premalay.

Sarabhai later became head of the Department of Atomic Energy. Professional rivalry with another legendary scientist, Homi Sethna and his personal views about the dangers of the atom bomb, led to the department being split in two, one for military research and the other for power production.

Vikram Sarabhai also set up the National Physical Research Laboratory and the Indian Institute of Management in Ahemedabad. He died young, at the age of fifty two, a titan among scientists in India.