विक्रम साराभाई Vikram Sarabhai
Books and writing
Cosmic Ray Investigations in Tropical Latitudes: PhD thesis (1947)
University of Cambridge. His doctoral thesis on cosmic rays observed near the equator. It grew out of his wartime work in Bangalore. He went on to publish 85 research papers between 1947 and 1971.
Britannica: Vikram Sarabhai · Wikipedia: Vikram Sarabhai · President of India: Address at the valedictory of the Sarabhai centenary (25 September 2020)
Dedication of the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station to the United Nations: Speech (1968)
Thumba, Kerala. The speech in which he set out why a developing country should do space science. It contains his best-known line about being second to none in applying technology to real problems. Pramod Kale in Current Science traces the line to this 1968 dedication.
Current Science: Pramod Kale, Vikram Sarabhai – Visionary motivator (25 April 2020) · Wikipedia: Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station
Address to the UN Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (1968)
United Nations, Vienna. His address in Vienna in August 1968. He explained to an international audience how the atmosphere hides most of the cosmos and why space observation matters.
Current Science: Pramod Kale, Vikram Sarabhai – Visionary motivator (25 April 2020)
Atomic Energy and Space Research: A Profile for the Decade 1970–80 (1970)
Government of India. His roadmap for the decade. It set the goal of a launch vehicle able to place a 1,200 kg satellite in synchronous orbit by the end of the 1970s. The goals were met later than planned because of international restrictions.
Current Science: Pramod Kale, Vikram Sarabhai – Visionary motivator (25 April 2020) · Scroll.in: The Vikram Sarabhai years, from Ever Upwards: ISRO in Images (18 November 2019)
Science Policy and National Development (1974)
Macmillan, New Delhi. A posthumous collection of his speeches and writings on science and nation building.
Vikram Sarabhai: A Life: by Amrita Shah (a biography about him) (2007)
Penguin Viking. The standard biography. Amrita Shah follows him from the Sarabhai household in Ahmedabad through Cambridge and PRL to ISRO and the Atomic Energy Commission.
ISRO: A Personal History: by R. Aravamudan with Gita Aravamudan (a memoir about his era) (2017)
HarperCollins India. A memoir by an engineer he recruited at 25. It describes how he scouted talent and cheap technology and kept the programme tied to national problems. Swarajya’s reviewer says the book shows how his vision outlived him through Dhawan, Rao and Kasturirangan.
Swarajya: Review of R. Aravamudan’s ISRO: A Personal History (4 April 2017)
Ever Upwards: ISRO in Images: by V. P. Balagangadharan, B. N. Suresh and P. V. Manoranjan Rao (a book about ISRO) (2019)
Orient Blackswan. A photographic history of ISRO by three of its veterans. Its opening chapters cover the Sarabhai years from Thumba to the 1970–80 roadmap.
Scroll.in: The Vikram Sarabhai years, from Ever Upwards: ISRO in Images (18 November 2019)
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