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By Shobhit Mahajan Even as a teenager Vikram Sarabhai knew that he could make a greater contribution to nation-building by establishing institutions of education and technology rather than entering the political arena. A review of an insightful new biography of the visionary scientist
'Vikram Sarabhai -- A Life' by Amrita Shah,
Penguin-Viking Books,
Rs 425 (2007) |
 The ’50s and ’60s were boom times for science and technology in India -- the newly independent country had consciously chosen a development model that gave science and technology a central role. They were to be used to help us leapfrog generations of backwardness and build a more ‘rational’ and just society.
This was the time of giant hydroelectric projects (‘temples of modern India’), steel plants, an atomic energy programme, and a budding space programme. This was also institution-building time -- from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) to the network of CSIR (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research) Labs, Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), IARI (Indian Agricultural Research Institute) laboratories and the expansion of the university system. These were the bedrock on which our later emergence as a human resources giant in science and technology was built. This was also the time when Indian science was identified with a handful of scientist-administrators: Homi Bhabha, S S Bhatnagar, Vikram Sarabhai, D S Kothari, and a few others. These were the people who started and nurtured institutions and talent. Among them, Vikram Sarabhai was probably unique in that he not only pioneered the Indian space programme, he also headed the atomic energy programme, managed a pharmaceuticals company, established the first Indian Institute of Management as well as the National Institute of Design, and played a major role in formulation of policy especially for space and atomic research. That one person could have achieved so much in a relatively short lifespan of 52 years is testimony to the man’s greatness. Amrita Shah’s biography of Sarabhai is an insightful account of the life and work of this truly remarkable person. Born into a wealthy Ahmedabad Jain family, Sarabhai’s formative years were spent in a school on the estate exclusively for him and his siblings. The idea was to inculcate a spirit of learning and fun through experimentation rather than a routine curriculum, together with exposure to the breadth of human knowledge and achievement. Those were the days when the nationalist movement was picking up speed, led by an unusual, unsuccessful Gujarati Jain lawyer who had just returned from South Africa. Like everyone else, the Sarabhais were also influenced by Gandhi and his ideology. However, Vikram Sarabhai, unlike others around him, did not get drawn into the freedom movement. This is intriguing given the atmosphere of the time and the patriotism that Sarabhai exhibited in his later years. There could be several explanations for this but the one Shah favours is that Sarabhai was already thinking about post-independent India. “He was aware of his strengths and realised that he could make a greater contribution in building institutions of education and technology instead of frittering away his energies in the rough and tumble of political activism.” This kind of foresight and maturity coming from a teenager seems unlikely -- but, if it were indeed true, it provides a remarkable insight into the man. School was followed by a short stint in a college in Ahmedabad and then a tripos from Cambridge. Sarabhai returned to work during the war years at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, with C V Raman. It was then that he met his wife, Mrinalini, and the two got married in 1942. In 1945, Sarabhai returned to Cambridge to get his doctorate and, two years later, came back with a degree to a newly independent India. The next two decades saw the flowering of Sarabhai the institution-builder and someone who was genuinely concerned about the country’s development. His idea of using satellites to provide television to rural communities (SITE programme) was just one example of his vision. Shah recounts the trials and tribulations of these times well in her book, which also gives a readable account of the private life of this public figure -- his relationship with his father, his wife, his children, and his mistress. Unfortunately, it is in the discussion of Sarabhai as a scientist that the book falters. The treatment is woefully inadequate and, in some places, factually incorrect. For instance, in explaining cosmic rays Shah writes that cosmic rays spend 2.5 million years in interstellar space. This is an astonishing statement since it means that we know exactly where the cosmic rays are coming from. The origin of cosmic rays is one of physics’ great unsolved mysteries. There are several such examples in the book. This is an immensely enjoyable account of the life and times of an unusual person -- a scientist who nonetheless captured the public imagination in his time. It would have been even better if there was a better discussion of his
science. (Professor Shobhit Mahajan is a Professor at the Department of Physics and Astrophysics, University of Delhi) InfoChange News & Features, June 2007
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