Referred to as the Father of the Indian Space Program, Vikram Sarabhai was an astronomer

and physicist who pioneered India’s space research.

Not only a renowned scientist, Sarabhai was an industrialist, an institution builder, a social
reformer and visionary whose fierce commitment to Indian independence fuelled his work
to sky-rocket India into the 20th century.

From India to England, the stars and beyond, here’s the story of Vikram Sarabhai.

An industrious beginning
Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai was born on 12 August 1919 into the well-known Sarabhai
family. The Sarabhai’s were major industrialists committed to securing India’s
independence from British colonial rule, encouraging Vikram to study science at Gujarat
College in Ahmedabad.

Sarabhai’s study then took him to the University of Cambridge in England, where he sat his
final exams in natural sciences in 1940. By this time, war had engulfed Europe, Britain and
its colonies, including India. Sarabhai returned to his homeland where he began researching
cosmic rays.

With the end of war in 1945, Sarabhai returned to Cambridge to complete a doctorate,
writing the thesis ‘Cosmic Ray Investigations in Tropical Latitudes’ in 1947.