Who Were Indian Scientists Homi Bhabha & Vikram Sarabhai, The Real ‘Rocket Boys’?

The cinematic era of web series has changed the viewership in India. Web series based on Indian historical figures is uncommon. It has grown vastly depicting a map of a storyline. The latest series on SonyLIV ‘Rocket Boys’ traces the lives of Homi Bhabha & Vikram Sarabhai, the founding fathers of the Indian Space and Nuclear Programme. It is one of those rare shows that focus on Indian scientists. 

These two people made an integral step for future India. Through Rocket Boys, Dr. Bhabha & Dr. Sarabhai may receive the attention that history books perhaps didn’t offer them. 

Both the great Indian scientist also shared a deep friendship among them. 

Today, Mad4India brings a hidden gem from the history books – the story of two Indian scientists Homi Bhabha & Vikram Sarabhai, who still has a trail in today’s science web. 

Homi Bhabha & Vikram Sarabhai – Indian Scientists

Homi Jehangir Bhabha, entitled the Father of the Indian Nuclear Programme, was born on 30 October 1904 in Bombay Presidency, British India (present Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.) He is a preeminent Indian physicist who played an integral role in the scientific community of a newly independent India. Homi Bhabha was the founder-director and professor at the TIFR – Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. 

Homi J. Bhabha is also the founding director of the AEET – Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay, which is presently known as Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in his honor. 

Both TIFR and AEET were the stepping stone for the development of Indian weapons. He was a great scientist who signified the science field of India. 

He completed his education at the University of Cambridge. He was an art connoisseur. The great Indian scientist Homi Bhabha received the Adams Prize in 1942 and Padma Bhushan in 1954. He was also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for Physics in 1951 and 1953–1956. 

In November 1954, Dr. Homi Bhabha presented his three-stage nuclear program that would rely on India’s abundant thorium deposits rather than Uranium. 

Thorium is a fossil fuel that makes the controlling process easier. 

With the vision of Homi Bhabha, today, India is one of the leaders in the commercial use of thorium. 

Homi Bhabha was also in close contact with Jawahar Lal Nehru, the then Prime Minister of India. Dr. Bhabha requested him to set up a separate Indian Atomic Energy Commission, which came into existence in 1948. In which Nehru appointed him as the director of nuclear weapons. 

The friendship with WB Lewis was such that he supported at a time when western countries were reluctant in sharing their nuclear technology voluntarily. WB Lewis helped him to set up a nuclear reactor in India. 

He also organized the first UN Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy in 1955. 

He died in an Air India Flight 101 Plane Crash in Mont Blanc on 24 January 1966. 

Not only did Dr. Bhabha had inspiring visions for the nuclear program for India, but he also played a crucial role in helping Vikram Sarabhai set up the Indian space Programme. 

Dr. Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai was an Indian physicist. He is the core astronomer who initiated the space program and helped develop nuclear power in India. He was born on 12 August 1919 in Ahmedabad, Bombay Presidency, British India. 

He is one of the paramount Indian scientists who shaped the future of Indian space. He is famously known as the Father of the Indian Space Program. 

Both Homi Bhabha & Vikram Sarabhai completed their education at the University of Cambridge. 

Dr. Sarabhai recognized the essence of the Indian space program and made it big at that time. Homi Bhabha & Vikram Sarabhai are the epic legacies that marked the phase of the science community in India. 

Dr. Sarabhai inaugurated the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station, where the journey of India’s spaces began. He is also the leading founder of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. He also founded the Darpana Academy of Performing Arts along with his wife. 

On 30the December 1971, Dr. Sarabhai died at the age of 52 due to a cardiac arrest. One hour before that, he had a conversation with APJ Abdul Kalam. 

Both Dr. Bhabha & Dr. Sarabhai were leaders of their rights. They both contributed to the science field in many ways and is verity the best Indian scientist, India had the privilege to know. 

Homi Bhabha & Vikram Sarabhai met each other at the Indian Institute of Science. Coincidently, Dr. Sarabhai was completing his Ph.D. under the guidance of CV Raman. Homi Bhabha was appointed as the newly elected professor at Cosmic Ray Research Unit in 1942.

Dr. Bhabha & Dr. Sarabhai played a vital role in inspiring the future of Indian Space and the Nuclear Programme. When India gained its independence in 1947, Homi Bhabha wrote to the then Prime Minister – Jawaharlal Nehru, to care for a separate branch for science for atomic energy. Shortly after, the Atomic Energy Commission came into existence in 1948. 

The real-life Indian scientist ‘Rocket boys,’ Homi Bhabha & Vikram Sarabhai, launched India’s first-ever rocket into space. The duo contributed immensely to advancing nuclear power in India. The web series depicts its achievements, and it makes sense that viewers will come to know about the sheer brilliance they did. 

The missile man of India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, was a young student of Dr. Sarabhai, who took him under his wings. Abdul Kalam was a great Indian scientist and the former president of India. 

The renowned great Indian scientist Homi Bhabha & Vikram Sarabhai fenced the Indian space and nuclear technology for the better. 

Cradle to make a remarkable impact on the Indian sciences, the two Indian scientists, Dr. Bhabha & Dr. Sarabhai, hold the sheer credibility of making the nation proud of their contributions. 

India’s nuclear weapon programs owe a debt to Dr. Bhabha & Dr. Sarabhai for making prolonged advancements for the nuclear and space program. 

Not many may know about the journey of the dynamic contributions of the two great Indian scientists, Homi Bhabha & Vikram Sarabhai. But, it hopes that the web series ‘Rocket Boys’ reckons the glory and the achievement with their brilliance giveaways make viewers learn about their robust dedication and how they shaped the phenomena of the science field of the nation. 

To know more about Homi Bhabha, check – Website

To know more about Vikram Sarabhai, check – Website

If you liked this story, you can read more about  First Indian to become an IAS officer in British regime, The story of Satyendranath Tagore

If you know more inspirational stories about a person, company, new idea, or social initiative and want us to write it on mad4india.com, share such information with us on Facebook or LinkedIn.