Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai (12 August 1919 – 30 December 1971) was an Indian scientist and innovator widely regarded as the father of India's space programme. Sarabhai received the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize in 1962. He was honored with the Padma Bhushan in 1966 and the Padma Vibhushan (posthumously) in 1972.
His interests varied from science to sports to statistics. He set up Operations Research Group (ORG), the first market research organization in the country. Most notable among the many institutes he helped set up are the Nehru Foundation for Development in Ahmedabad, the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA), the Ahmedabad Textile Industry's Research Association (ATIRA) and the (CEPT). Along with his wife Mrinalini Sarabhai, he founded the Darpana Academy of Performing Arts. Other projects and institutions initiated or established by him include the Faster Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR) in Kalpakkam, Variable Energy Cyclotron Project in Calcutta, Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) in Hyderabad and Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) in Jaduguda, Jharkhand.
During his lifetime, he practiced Jainism.
Distinguished positions
- President of the Physics section, Indian Science Congress (1962)
- President of the General Conference of the I.A.E.A., Vienna (1970)
- Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India (1966–1971)
- Vice-President, Fourth UN Conference on 'Peaceful uses of Atomic Energy' (1971)
- Founder and Chairman (1963–1971), Space Applications Centre
- The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, (VSSC), which is the Indian Space Research Organization's lead facility for launch vehicle development 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 setting up of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
- Indian Postal Department released a commemorative Postal Stamp On his first death anniversary (30 December 1972)
- In 1973, the International Astronomical Union decided that a lunar crater, Bessel A, in the Sea of Serenity will be known as the Sarabhai crater.
- The lander on India's moon mission Chandrayaan II is named Vikram in his honor which will finally land near South Pole of the moon on Sep 7, 2019.
Trivia: In 1971, Vikram Sarabhai breathed his last in the palace originally built for which royal family?
Ans: Travancore