Dr. B. V. Raman (1912-1998)

Dr. B. V. Raman (1912-1998)
Founder-Editor (1936-1998) : The Astrological Magazine
Founder-President : Indian Council of Astrological Sciences

Dr. Raman spent his whole life in the study of relations between cosmic and terrestrial phenomena. He was able to demonstrate by his writings and predictions made through The Astrological Magazine and other media that the astrological theory of cosmic influences affecting human life is essentially correct. Through a number of books, lectures and research papers, Dr. Raman influenced the educated public and made them astrology-conscious. His special fields of research were Hindu astronomy, astro-psychology, weather and political forecasts, disease diagnosis, natural calamities, management and other areas in relation to celestial phenomena.

Dr. Raman travelled round the world several times representing India at the Astrological Congress held at Cambridge, England and the International Astrology Conference at New York. He delivered innumerable lectures in Germany, England, France, Italy, Austria, Holland, Canada, Japan and the United States of America, addressing universities, medical associations and educational and cultural institutions on different aspects of astrology, Hindu astronomy, philosophy and Indian culture.

Dr. Raman was the first to deliver a lecture Relevance of Astrology in Modern Times in 1970 at the United Nations, New York, which evoked much interest in diplomatic circles. He said that Astrology was a science and not mere mumbo jumbo.

Dr. Raman presided over several important conferences at both national and international levels. He delivered the keynote address at the First International Symposium on Vedic Astrology in October 1994 at San Rafael, California, U.S.A. when he was honoured with the Life-time Achievement Award for his services to the cause of astrology. He was conferred the Man of the Year 1995 award by the Centenarian Trust, Madras, formed in the memory of the Kanchi Paramacharya, in February 1996. He was the inaugural speaker and chief guest at the National Conference on Disaster and Technology held at Manipal on 25-9-1998.

Dr. Raman received an honorary Ph.D. from the Pythagorean University in 1947. In the same year, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, London and a member of the Royal Asiatic Society. He was awarded the degree of Doctor of Literature by the Akhila Bharateeya Samskrita Sammelana in 1968 and the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by the Kumaon University (U.P.) in June 1976. Dr. Raman holds a string of titles such as Abhinava Varahamihira, Jyotisha Bhanu, Jyotisha Vignana Marthanda, Jyotisha Ratna, Abhinava Bhaskara, Jyotisha Bhooshana etc. conferred on him by various organisations.

Dr. B.V. Raman was born in a village near Bangalore in 1912 and had his early education in a village school. He completed his collegiate studies in Science at Central College, Bangalore. During the period of his studies in the University, he also specialised in homeopathy and obtained a Diploma.

Dr. Raman restarted The Astrological Magazine in 1936 and was its editor for over 62 years. In fact, this is a unique case of one single individual editing a monthly uninterruptedly for over 62 years and rightly merits a place in the Guinesses Book of Records. It is now run by his daughter Smt. Gayatri Devi Vasudev and his son Mr. B. Niranjan Babu.

The Astrological Magazine, held to be the only journal of its type in Asia, has earned an international reputation as a great exponent of Indian culture in general and astrology in particular. Its views are held in esteem by the educated public. Dr. Raman made, through the columns of The Astrological Magazine and through his publications, several outstanding predictions about world events such as the Second World War, its course and termination; fates of Hitler, Mussolini, Hirohito and other world celebrities; Indian Independence, the tragic assassination of Mahatma Gandhi and other notable events such as the Chinese Invasion of India, Pandit Nehrus death, Khruschevs fall, Johnsons election, Nixons election and fall, Indo-Pakistan conflicts, West Asian Wars, fall of the Shah of Iran, Vietnam War, the declaration of Emergency in India, the assassination of the Bangladesh President, death of the Soviet leader Brezhnev, assassination of Indira Gandhi, the scams involving Narasimha Rao, the 1996 elections and the formation of the Indian government made up of representatives of almost all parties, not to speak of earthquakes and other natural disasters with amazing accuracy.

Dr. Raman founded an all India body, the Indian Council of Astrological Sciences (Regd.) in 1984 to regulate the study and practise of astrology in the country with Chapters in Bangalore, Madras, Delhi, Kanpur, Trivandrum, Patna and other cities. As Founder President, he enthused and inspired the intelligentsia to take up the study of astrology as a serious pursuit. Countless students dawn from different academic and professional backgrounds are now being taught astrology according to a two-tier syllabus producing a crop of enlightened and systemmatically trained astrology students.In 1992, Dr. Raman, on a vist to the United States of America to deliver the keynote address of the First International Symposium on Vedic Astrology held at San Rafael, California, mooted the idea of a national body to organise the study of Indian astrology in the States. The American Council of Vedic Astrology was founded under Dr. Raman's blessings by a group of Americans and this has led to countless people in that country taking to the study of Indian astrology. Dr. Raman was the first to give a rational exposition of astrology in his book Planetary Influences on Human Affairs defending his claim by statistical data refuting the arguments of its critics.

Dr. Raman was never a professional astrologer but yet was consulted and his guidance sought by scientists, political leaders, saints, medical doctors, industrialists and heads of governments and people from all strata of life. His visitors were drawn from all walks of life.

He was assisted in his activities by his devoted wife Mrs. Rajeswari Raman, who takes keen interest not only in astrology but also in the study of Yoga, especially in its application to women. Mrs. Rajeswari Raman is a practical exponent of Hatha Yoga and is the Director of Sri Surya Prakash Institute of Yoga for Women. She visited Europe and America, in 1970, in 1981 and 1992 and delivered talks on Yoga, Indian Womanhood etc., before various womens associations and cultural organisations.

Dr. Ramans recreations included lawn tennis and gardening.A teetotaller of the strictest order, his daily routine until the last day included Sandhyavandana and Gayatri Japa both in the morning and the evening, Yoga and Pranayama and a long walk in the evening. He followed the teachings of Lord Krishna as given in the Srimad Bhagavad Gita and this was evident in everything he said or did in his life. He was an institution unto himself. A man of great simplicity and sincerity, he had a kind word for everyone he came across, no matter whoever it was. He was a classic example of the ideal of the Rishi of ancient India in modern world, with his exemplary life of simple living and high thinking. It would not be an exaggeration to say there will not be another like him. His loss to the world of astrology and ancient Indian ideals is irreparable.

Dr. Raman's efforts in propagating Indian astrology across the globe are unrivalled. In his passing away, the world of astrology is plunged in darkness. But we hope and pray the momentum Dr. Raman has given the wave of Indian astrology will continue to gather greater and greater strength until the world recognizes its relevance to modern times and acknowledges its unique position in the hierarchy of sciences.

Dr Kalpana Chawla

Dr Kalpana Chawla American Mission Specialist Astronaut. Born 1 July 1961. Died 1 February 2003. Engineer. Perished in Columbia shuttle disintegration during re-entry.

Personal: Female, Married. Born in Karnal, India. Perished in Columbia shuttle disintegration during re-entry. PhD

Astronaut Career

Astronaut Group: NASA Group 15 - 1995. Deceased Entered space service: 9 December 1994. Left space service: 1 February 2003. Number of Flights: 2.00. Total Time: 31.63 days.

Chawla's family were refugees from Pakistan who settled in Karnal after partition in 1947. She perished with the rest of the crew of the shuttle Columbia on 1 February 2003. NASA Official Biography

NAME: Kalpana Chawla (Ph.D.)

NASA Astronaut

PERSONAL DATA:

Born in Karnal, India. Date and month of birth unknown. Dr. Chawla enjoys flying, hiking, back-packing, and reading. She holds Certificated Flight Instructor's license and Commercial Pilot's licenses for single- and multi-engine land airplanes and single-engine seaplanes, instrument rating, and Private Glider. She enjoys flying aerobatics and tail-wheel airplanes.

EDUCATION:

Graduated from Tagore School, Karnal, India, in 1976. Bachelor of science degree in aeronautical engineering from Punjab Engineering College, India, 1982. Master of science degree in aerospace engineering from University of Texas, 1984. Doctorate of philosophy in aerospace engineering from University of Colorado, 1988.

EXPERIENCE:

Dr. Chawla was hired by MCAT Institute, San Jose, California, as a Research Scientist to support research in the area of powered lift at NASA Ames Research Center, California, in 1988. She was responsible for simulation and analysis of flow physics pertaining to the operation of powered lift aircraft such as the Harrier in ground effect. She modeled and numerically simulated configurations that include important components of realistic powered lift aircraft, both in hover and landing mode, using Navier-Stokes solvers on Cray YMP. Following completion of this project she supported research in mapping of flow solvers to parallel computers such as the Intel iPSC-860, the Intel Paragon, and the TMC CM-2, and testing of these solvers by carrying out powered lift computations. In 1993 Dr. Chawla joined Overset Methods Inc., Los Altos, California, as Vice President and Research Scientist to form a team with other researchers specializing in simulation of moving multiple body problems. She was responsible for development and implementation of efficient techniques to perform aerodynamic optimization. Results of various projects that Dr. Chawla participated in are documented in technical conference papers and Journals.

NASA EXPERIENCE:

Selected by NASA in December 1994, Dr. Chawla reported to the Johnson Space Center in March 1995. After completing a year of training and evaluation, she was assigned to work technical issues for the Astronaut Office EVA/Robotics and Computer Branches. Dr. Chawla will serve as a mission specialist on the crew of the fourth U.S. Microgravity Payload flight scheduled for an November 1997 launch on board Columbia on mission STS-87.

Source:
http://www.astronautix.com/astros/chawla.htm

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw-Biocon Ltd

Born: March 23, 1953
Achievement: Chairman & Managing Director of Biocon Ltd; Felicitated with Padmashri (1989) and Padma Bhushan (2005).

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw is the Chairman & Managing Director of Biocon Ltd, India's biggest biotechnology company. In 2004, she became India's richest woman.

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw was born on March 23, 1953 in Bangalore. She had her schooling at Bishop Cotton Girls School and Mount Carmel College at Bangalore. After doing completing her B.Sc. in Zoology from Bangalore University in 1973, she went to Ballarat University in Melbourne, Australia and qualified as a master brewer.

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw started her professional career as trainee brewer in Carlton & United Beverages in 1974. In 1978, she joined as Trainee Manager with Biocon Biochemicals Limited in Ireland. In the same year, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw founded Biocon India in collaboration with Biocon Biochemicals Limited, with a capital of Rs.10,000. She initially faced many problems regarding funds for her business. Banks were hesitant to give loan to her as biotechnology was a totally new field at that point of time and she was a woman entrepreneur, which was a rare phenomenon.

Biocon's initial operation was to extract an enzyme from papaya. Under Kiran Mazumdar Shaw's stewardship Biocon transformed from an industrial enzymes company to an integrated biopharmaceutical company with strategic research initiatives. Today, Biocon is recognised as India's pioneering biotech enterprise. In 2004, Biocon came up with an IPO and the issue was over-subscribed by over 30 times. Post-IPO, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw held close to 40% of the stock of the company and was regarded as India's richest woman with an estimated worth of Rs. 2,100 crore.

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw is the recipient of several prestigious awards. These include ET Businesswoman of the Year, Best Woman Entrepreneur, Model Employer, Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Life Sciences & Healthcare, Leading Exporter, Outstanding Citizen, Technology Pioneer, etc. Government of India also felicitated her with Padmashri (1989) and Padma Bhushan (2005).

Homi Jehangir Bhabha

Homi Jehangir Bhabha, FRS (October 30, 1909 – January 24, 1966) was an Indian nuclear physicist of Parsi-Zorastrian heritage who had a major role in the development of the Indian atomic energy program and is considered to be the father of India's nuclear program. Bhabha was born into a prominent family, through which he was related to Dinshaw Maneckji Petit, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Homi K Bhabha and Dorab Tata. After receiving his early education at Bombay schools and at the Royal Institute of Science, he attended Caius College of Cambridge University to pursue studies in mechanical engineering. After taking the mechanical engineering Tripos, he pursued studies under Paul Dirac to complete the Mathematics Tripos. Meanwhile, he worked at the Cavendish Laboratory while working towards his doctorate in theoretical physics under R. H. Fowler. During this time, he embarked on groundbreaking research into the absorption of cosmic rays and electron shower production. Afterwards, he published a string of widely-accepted papers on his theories regarding cosmic ray showers.
World War II broke out in September 1939 while Bhabha was vacationing in India. He chose to remain in India until the war ended. In the meantime, he accepted a position at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, headed by Nobel laureate C. V. Raman. He established the Cosmic Ray Research Unit at the institute, and began to work on the theory of the movement of point particles. In 1945, he established the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Bombay, and the Atomic Energy Commission of India three years later. In the 1950s, Bhabha represented India in International Atomic Energy Forums, and served as President of the United Nations Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy in Geneva, Switzerland in 1955. He later served as the member of the Indian Cabinet's Scientific Advisory Committee and set up the Indian National Committee for Space Research with Vikram Sarabhai. In January 1966, Bhabha died in a plane crash near Mont Blanc, while heading to Vienna, Austria to attend a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's Scientific Advisory Committee.
Early life
Bhabha was born in Bombay to Jehangir Hormaji Bhabha, an Oxford-educated barrister, and Meherbai Framji Panday, a wealthy Parsi family living in Bombay, India Bhabha, at his birth, was directly linked to India's most prominent mercantile families.[1] Through his mother, Bhabha was the great-grandson of Sir Dinshaw Maneckji Petit, a textiles entrepreneur noted for his philanthropic efforts,[2] and therefore distantly related by marriage to Muhammad Ali Jinnah through his second wife, Rattanbai Petit, who was the elder Petit's granddaughter. Through his father, Bhabha was the grandson of Hormusji Bhabha, CIE, the Inspector-General of Education in Mysore, and the nephew of Meherbai Hormusji, who was married to Dorab Tata, the eldest son of Jamsetji Tata.[1] He is also a distant relative of similarly named post-colonial theorist Homi K Bhabha.[3]
Bhabha received his early education at Bombay's Cathedral Grammar School[1], which became the Cathedral and John Connon School in 1922 after merging with the John Connon School, run by the city's Scottish Education Society. He entered Elphinstone College at age 15 after passing his Senior Cambridge Examination with Honours. He then attended the Royal Institute of Science until 1927 before joining Caius College of Cambridge University, the alma mater of his uncle Dorab Tata.[2] His father and uncle Dorab planned for Bhabha to obtain an engineering degree from Cambridge and then return to India, where would join the Tata Iron and Steel Company in Jamshedpur. However, during his studies, Bhabha felt more of an interest in the field of mathematics, instead of engineering. In 1928, Bhabha wrote to his father, informing him of his mixed feelings about his intended specialty:
“
I seriously say to you that business or job as an engineer is not the thing for me. It is totally foreign to my nature and radically opposed to my temperament and opinions. Physics is my line. I know I shall do great things here. For, each man can do best and excel in only that thing of which he is passionately fond, in which he believes, as I do, that he has the ability to do it, that he is in fact born and destined to do it. My success will not depend on what A or B thinks of me. My success will be what I make of my work. Besides, India is not a land where science cannot be carried on.[1]
I am burning with a desire to do physics. I will and must do it sometime. It is my only ambition. I have no desire to be a 'successful' man or the head of a big firm. There are intelligent people who like that and let them do it. I hear you saying 'But you are not Socrates or Einstein'. No—and that is what Berlioz's father said to Berlioz. He called him a useless musician when he was young—Hector Berlioz who now accepted as one of the world's greatest geniuses and France's greatest musician. How can anybody else know at what time what one will do, if there is nothing to show. ... It is no use saying to Beethoven 'You must be a scientist for it is great thing' when he did not care two hoots for science; or to Socrates 'Be an engineer; it is work of intelligent man'. It is not in the nature of things. I therefore earnestly implore you to let me do physics.
”
Higher education and research at Cambridge
Bhabha's father understood his son's predicament, and he agreed to finance his studies in mathematics provided that he obtain first class on his Mechanical Sciences Tripos exam. Bhabha took the Tripos exam in June 1930 and passed with first class. Afterwards, he embarked on his mathematical studies under Paul Dirac, the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics who would later be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics with Erwin Schrödinger in 1933 "for the discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory", while working as a research student in theoretical physics at the Cavendish Laboratory.[1] At the time, the laboratory was the center of a number of scientific breakthroughs. James Chadwick had discovered the neutron, John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton transmuted lithium with high-energy protons, and Patrick Blackett and Giuseppe Occhialini used cloud chambers to demonstrate the production of electron pairs and showers by gamma radiation. During the 1931–1932 academic year, Bhabha was awarded the Salomons Studentship in Engineering. In 1932, he obtained first class on his Mathematical Tripos and was awarded the Rouse Ball travelling studentship in mathematics. With the studentship, he worked with Wolfgang Pauli in Zürich, Enrico Fermi in Rome and Hans Kramers in Utrecht.
Research in theoretical physics
In January 1933, Bhabha published his first scientific paper, "Zur Absorption der Höhenstrahlung" (translates to "The Absorption of Cosmic Radiation"), in the German academic journal entitled Zeitschrift für Physik (Journal of Physics). In the publication, Bhabha offered an explanation of the absorption features and electron shower production in cosmic rays. The paper helped him win the Isaac Newton Studentship in 1934, which he held for the next three years. The following year, he completed his doctoral studies in theoretical physics under Ralph H. Fowler.[5][9] During his studentship, he split his time working at Cambridge and with Niels Bohr in Copenhagen. In 1935, Bhabha published a paper in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, Series A, in which performed the first calculation to determine the cross section of electron-positron scattering. Electron-positron scattering was later named Bhabha scattering, in honor of his contributions in the field. In 1936, Bhabha collaborated with Walter Heitler to formulate a theory on cosmic ray showers. They conjectured that the showers were formed by the cascade production of gamma rays and positive and negative electron pairs. In this process, high energy electrons passing through matter would turn into high energy photons by means of the bremsstrahlung process. The photons then produced a positive and negative electron pair, which then led to additional production of photons. This process continued until the energy of the particles went below a critical value.
In 1936, the two published a paper, "The Passage of Fast Electrons and the Theory of Cosmic Showers" in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, Series A, in which they used their theory to describe how primary cosmic rays from outer space interact with the upper atmosphere to produce particles observed at the ground level. Bhabha and Heitler then made numerical estimates of the number of electrons in the cascade process at different altitudes for different electron initiation energies. The calculations agreed with the experimental observations of cosmic ray showers made by Bruno Rossi and Pierre Victor Auger a few years before. Bhabha later concluded that observations of the properties of such particles would lead to the straightforward experimental verification of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. In 1937, Bhabha was awarded the Senior Studentship of the 1851 Exhibition, which helped him continue his work at Cambridge until the outbreak of World War II in 1939.
In 1939, Bhabha went back to India for a brief holiday. In September, World War II broke out, and Bhabha decided not to return to England for the time being. He accepted an offer to serve as the Reader in the Physics Department of the Indian Institute of Science, then headed by renowned physicist C. V. Raman. He received a special research grant from the Sir Dorab Tata Trust, which he used to establish the Cosmic Ray Research Unit at the institute. Bhabha selected a few students, including Harish-Chandra, who would later serve as the IBM von Neumann Professor in the School of Mathematics at the Institute for Advanced Study, to work with him.[10]
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society on 20 March 1941. With the help of J. R. D. Tata, he established the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Bombay. With the end of the World War II and Indian Independence, he received a commendation from Jawaharlal Nehru for his efforts towards peaceful development of atomic energy. He established the Atomic Energy Commission of India in 1948. He represented India in International Atomic Energy Forums, and as President of the United Nations Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy, in Geneva, Switzerland in 1955.
[edit] Death and legacy
He died in the Air India Flight 101 air disaster near Mont Blanc in 1966. Conspiracy theories point to a sabotage intended at impeding India's nuclear program, but his death still remains a mystery.
After his death, the Atomic Energy Establishment was renamed as the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in his honour. Bhabha also encouraged research in electronics, space science, radio astronomy and microbiology. The famed radio telescope at Ooty, India was his initiative, and it became a reality in 1970. Bhabha has since become known as the "Father of India's Atomic Energy Programme".

Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra Rao

Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra (CNR) Rao (born June 30, 1934, Bangalore, India) is an Indian chemist.
Education
Rao obtained his bachelors degree at University of Mysore in 1951, obtaining a masters from Banaras Hindu University two years later, and obtained his PhD in 1958 from Purdue University. He was the director of the Indian Institute of Science from 1984 to 1994, and has been a visiting professor at Purdue, the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge and University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the founding President of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research.
Profession
Rao is currently the National Research Professor and Linus Pauling Research Professor and Honorary President of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research in Bangalore, India. He was appointed Chair of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Indian Prime Minister in January 2005, a position which he had occupied earlier during 1985-89.
Prof. Rao is one of the world's foremost solid state and materials chemists. He has contributed to the development of the field over five decades. His work on transition metal oxides has led to basic understanding of novel phenomena and the relationship between materials properties and the structural chemistry of these materials.
Prof. Rao was one of the earliest to synthesize two-dimensional oxide materials such as La2CuO4. His work has led to a systematic study of compositionally controlled metal-insulator transistions. Such studies have had a profound impact in application fields such as colossal magneto resistance and high temperature superconductivity. Oxide semiconductors have unusual promise. He has made immense contributions to nanomaterials over the last two decades, besides his work on hybrid materials. He is the author of around 1400 research papers. He has authored and edited 42 books.
Awards
He was awarded the Hughes Medal by the Royal Society in 2000, and he became the first recipient of the India Science Award, instituted by the Government of India, for his contributions to solid state chemistry and materials science, awarded in 2004.
He has won several international prizes and is a member of most of the major science academies in the world including the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Royal Society (London), French Academy, Japan Academy and the Pontifical Academy.
He was awarded Dan David Prize in 2005, by the Dan David Foundation, Tel Aviv University, which he shared with George Whitesides and Robert Langer. In 2005, he was conferred the title Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honour) by France, the highest civilian award given by the French Government. He had also been given the honours Padma Shri and Padma Vibhushan by the Indian Government.

Vikram .A. Sarabhai

2nd chairman of Indian Atomic Energy Commission and Indian Space Research Organisation
Vikram.A.Sarabhai, was the main personality behind the launching of India's first satellite, Aryabhata in 1975. He was born in Ahmedabad, Gujarat in a family of industrialists. He was also responsible for the Equatorial Rocket Building Station at Thumba.
Sarabhai set up the Ahmedabad Textile Industries Research Association, a laboratory for research in Physics and the Indian Institute of Management. Sarabhai was the second chairman of India's Atomic Energy Commission and the Indian Space Research Organisation.
Sarabhai's study of cosmic rays under the eminent scientist Dr. C.V. Raman, revealed that cosmic rays are a stream of energy particles reaching the earth from the outer space, being influenced on their way by the sun, the atmosphere and magnetism. This study helps in observing terrestrial magnetism and the atmosphere, the nature of the sun and outer space. He was conferred 'Padma Shri' in 1966 and was posthumously awarded 'Padma Vibushan' in 1972. He was also awarded 'Dr. Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize' in 1962. This great scientist could be credited with launching India into space age.

Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai (August 12, 1919 – December 31, 1971) was an Indian physicist. He is considered to be the Father of the Indian space program.

Early years and education
Vikram Sarabhai was born on 12 August 1919 in the city of Ahmedabad in western India. The Sarabhai family was an important and rich business family. His father Ambalal Sarabhai was an affluent industrialist and owned many mills in Gujarat. Vikram Sarabhai was one of the eight children of Ambalal and Sarla Devi.
To educate her eight children, Sarla Devi established a private school on the lines of the Montessori method, propounded by Maria Montessori, which was gaining fame at that time. As the Sarabhai family was involved in the Indian freedom struggle, many leaders of the freedom struggle like Mahatma Gandhi, Motilal Nehru, Rabindranath Tagore and Jawaharlal Nehru used to frequent the Sarabhai house. This is said to have greatly influenced the young Vikram Sarabhai and played an important role in the growth of his personality.
Sarabhai matriculated from the Gujarat College in Ahmedabad after passing the Intermediate Science examination. After that he moved to England and joined the St. John's College, University of Cambridge. He received the Tripos in Natural Sciences from Cambridge in 1940. With the escalation of the Second World War, Sarabhai returned to India and joined the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore and began research in cosmic rays under the guidance of Sir C. V. Raman, a Nobel Prize winner. He returned to Cambridge after the war in 1945 and was awarded a PhD degree in 1947 for his thesis titled Cosmic Ray investigation in Tropical Latitudes.
Marriage and children
In September, 1942, Vikram Sarabhai married Mrinalini Sarabhai, a celebrated classical dancer of India. The wedding was held in Chennai without anyone from Vikram's side of the family attending the wedding ceremony because of the ongoing Quit India movement led by Mahatma Gandhi. Vikram and Mrinalini had two children - Kartikeya and Mallika. Mallika Sarabhai is a renowned dancer herself and has been awarded the Palme d'Or.
Physical Research Laboratory
Vikram returned to an independent India in 1947. Looking at the needs of the country, he persuaded charitable trusts controlled by his family and friends to endow a research institution near home in Ahmedabad. Thus, Vikram Sarabhai founded the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in Ahmedabad on November 11, 1947. He was only 28 at that time. Sarabhai was a creator and cultivator of institutions and PRL was the first step in that direction.
Born: August 12, 1919Died: December 31,1971Achievements: Considered the Father of the Indian space program; instrumental in establishing the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in Ahmedabad in November 1947; was Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission. He along with other Ahmedabad-based industrialists played a major role in the creation of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.Vikram Sarabhai was one of the greatest scientists of India. He is considered as the Father of the Indian space program. Apart from being a scientist, he was a rare combination of an innovator, industrialist and visionary. Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai was born on August 12, 1919 at Ahmedabad in an affluent family of progressive industrialists. He was one of eight children of Ambalal and Sarla Devi. He had his early education in a private school, “Retreat” run by his parents on Montessori lines. Some of the great men of India such as Gurudev Rabindranath, J. Krishna Murthi, Motilal Nehru, V. S. Shrinivasa Shastri, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sarojini Naidu, Maulana Azad, C. F. Andrews, C. V. Raman et al. used to stay with the Sarabhai family when they visited Ahmedabad. Mahatma Gandhi also once stayed at their house while recovering from an illness. Visits by such great men greatly influenced Vikram Sarabhai. After his matriculation, Vikram Sarabhai proceeded to Cambridge for his college education and took the tripods degree from St. John's college in 1940. When World War II began, he returned home and joined as a research scholar under Sir C. V. Raman at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore His interest in solar physics and cosmic ray led him to set up many observation stations around the country. He built the necessary equipment with which he took measurements at Bangalore, Poona and the Himalayas. He returned to Cambridge in 1945 and completed his Ph.D in 1947. Vikram Sarabhai was instrumental in establishing the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in Ahmedabad in November 1947. The laboratory was established in a few rooms in M.G. Science Institute of the Ahmedabad Education Society, which was founded by his parents. Subsequently, it got support from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Department of Atomic Energy.Vikram Sarabhai did research on the time variations of cosmic rays and concluded that meteorological effects could not entirely affect the observed daily variations of cosmic rays; further, the residual variations were wide and global and these were related to variations in solar activity. Vikram Sarabhai visualized a new field of research opening up in solar and interplanetary Physics.The year 1957-1958 was designated as International Geo-physical year (IGY). The Indian program for the IGY had been one of the most significant ventures of Sarabhai. It exposed him to the new vistas of space science with the launching in 1957 of Sputnik-I. Subsequently, the Indian National Committee for Space Research was created, of which Vikram Sarabhai became Chairman.With active support from Homi Bhabha, Vikram Sarabhai, set up the first Rocket Launching station (TERLS) in the country at Thumba near Thiruvananthapuram on the Arabian Coast, as Thumba is very close to the Equator. The first rocket with sodium vapour payload was launched on November 21, 1963. In 1965, the UN General Assembly gave recognition to TERLS as an international facility. After the sudden death of Homi Bhabha in an air crash, Vikram Sarabhai was appointed Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission in May 1966. He wanted the practical application of science to reach the common man. He decided to acquire competence in advance technology for the solution of country’s problems based on technical and economic evaluation of its real resources. He initiated India’s space programme, which today is renowned all over the world. Dr. Vikram Sarabhai was awarded with Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Medal in 1962 and Padma Bhushan in 1966. Vikram Sarabhai passed away in his sleep on December 31,1971.

Pratap Reddy Dr.

Achievement: Founder of the Apollo Hospital GroupDr. Pratap Reddy is the founder of the Apollo Hospital Group, India's first corporate hospital group. He revolutionized the whole health care scenario of India and inspired others to follow the suit. Today, India has over 750 corporate hospitals all over the country. Dr. Pratap Reddy came to India after serving as the Chief Resident of the Worcenter City Hospital in the US to start his practice in Madras with a modest earning of Rs 100/- per day. The idea to establish Apollo Group of Hospitals came when Dr. Reddy lost a patient who couldn't make it to Texas for an open heart surgery. This inspired Dr. Pratap Reddy to create world-class medical infrastructure in India and make it more accessible and affordable to common people. Dr. Reddy's efforts bore fruit when he succeeded in setting up the first center of the Apollo Hospitals Group in Chennai in 1983.Dr, Pratap Reddy soon followed this with India 's first hospital consultancy body - the Indian Hospitals Corporation - and commissioned two more Tertiary Care Centers in India. Since its inception, Apollo has demonstrated that Indian skills are equivalent to the best centers in the world and has produced world-class results in the most complicated Cadaver Transplant. Today, the Apollo Hospitals Group has over 22 centers in major cities in India and a combined turnover of over US $ 100 million.Dr Reddy is now spreading Apollo Hospitals Group to other parts of Asia. The group opened its first clinic in Dubai in March 1999 and is coming up with projects in Sri Lanka, Africa, Bangladesh, and Oman. Dr. Reddy is currently looking at secondary health centers in semi urban and smaller cities and has already identified 23 sites for the purpose.Dr. Pratap Reddy's latest initiatives are "Med Varsity"-a virtual medical university providing total access to experts in the field of medicine anywhere in the world- and "MEDNET" - Hospital Systems Management package. Both the initiatives are expected to transform health care sector in India.

Anji Reddy Dr. K.

Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd. (Reddy's), founded in 1984 by Dr. K. Anji Reddy, has become India’s biggest pharmaceuticals company. Reddy had worked in the publicly-owned Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Reddy's manufactures and markets a wide range of pharmaceuticals in India and overseas. The company more than 190 medications ready for patients to take, 60 active pharmaceutical ingredients, for drug manufacture, diagnostic kits, critical care and biotechnology products.
Reddy’s began as a supplier to Indian drug manufacturers, but it soon started exporting to other less-regulated markets – that had the advantage of not spend time and money on a manufacturing plant that that would gain approval from a drug licensing body such as the US’s Food and Drug Administration. Much of Reddy’s early success came in those unregulated markets, where process patents – not product patents – are recognized. With that money in the bank, the company could reverse-engineer patented drugs from more developed countries and sell them royalty-free in India and Russia. By the early 1990s, the expanded scale and profitability from these unregulated markets enabled the company to begin focusing on getting approval from drug regulators for their formulations and bulk drug manufacturing plants in more-developed economies. This allowed their movement into regulated markets such as the US and Europe.
By 2007, Reddy’s had six FDA-plants producing active pharmaceutical ingredients in India and seven FDA-inspected and ISO 9001 (quality) and [[International Organization for StandardizationISO 14001 (environmental management) certified plants making patient-ready medications – five of them in India and two in the UK
Revenue
$1.5 Billion (MAY2007)
Net income
$216 Million (MAY2007)
Employees
7,525

Abdul Kalam Dr.A.P.J.

Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabhudin Adbul Kalam, the twelfth President of India, is rightfully termed as the father of India's missile technology. He was born to parents Jainulabdeen Marakayar and Ashiamma on 15th October, 1931, at Dhanushkodi in Rameshwaram district, Tamil Nadu. Dr. Kalam as an eminent Aeronautical Engineer, contributed for the development of India’s first Satellite launch vehicle SLV-3 and the missiles like the Trishul, Agni, Pritvi etc.
He did his secondary education at Schwartz High School in Ramanathapuram, B.Sc. at St. Joseph's College(1950), Tiruchi, and DMIT in Aeronautical Engineering at the MIT, Madras during 1954-57. After passing out as a graduate aeronautical engineer, Kalam joined Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Bangalore as a trainee and later joined as a technical assistant in the Directorate of Technical Development and Production of the Ministry of Defence.
In the 1960's Kalam joined the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre at Thumba in Kerala. He played a major role in the centre's evolution to a key hub of space research in India, helping to develop the country's first indigenous satellite-launch vehicle. During 1963-82, he served the ISRO in various capacities. In 1982, he rejoined DRDO as Director, and conceived the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) for five indigenous missiles. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has established an Advanced Technology Research Centre, called 'Research Centre Imarat' to undertake development in futuristic missile technology areas. He also served as the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Defence minister and later the Government of India. After retiring from the post Dr. Kalam joined ANNA University till he became the President in January 2002.
He is a member of Indian National Academy of Sciences, Astronautical Society of India and many other professional bodies. Dr. APJ abdul Kalam has been awarded Padma Bhushan in 1981, Padma Vibhushan in 1990 and India's Highest civilian Award 'The Bharat Ratna' in 1997. Other prestigious awards include Dr.Biren Roy Space Award, Om Prakash Basin Award for Science and Technology, National Nehru Award, Arya Bhatta Award etc. Dr. Kalam was conferred with the degree of Doctor of Science (D.Sc. Honoris-causa) by twenty eight universities.
Dr. Kalam, a bachelor is a connoisseur of classical Carnatic music. He plays veena in his leisure. He writes poetry in Tamil, his mother tongue. Seventeen of his poems were translated into English and published in 1994 as a book entitled 'My Journey'. He reads the Quran and the Bhagavad Gita with equal devotion. He is also the Author of the books 'India 2020 : A vision for the New Millennium'(1998 with YS Rajan), 'Wings of Fire : an Autobiography' and 'Ignited Minds – unleashing the power within India'.Totally dedicated to the nation, Dr. Abdul Kalam's vision is to transform India into a developed nation by the year 2020 through hard work and perseverance. He holds a first world dream for the third world nation.